Motorized Screen Solutions
Solar and glare, insects, privacy, weather, storm exposure. Different problems with different specifications — solar, insect, privacy and weather protection can often be configured within one coordinated motorized screen system, while storm protection is a separate product class.
Start With What You Want the Space to Do
You do not need the industry vocabulary to get this right. Start with what is going wrong on the patio and the specification follows from there. Each of these has its own page.
Solar & Heat Control
An open solar weave cuts direct sun and glare on the openings that bake in the afternoon, while you can still see through it.
InsectsInsect Protection
A tighter mesh closes the room to mosquitoes and small flying insects while air still moves through the opening.
PrivacyPrivacy Screens
A denser fabric reduces sightlines from neighbors and the street without walling the space in.
WeatherVinyl Weather Protection
A clear or solid panel instead of a mesh, for the side that takes wind-driven rain and cooler air.
Storm exposureStorm Protection
A separate product class from everyday screens, with its own engineering and its own documentation.
Commercial openingsCommercial Motorized Screens
Restaurant and hospitality terraces, where the screen has to keep seating sellable when the weather turns.
ControlsSmart Home & Screen Controls
Remote, wall switch or app, and in many cases integration with the platform already in the house.
How a Motorized Screen Is Specified
Solar, insect, privacy and weather protection can often be configured within a coordinated motorized screen system — the same track and housing, set up differently at each opening. Storm protection is a separate product class with its own structural and product requirements, and is specified on its own terms.
System
The motorized track and housing that carries the screen, sized to the opening and integrated into the structure rather than bolted onto it.
Fabric
The mesh or vinyl that rolls into that system. Different weaves solve different problems — shade, insects, sightlines, weather.
Application
Where it goes. A covered patio, an outdoor kitchen, a pergola, a pool surround and a garage each ask for something different.
Control
How you run it. Remote, wall switch, app, or brought into the smart-home system you already use.
In practice a single patio can carry solar-control fabric on the west opening, insect mesh on the north, and a panel selected for the side most exposed to wind-driven rain. One system, three different answers.
The Motorized Screen System
The system is the track, housing and motor that everything else hangs off. Get it wrong and the fabric choice barely matters.
MagnaTrack® is one premium motorized screen system Sable can design around. It is manufactured by Progressive Screens and built to be integrated into the architecture of an opening, with the screen edge retained magnetically in a side track rather than left loose in the wind.
Sable Outdoor Living designs and installs. We do not manufacture screen systems, and the specifications, options and limits for any system we specify belong to the manufacturer. If a different system suits your openings better, we will say so.
Different Openings Can Solve Different Problems
Two openings on the same patio can want completely different fabrics. Treating every opening as one blanket choice can leave part of the finished installation solving the wrong problem.
Orientation is one of the first factors to evaluate, followed by how exposed the opening is and what is on the other side of it. The fabric and mesh guide goes through the categories in detail.
West-facing opening
Takes the worst of the afternoon. A west-facing opening may call for solar-control fabric, chosen for how much sun it cuts against how much view it keeps.
Shaded opening
Often has little heat problem at all. Here the question is more likely to be insects, so a tighter mesh sized for mosquitoes can make more sense than a solar weave.
Privacy-sensitive opening
The side facing a neighbor or the street. A denser fabric reduces sightlines, though how much it obscures depends on the weave and on the light on either side of it.
Weather-exposed opening
The side the storms come from. A vinyl or weather-oriented panel holds off wind-driven rain and cooler air in a way a mesh cannot.
Openness, color and how much a fabric obscures the view all trade against each other, and the numbers behind them belong to the manufacturer. We confirm spans, fabric availability and any performance ratings against the manufacturer's current specifications for your openings rather than quoting figures from memory.
Where These Systems Go
The same four layers, applied to very different spaces. Each has its own page.
Covered Patios & Outdoor Kitchens
The room you already built, made usable in August and again in October.
Pergolas & Gazebos
Open structures that need shade and insect control without losing what makes them open.
Pool Areas
Glare off the water, insects, privacy, and a moisture-heavy pool environment.
Garages
Full-width screening for a space doing double duty as workshop, gym or hangout.
Restaurants & Hospitality
Patio seating that stays sellable when the weather turns.
New Construction & Recessed Installs
Pockets and tracks designed in early, so nothing has to be surface-mounted later.
Planning Guides
Questions About Screen Solutions
Can motorized screens be added to an existing covered patio?
Often, yes. What decides it is the structure: the span of each opening, the mounting surface, whether there is a clean place for the housing and side tracks to sit, and whether power can be run to the motor. The site measure is what establishes that.
Can different openings use different screen materials?
Yes. A west-facing opening and a shaded north-facing one have different jobs to do, and they can carry different fabrics while still belonging to one coordinated motorized system. That is the whole idea behind specifying by opening.
How wide an opening can a motorized screen cover?
That depends on the system specified, the fabric, and the structure it mounts to. We confirm the limits against the manufacturer's current specifications for your openings rather than quoting a number in advance.
What happens to the screen when it is not in use?
It rolls up into a housing at the head of the opening. Where that housing sits — surface-mounted, recessed into the ceiling, or built into new framing — is decided during specification, and it is often the difference between a system you notice and one you do not.
Which system does Sable install?
MagnaTrack®, made by Progressive Screens, is one premium system we can design around. We are a design and installation company, not a manufacturer, and the right system is decided against your openings.
Where does Sable install motorized screens?
Across Montgomery County and into Harris County and North Houston, with The Woodlands as the primary market. The full list is on the service areas page.
Tell Us Which Opening Stops Working First
A design consultation and an on-site measure are where a real specification comes from.