How to Enclose a Patio Privacy Screen

Pry the staples that secure the screen to the patio with a screwdriver. If your screen attaches to the patio via wooden frame, pry the screen's frame from the patio's posts and beams with a pry bar. Remove the screen from the opening. Measure the width and height of the opening with a tape measure.

Select framing lumber equivalent in thickness to the depth of the opening that you are enclosing. Mark the width of the opening on two pieces of framing lumber with a pencil and tape measure. Lay one side of a carpenter's square over a mark and place the other side against the lumber's edge. Run a pencil along the side of the square to create a straight cut line across the lumber's face. Lay out a cut line on the remaining piece of lumber.

Cut the lumber to length with a circular saw. These pieces are the enclosure wall's top and bottom plates. Divide the opening's width by the desired spacing of the wall studs, usually every 16 or 24 inches. Round the result up to accommodate a stud at the enclosure wall's end; the enclosure wall consists of a stud on each end and evenly spaced studs between. Note the required number of studs.

Subtract the thickness of the top and bottom plates from the opening's height. The result equals the height of a single stud. Measure and mark the required number of studs to this height. Cut the studs to length with a circular saw. Lay the plates on edge on a flat surface. Align the plates' ends and sandwich the plate's face to face. Mark the location of the studs on the plates' edges; a stud at each end and evenly spaced between.

Set the plates apart and position the studs on edge between the separated plates. Align the studs' ends with the stud marks on the plates. Fasten the studs to the plates with framing nails and hammer. Drive two nails through the outer faces of the top and bottom plates and into the ends of the studs.

Hoist the enclosure wall into the opening. Align the wall's front face with the outer edge of the patio's opening. Secure the end studs the inner edge of the patio frame with framing nails. Apply two nails at both the top and bottom of the end studs and stagger nails throughout the studs' fields, roughly every 12 inches. Fasten the top and bottom plates to the top and bottom of the opening with a similar nailing pattern.

Measure and mark plywood or siding to fit the enclosure wall's width and height. Cut the plywood or siding to size with a circular saw. Align the cladding with the enclosure wall's studs and fasten the cladding to wall with siding nails. Position nails roughly every 8 inches around the wall's perimeter and every 12 to 16 inches along center studs.

Cut the tip of a tube of exterior caulk with the caulking gun's tube cutter. Pierce the tube with the gun's piercing tool. Load the caulk into the gun. Apply a bead of caulk to the joints between the siding or plywood and the patio's opening. Smooth and spread the caulk with a putty knife.