Screen Pet Doors

Nowadays theres many different screen pet doors to choose from. These doors are installed into the bottom half of your sliding screen door. They provide a way for your pet to get in and out of the house with the patio door open but the screen door still in the closed position. Cats and Dogs usually learn how to use screen pet doors very quickly. The pet door is often closed by a small magnet. The Dog quickly learns they can push on the flap and walk right through. The magnet keeps the flap closed so the screen door does not jam into the patio door when the screen door is opened. Pet doors are best used with smaller dogs and cats. Most of these doors have thin aluminum or plastic frames which are not strong enough for heavier pets. If your dogs heavier than 20 pounds theres a lot more wear and tear every time he goes through the door. Screen doors are not the strongest things to attach a dog door to in the first place. All it takes is one squirrel and a big dog will take out the whole screen door, doggy door and all. How to install Screen Pet Doors The worst thing about installing screen pet doors is cutting into a perfectly good screen door to install it. If you make a mistake, like cutting the hole in the top of the door instead of the bottom, you have to get your rescreen your door and start all over again. Cutting the hole in the top instead of the bottom might seem like a dumb mistake but once you have your screen door out its easy to mistake the top for the bottom. Many screen doors are totally symmetrical and you can flip them around and use them "upside down". Take the time to mark the location of the doggy door on the frame with masking tape right on the screen door before you take it out. Then there will be no mess-ups. A useful thing to have during installation is a piece of plywood or a thick board bigger than the new doggy door itself. I usually drop that down on the ground first and lay one half of the frame of the doggy door on top of it. Then the screen door is laid on top of everything so you can line up the doggy door in the correct position. The thick board gives you support when you are cutting through the screen. It will help you cut a nice even hole as close to the edges of the dog door frame as possible. Some doggy doors then require you to roll the edges of the cut screen into the dog door frame with screen spline. Others require you to hammer a plastic frame cover on with a rubber mallet. The thick board is vital for these styles of dog door. You usually have to hit the frame pieces together very hard to make them join. Click on Screen Pet Doors to get back to the home page