Insect Screens in Dubai

Insect screen is the broad name for a mesh barrier fitted over an opening to keep bugs out. It covers everything from a fixed panel on a window to a roller screen, a sliding door screen or a magnetic curtain. People reach for different words, fly screen, bug screen, mosquito screen or just netting, but they are all describing the same idea: a fine, see-through mesh in a frame that lets air and light pass while holding insects back.

It earns its place in Dubai because the climate is good to insects for much of the year. Warm, humid spells bring mosquitoes out in force, and an open window after dark is an open door to them. Mosquitoes are more than an itch, they carry disease, which is why the World Health Organization keeps guidance on illnesses like dengue. A screen lets you keep the home open to the air and shut to the bugs at the same time.

Mosquitoes top the list, and they are worst in the humid months and in the days after rain, when standing water lets them breed. But they are far from the only pest. Houseflies come for kitchens, food and bins and are busiest in the daytime heat. Midges and sand flies, tiny biters that are easy to miss, gather near water, damp ground and greenery. Wasps and bees drift in from gardens and pools, and moths head straight for an indoor light at night.

Where you live changes which of these you get. A ground-floor villa beside a lawn or a garden sees mosquitoes, flies and the odd wasp. A home near a lake, a canal or the sea gets more midges in the evening. An apartment over a park catches whatever drifts up at dusk. The handy thing about an insect screen is that it does not care which bug it is; as a flat barrier the mesh holds back the whole lot at once.

Sprays, coils and plug-in repellents all try to deal with insects once they are already inside, or to put them off coming close. They work after a fashion, but they have to be bought again and again, they fill the room with scent or smoke, and most people would rather not have them going near children, pets or food night after night. They treat the symptom, not the way in.

An insect screen does the opposite. It stops the bugs getting in at all, so there is nothing to kill indoors and nothing to refill. Once it is fitted there is no smell, no smoke and no running cost, and it works every night without you thinking about it. A screen is a one-time fix where chemicals are a repeating chore, and over a couple of seasons it usually works out cheaper as well as cleaner and safer.

Windows are the first place to screen, because an open window at night is how most insects get into a bedroom or a living room. With a screen on it you can sleep with the window open and the cool night air coming through, which in a Dubai summer saves running the air conditioning from dusk to dawn. The screen sits in its own slim frame, so the window, the handles and the glass all work as they did underneath.

Which style fits comes down to how often the window is opened. A fixed panel is the easy choice for one you want screened all season; a roller or sliding screen suits one you are forever opening and shutting. We match the screen to the window at the measurement, and you can see the full window range on our fly screens for windows page.

On a door, the screen has to let you walk through while keeping the gap shut behind you. A magnetic mesh curtain parts as you step through and snaps closed on its own. A sliding panel travels on a track set beside a patio door. A retractable one draws across when wanted and winds away when not. Each suits a different door and a different level of traffic, and they sit side by side on our fly screens for doors page.

For an apartment especially, a balcony is one of the best spots of all to screen. Put a screen on the balcony door and the balcony turns into somewhere you can really sit of a warm evening, the door open and nothing biting. High floors are not safe from insects, they still come up on the breeze, so the screen earns its keep well above the ground. We fit the door style to suit the balcony, the wind and the look you are after.

The two parts of any insect screen are the mesh and the frame that holds it. The mesh is a close fibreglass or polyester weave, tight enough to halt even the small biting insects yet still open to air and light. A darker grey or charcoal tends to win out, since it is the easiest of the shades to see through from inside. We go into the material in more detail on our mosquito mesh page if you want to read up on the weaves and colours.

The frame is slim aluminium, cut to the exact size of the opening and finished in any colour to match the window or door. Getting the frame right matters as much as the mesh, because it is what holds the mesh tight and seals the edges. A well-made frame keeps the mesh flat and gap-free for years, where a loose or cheap one lets it sag and lets insects slip past the side.

Insects are a year-round fact here, but they peak with the heat and the damp. The humid stretch of the year is the busiest for mosquitoes, and numbers jump in the days after any rain, when pooled water gives them somewhere to breed. Evenings and the hours around dusk are when mosquitoes and midges are most active, which is exactly when you want the windows open to cool the house down.

That is the case for screening before the season rather than during it. With screens already up, you can open the house through the worst weeks without a second thought, instead of choosing between fresh air and bites. It is worth booking the measurement ahead of the hot, humid months, so the screens are up and ready before the insects arrive.

Insect screens ask for very little. Every so often, brush or vacuum the mesh to lift off the dust and sand that settle on it, and wipe it over with a sponge and some mild soapy water if it needs more. A clean mesh keeps its holes clear and the air flowing, and on a roller or sliding screen the odd brush of the track keeps it running smoothly.

The frame outlasts the mesh by years, so a torn or worn-thin mesh does not mean a whole new screen. Our re-mesh service takes out the tired netting and tensions fresh insect mesh into the frame you already own, which comes in under the cost of a new screen and is quick to do. It is worth sorting a tear quickly, because even a small hole gives a mosquito a way in, and a re-mesh puts the screen back to as good as new.