Aug 14, 2009 05:41 PM
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HOW IT ALL BEGAN
We’d tried mosquito nets, camphor, smoke-emitting “Tortoises” (and “Samurais” etc), the non-smoking chemicals with “electronic machines”, (some call themselves “macchar ka yamraj”), etc.
Sometimes they were warded off for some time, till they sneaked back to their battle zone and would soon introduce themselves with songs and stings. Whether immediately or after some time, these little creatures would win the battle and spoil our sleep.
And then we learnt that a glass company had started making insect netting, and the mosquitoes were apparently being kept out. We were quite skeptical, and weren’t hopeful until we visited a friend, who seemed to swear by this newfound remedy.
As we sat in their drawing room, we could see clearly through windows, so we asked them why they hadn’t fixed it on all the windows. They said that they had. We had to go close to see that in fact the net was so light and hardly caused an impediment to vision, that we had not even noticed their presence until we went close. That convinced us.Now we too have got our whole house fixed with this fibre-glass netting, and are no longer tortured by these nocturnal pests..
WHAT IS IT
The Saint-Gobain Insect Screens are made of fine fibre-glass netting, which is very light and strong (since it is of fibre-glass). Available in several colours : white, black, gray, and several other shades.
HOW IS IT FIXED
The netting is conveniently affixed to the windows using Velcro. Nets are cut to the size of the windows. Velcro strips are stitched along the edges of the nets, and Velcro strips are fixed onto the windows. If the windows are wooden, (as ours were), metal staples, are “stapled”, using a stapler. If the windows have metal frames adhesive is used.
CLEANING
The nets can be easily stripped off, and washed in soapy water at normal temperature.
(We have to rip-off the Velcro whenever we have to open or shut the windows. We were told that the Velcro had a life of 20, 000 “rip-offs” ! Obviously we haven’t tested the truth of this, but so far the Velcro used seems none-the-worse for wear.)
DRAWBACKS
1.Mosquitoes, which have sneaked in, cannot get out.
2.The net does permit dust to come in.
3.The fibre-glass is not very “smooth” (like velvet !!) to the touch
4.The netting does sag get a little wavy after some use, and some washings. But since they are nearly invisible to the sight [at least the white coloured one is], this does not cause an aesthetic problem or reduce the functionality in any way.
- The nets shrink on washing. But the company Sanjay Impex, Bangalore, promptly replaced the nets.
CONCLUSION
We found the insect netting, to be very efficient in keeping out mosquitoes (and flies and other flying insects!), provided we kept the doors leading out from the house closed in the evening (during swarming time). But invariably someone would leave the door open. A few mosquitoes would then sneak in and would trouble us no end (especially now that the family had got used to mosquito-free nights). The solution for these infiltrators was to “zap” them. But more of that in my write-up on “Playing Badminton with Mosquitoes”.
