Roll Down Screens in Fort Myers, FL
Fort Myers is full of wide, low, mid-century lanais with a pool cage bolted on
twenty years after the house was built. That is the opening, and it is the one nothing is protecting.
The Whiskey Creek and Iona problem
The mid-century stock — Whiskey Creek, The Villas, Cypress Lake, Iona, McGregor south of
Colonial — is concrete block, single storey, and built around a broad shallow lanai facing the
back of the lot. Solid houses. The block is not the weak point.
The weak point is that broad opening, and the aluminum cage standing in front of it. Iona took
five feet of surge and more in places during Ian, but above the water line the failures were wind
and debris, and an enormous share of that debris was screen enclosure. A pool cage is not opening
protection, was never designed to be, and when one comes apart its own frame is what goes through
the sliders behind it.
Manual screens or motorized
Both exist, both are rated, and the honest answer depends less on preference than people expect.
| Manual screens | Motorized | |
|---|---|---|
| How it closes | Gear crank, by hand | Switch, remote or home automation |
| Best on | Openings you can stand in front of and reach comfortably | Wide spans, anything above reach, and anyone who would realistically skip closing it |
| Cost | Lower — no motor, no electrical run | Higher |
| Power cut | Not a factor | Manual override, crank it down by hand |
The case for manual is real and we sell plenty of them. The case against is behavioural: a screen
that is a chore to close is a screen that gets left. If the honest answer is that you would put it
off, that is worth knowing about yourself before you buy on price.
What the screen does
Fabric on a track in a housing above the opening, down over the whole span in one piece, sealed
at both edges, and retracted out of sight when the weather passes. Up to 30 feet wide by 20
feet high in a single screen, which covers most Fort Myers lanais with no post in the middle.
The fabric on both systems we install — the
MagnaTrack Defender and
UltraShield — is rated for year-round use, so
the same screen works as an insect and solar screen for the eleven months there is no storm.
City of Fort Myers or Lee County?
It depends which side of the line you are on, and plenty of people with a Fort Myers address are
in unincorporated Lee County rather than the city. They are different submittals with different
review times. We work out which one applies to your address; permitting is handled as part of the
job.
All of Lee County sits inside the Wind-Borne Debris Region, so opening protection is not
optional under the building code regardless of which department reviews it.
Talk to us about roll down screens in Fort Myers
Tell us what you are looking at and someone from our team will call you the same business day. We go through it on the phone first — your openings, the products that actually fit, what is involved — and if it is a fit we come out and put a written quote in your hand. No charge and no obligation.
Questions we get asked
Are manual screens strong enough, or do I need motorized?
They carry the same ratings. The difference is not strength, it is whether the screen actually gets closed. Manual is a good buy on an opening you can reach comfortably and a poor one on a wide or high span you would put off dealing with.
Will a screen protect my pool cage?
It protects the openings of the house behind the cage, which is the part that matters. Screen enclosures are not rated opening protection and are not designed to survive a major hurricane.
Am I in the City of Fort Myers or Lee County?
A lot of Fort Myers addresses are actually unincorporated Lee County, and it changes which building department reviews the job. We work it out from your address before anything is submitted.
More questions? Our full hurricane shutter & screen FAQ covers products, service, permitting and financing.
More in Fort Myers: accordion shutters · roll down screens · impact windows · everything we do in Fort Myers
Florida Screen & Shutter, LLC · 883 NE 27th Ln #5, Cape Coral, FL 33909 · (239) 409-0426
License #SCC131152867 · Fully Licensed & Insured Florida Contractor · MagnaTrack President’s Club, #6 in the country, 2025