DIY retractable screen possible? (1 Viewer)

[Drew Wallner]

Hey DIY folks, I'm facing an interesting challenge. Advice and suggestions welcome!

I'm turning an addition to the back of our house into a HT in the coming months, and the space available is about 16' by 13' which means it could really go either way (orientation).

I've been pondering projecting along the shorter distance to give the room more width, and thereby increase by seating capacity (either way there really isn't room for two "rows" so a wider single row is preferable).

The difficulty is, if I go this route, the screen will block two windows which get a lot of sunlight. All the windows in the room will have curtains with blackout cloth sewn into them, but milady would prefer (if we go this route) that the screen be mobile in some way so the room could still be used with nice sunshiney windows from time to time.

Has anyone ever attempted something like this?

The screen would have to retract somehow, or else be rigid and swing up to the ceiling (and perhaps hook in place), or hey, if you have another idea let it roll!

I'm open to all suggestions, thanks!

 

[Eric M Jones]

Drew,

I had a similar situation where I didn't want to permanently cover a window. I came up with this swing design. It works great. The screen is 87" x 46" in size.

-EJ

 

[Drew Wallner]

WOW!

Eric, that is a *nice* job there! Looks very professional, I am quite certain milady would not mind. So do you just stand on a stool or something to pin it up to the ceiling (or are you just taller than me)?

I'm curious, that looks like a nicely constructed screen - it appears you used fabric? Would you mind sharing some of the details of your construction method - kinds of wood used, paints, that sort of thing?

I'm lucky enough to have a brother-in-law in art school, he's plenty skilled at stretching a canvas properly. I'm also fairly handy with household woodworking so I think I can hack something like this together.

What exactly did you use to create the fasteners at the base of the screen when it's in the "up" position? Care to post a close up?

THANKS for sharing this excellent work.

 

[Eric M Jones]

This actually began as a temporary screen. My original plan was to enclose it (the back and edges)in a solid surface painted to match the ceiling. The idea was that when it was folded up you wouldn't see any of the frame and it would just look like a large 2" deep box. I was impatient and didn't engineer it correctly so I just stuck with what you see.

The frame is constructed out of pine 1x4's and gusseted with 1/4" plywood. The screen is blackout fabric (commonly purchased at a fabric store). The border and back are covered with some cotton material I purchased off of ebay.

It's fastened to the ceiling with 2 ordinary door hinges. I use 2 barrell latches to hold it in the "up" position. These were meant as a temporary fix as I don't find them very elegant, but I haven't found anything to replace them yet. Here's a close up:



All together I put around $100 into the whole project.

... no stool needed for me I'm 6-2

-EJ

 

[Andrew Pratt]

That's exactly what I'm doing in my HT as well.

 

[Richard Savage]

Hi,

I am also looking into my own DIY screen. Both of of your HT are very nice !

Andrew, would you mind sharing the construction details of your screen with us ? How did you dealt with fixing the screen to your ceiling ?

Thanks !

 

[AaronCushing]

Has anyone considered using the paint that's used on the center-lines of roads? It's got little glass beads in it. If you happened to know someone who works in your city's traffic department, could ya just bring a primed sheet of plywood down to the city garage one Saturday, and get them to blast a coat of white reflective paint on there...

Or would that be TOO reflective? I dunno. Apologies if this is too noooooob.