Does magnetic screen door work?

From the middle of the spring all the way through mid-autumn, much of the United States is blessed with weather that just begs for doors and windows to be left wide open. In some regions, people are lucky enough to enjoy mild weather all year round, meaning even more occasions for open doors and windows to let in fresh, pleasant air.

However, along with those pure breezes that come blowing into your home can come unwanted, windblown dust and debris, as well as insects that can be a nuisance or, in some cases, a genuine health risk. Insects such as ticks or mosquitoes can carry any number of diseases.

Fortunately, there are myriad ways to enjoy fresh air inside your home while keeping the insects at bay. You can choose chemical or organic insect repellents, such as bug sprays or citronella candles; you can install traps that attract bugs and then catch or kill them, reducing the number of likely insect trespassers; or you can use fans to direct airflow and prevent flying insects from making their way into your home.

But the best way to enjoy the fresh air while also preventing insects from getting into your home, not to mention preventing the mess of leaves, twigs, and other debris riding the wind, is to create a physical barrier. Any standard window will likely already be fitted with a screen, or else it will be easy to buy a window screen or have one quickly and affordably assembled at most hardware stores.

Doorways, on the other hand, present a slightly more challenging issue, as, unlike windows, they are a necessary means of human passage. Instead of opting for an expensive, permanent screen door -- doors that often happen to be ungainly and unsightly -- consider a magnetic screen door that stops the bugs but allows easy access for people or pets.

Our magnetic screen doors any good?

The process of selecting the right magnetic screen door for your home (or your lake house, office, workshop, and so on) comes down to two essential considerations:

A door frequently used by kids or pets, on the other hand, will have to be rather more robust, standing up to rough handling and reliably sealing itself after each use.

The first question is quite easy to answer: is the doorway in question a standard, single door? That is to say, a door usually around 80 inches in height and between 24 and 36 inches in width, which is the usual range for American construction. If, however, you have a non-standard single doorway, or you are dealing with a sliding door, French doors, or even a garage door, then you will have to look a bit harder to find the right screen solution.

Custom Magnetic Screen Door 


Second, you need to consider who will be using the doorway and how often. If the door is infrequently passed through and almost exclusively by adults, then one of the cheaper, simpler magnetic screens is likely a fine choice, as adults are able to pass through a screen carefully and make sure it has properly sealed itself after them. A door frequently used by kids or pets, on the other hand, will have to be rather more robust, standing up to rough handling and reliably sealing itself after each use. (A magnetic screen door is useless if it features large gaps where magnets didn't meet up, after all.)

Magnetic screen door installation and maintenance

Part of choosing the right magnetic screen door for your property dovetails with the unit's installation and maintenance, for the ease of installing and maintaining a magnetic screen door may help convince you which is the right choice.

Other magnetic screen doors use grommets hung upon hooks, and require a much more laborious installation process, yet are less likely to present gaps around their edges.

Most magnetic screens install using a Velcro system: one strip of Velcro is applied to the doorframe using adhesives, while the perimeter of the screen itself is lined with the other half of the Velcro. Velcro has the drawback of occasionally coming loose and presenting gaps that bugs can pass through, but it offers the benefit of giving way instead of tearing should the screen be pulled or pushed upon too roughly. (These screens can always be retrofitted for a more secure installation using finishing nails, a staple gun, or other techniques.)

Other magnetic screen doors use grommets hung upon hooks, and require a much more laborious installation process, yet are less likely to present gaps around their edges. (For the record, when it comes to many larger, non-standard door openings such as those on a porch or garage, a Velcro-style magnetic screen may not even be an option.)

Over the weeks and months, your magnetic screen doors are going to get a bit dusty and grimy, and you'll want to keep them clean both for simple aesthetic purposes and so they can do their job and let plenty of clean, fresh air inside while keeping everything else out.

Fortunately, cleaning your magnetic screens is a painless process. If wiping them down with a damp cloth isn't sufficient, simply dunk the screens gently into a bucket of cool, soapy water, then rinse them with a few dunks in clean water. If possible, hang the screen right back up in its frame with a towel underneath; if need be, drape the screens over a clothesline to drip and air dry.