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Pet Screen Doors - How to build strong screen doors

Over the years many companies have tried to build pet screen doors that were strong enough to stand up to speeding dobermen and retrievers. One company built a screen door that was entirely made of stainless steel. Strong enough but way too expensive.

There is a limit to how strong you can build a screen door. Theres no point in building it stronger than the patio door frame its installed in. To build a pet screen door you need a frame that wont fall apart if it gets struck by a speeding dog, (or human). You want metal rollers that wont break when the door gets hit. Ideally , you just want the whole screen door to jump out of its frame rather than breaking.

Nowadays with pet screen cloth, we dont need to use stainless steel and other far more expensive metal screening materials. The only problem with pet screen is that a big dog can still push the whole cloth and the spline right out of the screen door frame. To make a strong screen door you need a stronger way of holding the pet screen cloth in.

One easy way to do this is to screw a long strip of aluminum 1/16” inch thick by 3/4” wide over top of the spline groove, to prevent the spline and the cloth from being forced out. You will need to put screws spaced every 3 inches or so to provide constant pressure around the frame. This may not look the nicest, but it will make your screen door very strong .

Some companies get around the need to put many screws by using a metal spline forced in using a hydraulic ram in the shop. This is very secure but if you ever do need to to change the screen cloth, you wont be able to do it yourself. And very few glass shops have hydraulic rams or metal spline for that matter. So maintenance may become a problem.

Buying a patio pet door

Sometimes, Pets need patio pet doors. Pet screen doors dedicated just to them. Something that wont get damaged in constant use. While you can use new petscreen products in your screen door, you cant make the screen door as strong as a purpose built pet door. A screen door is not meant to stop a speeding rottweiler going after a squirrel.

A good pet door will fit right into an existing patio door and still allow the patio door to operate normally so that us humans can use it. The pet door also allows the advantage that it can be removed easily if you have to move to new house with a new patio door. Some of the pet doors available today are very sophisticated. Some even have electronics built into them to open them when your pet approaches. They are even smart enough not to open for other dogs and cats and critters that you do not want in your home.

Tips for finding a good pet door

Will it fit your patio door, Patio Doors have slightly varying heights so you will need a pet door which adjusts for height

Will the pet door affect how your patio door locks. You may have to modify or reinstall the lock on your patio door

Will the new pet door seal properly to keep the wind, rain and snow out

Can the pet door frame be easily removed in case you want to bring it with you when you move house.

Can the pet door adjust for different sizes of dog or cat

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