The Roll Away Screen Door

The Roll away screen door or retractable bug screen door pulls out just like a roller blind from a vertical spring loaded roll. This roll is usually mounted in a white painted aluminum housing to protect the roll away screen door from the elements when it is not in use. To close the screen across the doorway, you just pull on a vertical bar which rides in top and bottom guides. The vertical bar pulls the roll away screen door across the opening. The vertical bar locks closed on the opposite side of the opening with a magnetic catch so you can leave your main door open and have the screen across the opening to allow fresh air to come in but no bugs.

The roll away screen door is held tight by spring pressure on the roll so they can tolerate a person or a pet walking into it without breaking. There is enough screen on the roll so that the retractable bug screen door just unrolls a bit more if someone walks into it. Well most of the time. So long as fido does not blast clean through it like an express train the retractable screen door will spring back into place. Usually the retractable bug screen door has upper and lower guides rails with channels in them for the screen to fit in. Once the screen snaps back tight, it automatically jumps back into these channels to prevent bugs getting in above and under the screen. Since these roll up screen doors all use fiberglass cloth screening, there is a limit to their strength. They can still get ripped or torn. With normal use and care however, they are quite durable.

Roll up screen doors are held on by usually 7 or 8 screws. They are not a difficult project to install by the do-it-your-selfer. Detailed instructions are provided by the manufacturer in the packaging. Basically the roll up screen door vertical tube is installed first. You put 3 Screws into the door jamb at the locations specified. Some designs allow you to just clip the tube onto the screws you have just installed. Take time to make sure the vertical tube is level and plumb. The roll up screen door has upper and lower guide rails which have to be cut to length and installed. One on the door sill and the other at the top of the door frame. It is essential that these bars are perpendicular or 90 degrees to the main vertical tube. If they are not, the roll up screen door wont open and close smoothly.

So long as you have a door for which the retractable screen was designed, you will be fine. Most main entrance doors on houses are eligible so long as the bottom sill has some vertical face to mount the lower screen guide. The vertical face has to be in line or flush with the front edge of the door side jambs where the vertical tube is mounted. If its not you will need a sill adapter from the door manufacturer to make your sill flush. The top screen channel guide is not usually a problem. Most of the time the top of the door is flush with the side jambs.

As well as the door retractable screen there are also retractable screen window models. With these, the rolled up screen sits just like a window blind on the window top casing. You simply pull the retractable screen window down out of its housing like a blind. These screens are more popular in europe where there are a lot lore windows which were built without screens. Retractable screen windows also come with solar sunshade screen which helps keep harmful UV radiation away from your furniture. So long as you have a flat surface to mount them, these retractable window screens are easy to install yourself.

One drawback to these roll up screen doors and windows is that if the screen ever does get ripped, you generally have to return it to the manufacturers premises to get it repaired. This could be a problem if the manufacturer is not local or worse, goes out of business. Not too many glass shops can repair these yet, unlike regular screen doors and windows. Bear this in mind if you think the screen might be likely to get damaged.



Also there are some installation challenges with disappearing screen doors when it comes to patio doors and doors that swing out. Bring a photograph of the door you want to cover with a disappearing screen so you make sure that you get any special adapter that may be required for your door. It's probably best to let a professional installer deal with the special requirements.

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