Albany County, New York

Motorized Retractable Screens — Albany, NY

Pine Hills was built with porches. Most of them stop working the day the black flies show up.

Fenetex OneTrack motorized screens, StruXure louvered pergolas and radiant heating — for Albany homeowners from Pine Hills and Center Square to the Delaware Avenue corridor, out toward the Guilderland and Delmar line. Blackflies arrive in early May and mosquitoes hold on through late September, carried in part by Washington Park's lake and the Hudson River corridor close by. The only authorized StruXure and Fenetex dealer in the Capital Region.

Twenty minutes from our Ballston Lake shop · Free in-home visit · Fixed price before you decide

THE PROBLEM

You already have the porch. It stopped being usable years ago.

The house came with a porch. Deep, covered, the kind builders mostly don't put up anymore — post-and-rail, a beadboard ceiling, room for two chairs and a rail wide enough to set a drink on. It's a common feature on Pine Hills' older freestanding and semi-detached homes. Center Square looks different — closer to 80% attached brick rowhouses — but the neighborhood's single-family homes carry the same kind of porch. Most of them, across both neighborhoods, stop getting used somewhere around the first warm week of May.

Washington Park's lake sits close to a number of these blocks, and the Hudson River corridor isn't much further. The lake means standing water for mosquitoes; the river means moving water for blackflies — between the two, this stretch of the city has both breeding conditions close by, and it's part of why the season here runs long. Blackflies emerge in early May and mosquito activity holds through late September, per Cornell Integrated Pest Management, Albany County. New York State Department of Health confirms statewide mosquito activity April through October, which already brackets this window.

Here is what makes this town different from Clifton Park or Saratoga Springs, and it changes what we'd recommend. Center Square is largely pre-war — 56% of its homes were built before 1940, with a median construction year of 1938. Pine Hills is a step younger, with most of its housing dating to the mid-20th century (median year 1958), though roughly a third of it is pre-war too. Either way, the street trees planted with those blocks have had decades to grow into a full canopy. That's shade most towns would pay for. It's also shade a new pergola competes with rather than adds to, and a mature root system complicates a footing dig on a lot this size.

Which is why porches here usually get screened before anything gets built new. The structure already exists, it's already covered, and it's already the right size. Screening it and adding radiant heat turns a porch that closes in May into one that runs through October — without touching the tree, the root system, or the historic-district review that a new structure would trigger.

Stop giving up your outdoor season.

We come to you, assess your space, and give you a fixed price — before you decide anything.

Twenty minutes away, and we know these porches.

Decadent Outdoors founder Jeff Mazzarelli spent 35+ years in golf course construction — executing projects across Asia, Egypt, Mexico, and 50+ sites throughout the United States, working alongside some of the world's most respected golf course architects and owners.

Our shop is in Ballston Lake, about twenty minutes from most Albany addresses. Porch and screen work in Pine Hills and Center Square is permitted through the City of Albany Department of Buildings and Regulatory Compliance. Properties inside the Pine Hills or Center Square–Hudson Park Historic Districts may also need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Resources Commission before work proceeds on anything visible from the street — the HRC meets monthly, so plan for a few extra weeks of lead time. We handle that filing.

One thing worth saying plainly, because it comes up on nearly every Albany estimate: not every porch will take a screen track without work. Sill and header condition vary block to block in housing stock this old, and post-and-rail construction isn't uniform even on the same street. We check that before we quote, not after.

Picture this:

A June evening on a Pine Hills porch. Screens down, the ceiling fan running, someone's kid doing homework at the rail without slapping at anything. The chairs that came with the house, back in regular use for the first time in years.

Common Questions

Asked by Albany homeowners.

Who installs motorized retractable screens in Albany, NY?

Decadent Outdoors, from a shop in Ballston Lake about twenty minutes from most Albany addresses. We are the authorized Fenetex installer for the Capital Region and work throughout Albany County — Pine Hills, Center Square, Delaware Avenue, Guilderland and Delmar.

Will screens work on my existing porch, or do I need to build something?

Usually the existing porch is enough, and in Pine Hills and Center Square that's the common case — most of the housing stock came with one. What we check is sill condition, post spacing and whether the roof structure the track mounts to needs reinforcement first. Older framing sometimes needs work before the screen goes in; we tell you that at the estimate.

Do I need historic district approval to screen a porch in Pine Hills or Center Square?

Screening an existing porch in Pine Hills or Center Square may require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the city. Minor exterior changes are often cleared administratively by planning staff, while larger alterations go to a public hearing before the Historic Resources Commission. We confirm which applies to your property and handle the filing.

With Washington Park's lake and the Hudson nearby, do motorized screens actually keep the bugs out?

Yes, and blackflies are the harder test because they're smaller than mosquitoes. What matters is the mesh rating and the edge seal — OneTrack uses a welded Keder edge, rather than a zipper, that closes the gaps standard systems leave.

How much do motorized screens cost in Albany?

It depends on how many openings you're covering, how wide they are, and whether the porch structure needs any work first. We measure the openings, confirm what the structure will carry, and give you one fixed price before you commit to anything.

That porch has been sitting empty long enough.

Free in-home visit to your Albany property. Fixed-price quote before you commit to a dollar.