Magnetic fly screen for French doors
Magnetic fly screen for French doors
Both doors wide open. Not a single mosquito.
One magnetic fly screen cut to the full width of your French doors, with the magnetic opening sitting exactly on the join where you walk through. It sticks to the frame, not the doors, so the timber or the aluminium stays untouched, and it snaps shut behind you on the way out to the deck.
In short: French doors from 120 to 200 cm across take the door screen, made to measure from A$59.99; wider than that, or on a wall that cops the wind, the large opening screen. Made in 6 to 9 working days, fitted with adhesive hook-and-loop on the frame, no drill, no permission to ask.
★★★★★ 4.8/5 from 497 verified reviews on the door screen.
A pair of French doors is not just a door twice as wide
Through a single door you walk wherever you like. Through a pair of French doors you always walk through the same place: the join, where the two leaves meet and the handle sits. In most Australian homes the second leaf stays bolted for months and only gets unlatched to carry the outdoor setting onto the deck in spring.
Our screen is one panel across both doors, stuck to the fixed frame and never to a leaf. The magnetic opening is placed on that join, so you open the doors, walk out with the esky, and the magnets close behind you. Nothing rubs on a door, nothing hangs half open for the mozzies to find.
Then there is the handle. A lever handle stands 5 to 8 cm proud of the door, and on French doors that open inwards it is the one detail that spoils a fit in three when nobody measured for it. We cover it below, because it comes up in the order notes from Perth to Cairns.
How it goes onto two doors
Everything is decided before you order, while you measure. After that it is ten minutes of hook-and-loop tape.
Measure the frame, not the doors
Full width of the fixed frame, outer edge to outer edge, then the height. For a fit on the frame, add 4 cm to the width and 2 cm to the height for the fixing tape. The size guide shows you exactly where to hold the tape measure.
Put the centre opening on the join
By default it sits in the middle, like the join of two leaves of the same width. If one door is wider, or you only ever open the right-hand one, tell us: we move the opening so it follows where you actually walk.
Pick the side according to the handle
Doors that open inwards: the screen goes on the outside of the frame, or in the reveal like a tunnel. Doors that open outwards: the screen goes on the inside, and the handle stays outside. Either way, nothing catches.
The handle that sticks out
"French doors opening outwards", "two doors, one handle": those are our customers' words, not ours. A screen stuck to the inside of the frame, right in front of a handle pointing at you, gets pushed by that handle all day long. It will hold, but badly, and the mesh ends up with a dent.
The fix is one question before you order: which way do your doors open? It decides which face of the frame the screen goes on, and so which measurements you type in.
- Fit on the outer frame: the screen is outside, the doors open towards you, the handle touches nothing.
- Tunnel fit in the reveal: between the walls. Measure the inside width and add 4 cm.
- Self-adhesive hook-and-loop tape that holds on uPVC, aluminium and painted timber, and peels off without a trace.
From 120 cm to over 200 cm, we switch range on the way
The French doors we are asked about are usually 140, 160 or 180 cm wide, roughly 4½ to 6 feet. Here is how we steer them.
| Full frame width | Recommended model | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 120 cm (47 in) | Door screen, standard size | Six widths from 70 to 120 cm, dispatched within 24 to 48 hours. Rare on French doors, common on a single door. | from A$59.99 |
| 120 to 200 cm (47 to 79 in) | Door screen, made to measure | The typical French door case. Made to the centimetre, centre opening placed where you walk through. | from A$59.99 |
| Over 200 cm (79 in), or a wall that catches the wind | Large opening screen | Weighted bars in the hem, magnets 3.7 times longer, centre splits to suit. Up to 600 cm. | from A$199.99 |
Torn between two rows? Take the lower one. Mesh stretched across 190 cm with two 4 cm magnets in the middle does close, but it closes slower than with weighted bars.
Two models, one configurator
Buy more, pay less: 10% off from 2 items, 20% off from 4. Made to measure in 6 to 9 working days.
Door screen
For French doors up to 200 cm wide. Magnetic centre opening, closes on its own.
Large opening screen
Beyond 200 cm, or when the wall takes the wind. Weighted bars and centre splits.
Made to measure, guided
Opening, fitting type, measurements, colour: the configurator asks the right questions and shows the price straight away.
From 497 reviews
Verified on Judge.me for the door screen, the one on most French doors.
To fit
Frame wiped, tape stuck, screen pressed on. No tools.
Holes in the frame
The tape peels off without residue. Renting or owning, same job.
Fibreglass mesh
Fire-resistant E-glass, nylon-reinforced edges. It lasts season after season.
Your questions about French doors
My doors open outwards. Does that work?
Yes, and outward-opening is the common Australian case, especially onto a deck or a verandah. The screen goes on the inside face of the frame, the doors swing out, and the handle ends up outside where it can never touch the mesh. Measure the frame from inside the room and add 4 cm to the width and 2 cm to the height for the strip.
I only ever open one door. Does the centre opening have to stay in the middle?
No. If you always go through the right-hand door because the left one stays bolted, we move the magnetic opening to the right. Say so in the order comment box, with the width of the door you use. We put the opening where you actually walk.
My French doors are 160 cm wide. Which model?
The door screen, made to measure. At 160 cm the mesh stays light and the magnetic centre closure is enough, unless the doors sit in a wall that really catches the wind. In that case the large opening screen and its weighted bars close more decisively.
There is a roller shutter above the doors. Where does the screen go?
On the uprights of the frame, below the shutter box, or in the reveal as a tunnel fit. What to avoid: trapping it between the shutter and the glass if you lower the shutter every night. In that case fit it on the inside, and the shutter runs past without touching it.
My handle sticks out on the inside. Will the screen still hold?
Yes, as long as you fit it on the face opposite the handle: on the outer frame if your doors open inwards, or in the reveal as a tunnel fit. A handle that pushes the mesh all day ends up leaving a dent.
Does the tape hold on white uPVC, aluminium or painted timber?
Yes on all three, as long as you clean the frame before sticking and let it dry. On bare timber or flaking paint, sand lightly and dust off. The adhesive tape can be repositioned in the first few minutes and peels off later without a trace.
What if the dog or the cat goes through ten times a day?
They learn it in a day: the magnets part under the nose and close behind the tail. A cat or a kelpie-sized dog is fine, and the fibreglass mesh takes the passes. A big dog that shoulders through it will eventually pull the strip off the frame, so for a large dog ask for the reinforcement strip when you order, or consider a hinged frame for that one door.
How long does a made-to-measure screen take?
Allow 6 to 9 working days for a made-to-measure panel to be cut and sewn, then the delivery time to your state; the estimate for your size is shown on the product page before you order. Standard door sizes up to 120 cm leave within 24 to 48 hours.
Before you order
Size guide →
Which measurement to enter for your fitting, in three animated steps.
Fitting without drilling →
Every no-hole fixing, honestly compared.
Sliding patio doors →
What works on a wide sliding opening, and what does not.
Caravans and static caravans →
Tape on an aluminium frame, the sliding door of a van: our tips.
French doors in an Australian house
Timber on a verandah, aluminium onto a deck, and the one thing that is not a French door at all.
Timber French doors on a verandah
In a Queenslander, a Federation cottage or a weatherboard home, the French doors are timber, they open onto the verandah, and they are often the oldest joinery in the house. Nobody wants to put a screw through them, and the adhesive fixing is what makes that question disappear. The strip holds on painted timber once the paint is sound; on a frame that is flaking, sand lightly, dust off and let it dry before fitting. When the house is repainted the strip peels off without a trace and goes back on afterwards.
Aluminium French doors onto a deck
In a newer build the French doors are powder-coated aluminium and open outwards onto a deck or an alfresco. That is the easy case: the screen goes on the inside face of the frame, the handle stays outside, and the doors swing clear of the mesh. Wipe the aluminium with a damp cloth first, especially on a coastal block where salt film is what stops adhesive from bonding, and fit the strip in the morning rather than on a frame that has been in the midday sun.
Bifolds and stackers are not French doors
The wide opening onto the deck in a lot of Australian homes is a bifold or a sliding stacker, and people search for a French door screen when that is what they have. The difference matters for the model. A pair of French doors is a single panel with one opening on the join. A bifold or a stacker of two to four metres is the large opening screen, cut as several panels with magnetic splits wherever you walk through, hung on the fixed frame so the doors keep sliding or folding behind it. If that is your opening, the detail is on our sliding and patio door page.
The season, and where the mozzies actually get in
From October to March the French doors stay open from late afternoon until bed, and the join between the two leaves is the gap the mozzies find first, because it is the gap that is always moving. Putting the magnetic opening exactly on that join is the whole trick: the screen opens where you do and closes where they would. The mesh is an 18x16 fibreglass weave built for mosquitoes, houseflies and wasps. It is not a midge mesh. On estuary and coastal stretches where biting midges are the real problem, the answer is a much finer weave than we make, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong one.
Renting, strata and heritage
A screen that needs no screws needs no permission, which matters to the many Australian households that rent, live under a strata scheme where the outside of the building is common property, or own a heritage-listed home where the joinery cannot be touched. The panel goes on without asking anyone and comes off without a trace at the end of the lease. Our page on fly screens for rentals covers the detail.
Off for winter
From April the panel comes down in a minute and lies flat in a cupboard, the strip stays on the frame invisible, and the whole thing goes back up on the first warm evening in spring. Two measurements, the width of the frame and which way the doors open, and it is on this weekend.
Tonight, both doors open until midnight
Give us the frame width and which way the doors open. We make the rest.
Build my screen