Sliding Patio Screen Door Replacement Guide

There are plenty of companies that make sliding patio screen door replacement doors but not too many front line glass shops and hardware stores promote them. The trouble is they often need to be cut to the specific height of your patio door. Unfortunately theres no such thing as a standard door height.

This makes the sale of a single sliding patio screen door more work than some companies think its worth. Better to sell the whole patio door and make a bigger margin. But rest assured, if you want a sliding patio screen door replacement, you will find one if you dont mind doing a little searching.

What to look for in a sliding patio screen door

The picture shows an example of a piece of rollformed sliding patio screen door frame. This is the less costly form of screen door frame that many builders use on new homes. You want to avoid rollformed screen door frames if you are buying a sliding patio screen door replacement.

Rollformed screen doors are inexpensive but they are also flimsy. They wont stand up to someone walking into the screen, they will usually bend. It's next to impossible to fix a badly bent rollformed screen door.

Rollformed screen doors are most often made of aluminum. The aluminum used in rollforming is usually quite thin and bends easily. By forming the aluminum into the shape shown in the picture it makes it stronger but the aluminum is still so thin it doesnt hold screws very well and doesnt hold its grip when the corners are installed which hold the door together.

There are some rollformed screen doors that are made from steel. This gives a great improvement in strength but it does make the door heavier. A steel rollformed door needs ball bearing rollers to support its weight. Usually steel rollformed doors just come with plastic rollers which wont last too long.

In order to get around the problem of having to custom fit each screen door to the patio door height, some rollformed door companies are using an adjustable plastic "shoe" at the bottom of the screen door. There are long slots in the shoe with screws which you tighten after you have adjusted the shoe to the correct height.

The problem with this system is the "shoe" often catches on part of your patio door when you try to open the screen door. The shoe also has only room for the cheapest of plastic rollers which dont have springs to keep them on the track as the door opens.

The extruded patio screen door frame sample shown in the graphic is the style of frame you do want to buy. These use more aluminum and are more costly but they are much stronger than rollformed screen door frames. The strength comes from the thicker aluminum and the design of the screen frame itself.

Extruded patio screen door frames also stand up to someone walking through the screen door a lot better. Usually the worst that happens is the whole door just pops out and you have to put it back on again.

Extruded screen doors are usually supplied with much better rollers which have springs to keep the rollers on the track as the door opens. The extra strength and stiffness of the door holds brackets and corners much better. The thicker aluminum also allows room for locks to be installed.