Mosquito screening -- How small does it need to be?

[Muse]

I've been mulling this over for a while, custom building a screen in my bedroom. I want that screen to be very permeable to air but not a bit for those biters. I'm in Berkeley, CA, the mosquitoes aren't humongous but not really tiny. Perusing the offerings at Orchard Supply Hardware I decided to not chance a 1/4" mesh galvanized screen, but bought some 1/8" and made the screen yesterday. This morning there was a hummer, but I think she may be the same one that was there yesterday, and besides I had the door open at dusk.

I did some research online and couldn't find specifics about what will or won't ward out those pesky buzzy blood suckers. Obviously, mosquitoes the size I'm seeing can't begin to fly through 1/8" screening. But a contortionist mosquito (do they exist?) could conceivably squeeze through the openings after lighting on the screen. What do you think?

 

[boomerang]

What do you think?

Here's what I think: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_2i2r52r0ja_b

 

[lupi]

Bitters are the females which are the smaller ones, 1/4" way too big.

 

[utahraptor]

A mesh size of 1.2 mm stops mosquitoes, and smaller, such as 0.6 mm, stops other biting insects such as biting midges/no-see-ums. http://www.mosquito-netting.com/mosquito-netting.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_net#cite_note-6

 

[Markbnj]

A mesh size of 1.2 mm stops mosquitoes, and smaller, such as 0.6 mm, stops other biting insects such as biting midges/no-see-ums. http://www.mosquito-netting.com/mosquito-netting.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_net#cite_note-6

And 0.4 mm cuts off all light and hope.

 

[Muse]

Bitters are the females which are the smaller ones, 1/4" way too big.

Yeah, I considered that stuff the other day at the hardware store and decided to buy some 1/8" instead, which I did, and I installed it yesterday in my DIY screen. Now I'm wondering if even that is safe against the blood suckers.

A mesh size of 1.2 mm stops mosquitoes, and smaller, such as 0.6 mm, stops other biting insects such as biting midges/no-see-ums. http://www.mosquito-netting.com/mosquito-netting.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_net#cite_note-6

OK, so, what I have in my DIY screen right now (1/8") is bigger, it's 3.18mm, more than twice that size. Thus, it depends on the size of the female mosquitoes around here. They look pretty big to me (untrained, inexperienced eye). No-see-ums, I don't believe we have. We have loud dive bombers. I mean LOUD! I had giant silicone ear plugs jammed tight in my ears the other day (and my hearing isn't too good), I was in some stage of sleep, and I still wakened to the sound of a hungry female mosquito. Now, this was before I assembled my screen (which was yesterday). I'm wanting to know if I'll have to disassemble the screen and put in finer stuff (which I already have). I don't want to do that mainly because a big concern is cool nights conducive to a good night's sleep, and I want the screen to pass the cool night air into the room readily.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I made my own out of Tulle, some magnets, and gorilla glue. Total cost less then $5 per window, and about $10 for the door, and most of that was the strong magnets which I can reuse. It is not very sturdy, but it was easy to make, and tulle is cheap. When it breaks I'll replace it.

 

[Muse]

I made my own out of Tulle, some magnets, and gorilla glue. Total cost less then $5 per window, and about $10 for the door, and most of that was the strong magnets which I can reuse. It is not very sturdy, but it was easy to make, and tulle is cheap. When it breaks I'll replace it.

What is Tulle? Is it a kind of fabric, a weave, or a brand?

DIY is fun!

 

[utahraptor]

We need to get top minds working on this!

[FONT=Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times]Aedes vexans, Mosquitoes
VF White Polyester 1990s
80 holes per square inch[/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times]Aedes Mosquito
Bioquip Amber Lumite®
400 holes per square inch

There is probably one biting you right now with a mesh that wide!

[/FONT]

 

[SMOGZINN]

What is Tulle? Is it a kind of fabric, a weave, or a brand?

DIY is fun!

Tulle

Tulle is the sort of material that brides veils are made of. It comes in a lot of different thicknesses and weave density. I got mine in the discount bin of a local fabric shop. I don't know the size of the netting on it, but it is plenty small to keep out my local mosquitoes. Don't order online, go to a local shop and buy it in person so you can get a feel for how strong the material and how tight the weave.

 

[Imp]

...Those assholes. I used to volunteer in a park and put a fairly thick sweater on in the midst of summer for sun/insect protection. Saw those effers drill my sweater repeatedly. They managed to get through my t-shirt without the sweater numerous times.

 

[surfsatwerk]

I thought this forum was SFW?

 

[cabri]

All it means that that you can consider yourself irresistible to females.