LESLIE: Art in Michigan is doing some work around his money pit. What can we help you with?
ART: Hi there. I have two, large porch openings that get a blast of Northwest wind through the winter. They’re about 12 feet long by 6 feet tall; two of them. And I’m trying to figure out how to close them in without – with a clear enclosure so that from inside we could still see through the porch and also in a way that would not – I would not have to screw into the wood frame of the opening.
TOM: Well, you’ve got to have some system for attaching it so at some point, you have to have some hardware installed.
ART: (overlapping voices) Yes.
TOM: Now, it may not be something that you’re nailing-in every single season and we could come up with a system that, essentially …
LESLIE: Like maybe a tracking system.
TOM: Yeah, that’s kind of what I was thinking. What I was thinking that if you had – have you ever had sliding windows?
ART: Yes.
TOM: Or a sliding door? Do you know how to – how they drop in at the top, you lift them up very high and then you drop them into the bottom track?
ART: Yes.
TOM: What if you built panels that did it, where you had a channel up top and a channel down below and the channels were attached to the opening? And you dropped in some panels that were clear; they could be framed and covered with clear Plexiglas. And then you drop them in when the winter season comes. So slide them up the track and then in.
LESLIE: And the track then really isn’t visible because you’re probably going into the soffit or right into that opening on the porch and then to the floor or somewhere, so you’re not really seeing it. This way, when it’s not functioning, you’re not looking at a hole or …
ART: Alright. Well, very good. I appreciate your help.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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