I Used This DIY Kit to Screen In My Deck, and It Was a Brilliant Decision

We may earn a commission from links on this page. My wife and I live in an urban area where outdoor space is at a premium, so I consider our home's second floor roof deck one of its standout features. It’s sunny and relatively private—and, crucially, it’s outdoor space in a city where a Juliet balcony is often the best you can do. There are two downsides to the space, however. One is that it is plagued by bugs, especially since one of our neighbors began hosting the dreaded spotted lanternfly like they were protecting an endangered species. The other is that our cats love being on the deck, but also love launching themselves over the fence to explore the neighborhood. (Did I mention this deck is on the second floor? You haven’t lived until you’ve hunted down a lost cat across your neighbors' roofs.) The solution, for us, was to screen in the deck. First, I built a simple frame to extend the railings up a few feet, and created a pergola-like set of rafters going across to support a screen. Here’s what it looked like at that point: Framing on my deck. Credit: Jeff Somers But how to actually enclose it? I could have just stapled screen to the framing, but that would lead to a problem in the winter, when the "roof" would be laden with snow. I’m pretty good with a power drill and some pressure-treated 2x4s, but I don’t think my screen-roof would've held several feet of New Jersey snow, so my screen needed to be easily removable (and …