Single hung windows..do screens let in bugs?

[NancyR]

Am planning a major remodel of a 100 year old log cabin and am trying to decide on window choices. We like the idea if the Andersen single hung that only has 1 screen. My concern is that we are in a VERY buggy north woods setting and will have windows open all summer long (not hot enough for AC). Will noseeums and black flies find their way in? Any personal experience appreciated.

[RiverFarm]

I can't picture what a single-hung window looks like. We have double-hung in the kitchen, and casements that crank out everywhere else. Our area is quite buggy too, with biting flies, mosquitoes, once in a while a greenhead or two, and gnats, especially in the spring. Our screens keep out everything except the occasional gnat, which can fly through the mesh with wings outspread. They aren't much of a problem, and if I close the window where I'm sitting with a light on that seems to take care of them.

[NancyR]

Single hung looks just like double hung but top window doesn't move. Therfore you only have one screen...in the bottom... and at the top of the screen there is a seal (foam I think) where screen meets upper glass. Advantage is you only have to look thru one screen and in winter you move it up so view is clear and you don't have to store screens. Hope that makes sense. My concern is that foam might not seal well. We currently have sliding patio doos that seal in a similar way and in the summer bugs just march through it. I am hoping that since window is smaller it might wok better.

[RiverFarm]

I think it will probably seal as well as you need it to!

[DanaSD]

That's all we've ever had and they work fine. I didn't even think they made the other kind anymore

[sparrowgrass]

I have them, and they work fine. Of course, I am in Missouri and not dealing with the hordes of biters that you are. (I love Missouri!)

Black flies won't make it in--no-see-ums, maybe. They are little!

[RiverFarm]

If you have problems with gnats you can always brush the screens with Avon's Skin So Soft; that really repels the ones we have here. I use it if I'm working in the garden during gnat season, and then I'm not bothered at all.

[VictoriaL]

We have wood double-hung windows in our (mostly) restored 147-yo home, and they are heavy to raise. We put the same kind (new Marvin double-hung) in an addition, and I really wish I had just scrapped the "historically accurate" and went with casements. They're so much easier to open, especially as I get older!

[RiverFarm]

Our double-hungs are 40-year-old Pellas, and they worked well until one of the ropes attached to the spring mechanism broke on each of them. We have one fixed and are waiting for the guy to come do the other; it made a huge difference to the ease of operation but it wasn't an easy job.

Casements have their own issues; some of ours are hard to open, or to close completely, especially after they've been open or closed all season.

[VictoriaL]

Our double-hungs are 40-year-old Pellas, and they worked well until one of the ropes attached to the spring mechanism broke on each of them. We have one fixed and are waiting for the guy to come do the other; it made a huge difference to the ease of operation but it wasn't an easy job.

Casements have their own issues; some of ours are hard to open, or to close completely, especially after they've been open or closed all season.

Yet another instance of the "grass being greener on the other side..."

I guess that I should figure out how to fix the heavy wood double-hungs, they're original to the house; having the ropes would help, but that's yet another project and quite a daunting one.