Metropolitan London Apartment
Modern Hallway & Landing, London
A modern apartment in East London required window fly screens for optimum insect-free ventilation. Discover the full story of this install below…
Set in a high-rise building overlooking Stratford, London, this well-situated apartment greatly appealed to the homeowners when scouring the property market. After moving in, however, there were a growing number of concerns which were negatively affecting their quality of home life.
The first issue was the number of insects that were swarming into their apartment every time they opened the window. With one half of the apartment covered in glass, it meant that sticky summer days would be unbearable without opening the windows for fresh air.
Mosquitoes, flies, wasps and more would enter the apartment, causing irritation, bites, and bringing in harmful bacteria. Adding to this issue was the waterborne insects from the nearby Bow Back Rivers (which connect to the River Lea and River Thames).
When fresh air would enter the apartment, it would be filled with carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, and other harmful pollutants. Though steps are being taken to improve London’s air quality, this kind of pollution is often unavoidable in metropolitan life.
The apartment was also home to cats. The homeowners would worry about their cats’ safety when the windows were left open, especially with them being in a high storey building. There was a glass barrier in front of the windows, but it only reached to about halfway up the window, leaving room for the cats to potentially climb onto.
With concerns mounting up, the homeowners went searching for solutions. Before long they found their answer in Phantom Screens. Having looked through our website and been impressed with our fly screens for windows, they didn’t hesitate to get in touch.
Our customers sent over some images and measurements of their windows. Our team then carefully discussed their requirements and booked in a free home survey at a date and time that was convenient for the customers. We visited the property to get a closer look, take precise measurements, and discuss our array of suitable options at length with the customers. After a few weeks of handcrafting the screens in our factory, we returned to the apartment to install them.
Three standard fly screens for windows were retrofitted. This install was more complicated than usual, as it required us to create a bespoke solution. However, our install team thrive on new challenges and were thrilled to see it take shape.
Additional subframes were manufactured so that the screens could fit in front of the windows and meet the glass barrier in the middle. This acted perfectly as a shield between the cats and the windows.
Manual screens are operated by hand for easy deployment when opening windows. The screens and subframes were colour matched to the existing framework so that they blended in as if they were always part of the design.
The chosen fabric for these screens was our standard insect mesh as it provided the most ventilation and let in the most natural light. The apartment’s views over the Central London skyline, ABBA arena, London stadium and more have been completely retained as our screens are designed to keep the views intact.
Screens can improve the quality of air and general hygiene in your home, as they can filter out some of the dust and bacteria (plus microorganisms carried by insects). The homeowners can now enjoy bug-free ventilation with cleaner air entering the home – keeping the apartment more hygienic and feeling fresh!
Our customers were so thrilled with the result that they left us a glowing Google review – see below.
“We contacted Phantom Screens to add fly screens to our winter garden. We were looking for a bespoke solution that would fit the existing look of the room but also be robust enough to prevent our cat from jumping off the windows when open. We are very happy to say that they delivered on all of these points with full marks.
From the start, they were very professional as they provided us with various options for our slightly odd situation. They then sent an engineer our way to assess the situation in person and provide a more detailed quote. After that, a second visit was arranged to take samples of the colour of the windows, as well as precise measurements to install some supports that were needed to run the guides on the sides of the windows.
On the day of the installation, the two engineers took just shy of three hours to do an impeccable job – they performed the work without any mess and with minor to no disruption to us.
The end result is even better than what we were expecting! The screens look like they were there from the beginning, and they disappear with the rest of the window when they are closed. Even when open, they don’t take too much light away from the room, which is an added bonus. Plus, they feel sturdy enough to keep our cat from jumping off the window. They also went the extra mile by installing a metallic cover at the bottom of the balustrade to cover a gap that our cat would be able to sneak through.
Overall, a very professional and positive experience that’s totally worth the cost (which itself is not exceedingly high either). Highly recommended!”
– Phantom Screens customer