Hi,

I'm rescreening my screened porch, which has brick walls to waist
height, and then wood framing above and had aluminum screens stapled
to the wood frame and covered with trim. The windows are inset
between larger posts. Because they are inset, I cannot use a product
like Screen-tite unless I want to build the window frames out flush,
and that's too involved for me. So I am just building screen frames
with the extruded aluminum parts that you can buy at Home Despots.

1. My first question has to do with the best way to attach the
aluminum screen frame to the wood window framing. It looks like the
easiest and best way to do this would be to simply screw the screen
frames to the wood. I've bought some #8x1 pan head Phillips self-
tapping machine screws for this purpose, but I am wondering if this is
really doable given how malleable the extruded aluminum is. Do I need
to predrill it to keep it from warping or bending in wierd ways? Or
does no person in his right mind attempt to put screws through these
things?

2. My second question is whether a 9 pound cat, climbing one of these
screens, will be able to pull the spline out of the channels, and if
so, what else I might do to keep this from happening? Thought about
crimping the spline channel with a pair of pliers. Is there a
downside to this?

Advice appreciated and thanks in advance,

Melissa