Fly screen doors in Australia: what you can actually fit
Fly screen doors in Australia: what you can actually fit, and what it costs
Four products share one name. Only one of them goes on without a drill.
Hinged frame, sliding panel, retractable cassette or magnetic mesh: they are all sold as a fly screen door, and they have almost nothing in common. Here is what each one suits, what it really costs per opening, and the cases where the answer is not ours.
★★★★★ 4.8/5 from 497 verified reviews on the door screen. We make one of the four types, and we say so.
You will be shown four different things.
An aluminium frame on hinges, a sliding panel on the track of the patio door, a mesh that rolls into a cassette, and a magnetic panel that sticks to the frame. Australians call all four a fly screen door, a flyscreen if you write it the local way, and the mesh itself is flywire. The price runs from under sixty dollars to well over a thousand, the fitting from ten minutes with no tools to a tradie with a drill, and none of them suits every door. This page sorts them out.
Hinged, sliding, retractable, magnetic: each has a door it belongs on
No type is bad. Each one has a terrain where it is the right choice, and a terrain where it is a waste of money.
The hinged frame
An aluminium frame with a mesh, screwed to the door jamb on hinges, with a closer that pulls it shut. The classic on a standard front or laundry door. It needs a square reveal, a drill, and a door width it was made for.
The sliding panel
The screen that rides on its own track beside a sliding or stacker door. Very good when the track is still there and true. Expensive to replace when the rollers, the track or the width are no longer standard.
The retractable
A mesh on a spring roller in a cassette, pulled across on side tracks. It disappears when not in use, which is its whole point. It is a permanent, drilled installation with moving parts.
The magnetic panel
A mesh cut to your opening, held to the frame by adhesive strip, closing on itself with magnets sewn into the hem. No drilling, no track, off in a minute at the end of the season. This is the one we make.
When the framed door is the right answer
We only make magnetic screens, so take this as it is meant. There are three doors where a framed screen will serve you better than we will.
The front door with a dog
A hinged frame with a closer takes a big dog pushing through it fifty times a day. A magnetic panel takes the first forty and then asks for the strip to be pressed back. On that door, buy the frame.
The door in the wind
On an exposed coastal or hilltop opening where the afternoon southerly hits the screen square on, a mesh in a rigid frame stays put. Magnets hold well in ordinary weather; a gale is not ordinary weather.
The entry you want clear
If the screen has to vanish completely when it is not in use, on heritage joinery for instance, a retractable does that and nothing else does. We compared it line by line on our retractable screen page.
The four types, line by line
Prices are per opening, fitting included, as they actually land in Australia. Where a figure depends on the maker, we say so.
| Magnetic (ours) | Hinged frame | Sliding panel | Retractable | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fits a non-standard opening | ✓ Cut to the centimetre | ~ Standard widths, or made on quote | ✗ Needs the original track | ~ Kit sizes, trimmed to fit |
| No drilling | ✓ Adhesive strip on the frame | ✗ Hinges and closer screwed in | ~ Only if the track exists | ✗ Cassette and tracks fixed |
| Walk through, hands full | ✓ Push, it snaps shut behind you | ✓ With a closer | ~ Slide it, then slide it back | ~ Pull it across each time |
| Budget per opening | ✓ From A$59.99 | ~ Low hundreds, more if made to size | ~ Low hundreds, plus the track work | ✗ Several hundred, fitted |
| If you rent | ✓ Peels off, no residue | ✗ Owner's permission, holes stay | ✗ Owner's permission | ✗ Owner's permission, holes stay |
| Out of season | ✓ Off in a minute, flat in a cupboard | ✗ Stays on the door | ✗ Stays on the track | ✓ Inside its cassette |
Made to your door, on in ten minutes, off for winter
You send us the width and height of the frame. We cut an 18x16 E-glass fibreglass mesh to those measurements, sew the magnets into the hem rather than gluing them on, and post it. You press the adhesive strip onto the frame, hang the panel, and the door is screened for the season, from October right through to March. The mesh is built to stop mosquitoes, houseflies and wasps while letting the breeze and the daylight through.
- No drilling. The strip peels off the frame without residue, which matters in a rental and in a strata building.
- Cut to the centimetre. Standard widths from 70 to 120 cm on the shelf, anything else made to your numbers.
- From A$59.99. A fitted framed door starts at several times that, before anyone comes out to measure.
The door is where the mozzies come in. It is rarely the only place.
Most people start with the door onto the deck and order the bedroom windows three weeks later, once the first warm night has made the point. The fitting is identical on all three formats, and the discount is automatic: 10% off from two screens, 20% off from four.
Window
Adhesive magnetic strip on the frame, off in seconds to open up. Bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom.
Door
Central magnetic closure: you walk through, it snaps shut behind you. Front, laundry, deck.
Large opening
Several panels with magnetic splits for stackers, bifolds and wide patio openings, up to 600 cm and beyond.
The screen you can fit without asking anyone
Close to a third of Australian households rent, and a growing share own under a strata scheme where the outside of the building is common property. For both, the fly screen door question is really a permission question.
In a rental
A hinged frame or a retractable means asking the agent, waiting, and leaving holes behind at the end of the lease. A magnetic panel goes on the frame with adhesive strip, peels off without a trace, and moves out with you in the box it came in.
Under strata
The door frame onto a balcony is usually common property, and a screwed-on screen can need a by-law application. Nothing that sticks on and comes off in a minute needs one. Keep the panel inside the frame line and nobody will ever raise it.
In a heritage home
Turned timber posts and a hundred-year-old French door are not things you want to drill. The strip holds on sound paint, comes off for repainting, and goes back on afterwards. The joinery stays exactly as it was.
Measure the frame, not the door
Three doors, three ways to get the numbers right. Two measurements are enough; we make the rest.
A standard hinged door
Measure the outside of the door frame, width and height, where the strip will sit. Not the door leaf: the panel has to overlap the opening on all sides. On a 70 to 120 cm frame, a standard size will fit.
A sliding or stacker door
Measure the clear opening you actually walk through when the door is open, and note how many panels you would like. Wide stackers go to the large opening model, cut as several panels with magnetic splits. The details are on our sliding and patio door page.
A pair of French doors
Measure the full width of the outer frame across both doors, then tell us which side the handle is on. The panel is made in one piece with the centre opening on the join. We wrote a whole page on it: French door fly screens.
On Judge.me
497 verified reviews on the door screen alone.
To fit
Frame wiped, strip pressed on, panel hung. No tools.
Holes in the frame
The strip peels off without a trace, rentals included.
To change your mind
Free delivery over A$50, returns at our expense.
Your questions about fly screen doors
Does a magnetic screen door hold in the wind?
In ordinary weather, yes: the magnets are sewn into the hem along the full height, and the panel closes on itself rather than swinging. In a strong, steady wind the mesh will lift and snap back, which is noisy but harmless. On an opening that takes a gale square on, a framed screen is the better buy, and we said so above.
What about dogs and cats?
A cat learns the magnetic closure in a day and uses it. A small dog too. A large dog that shoulders through it will eventually pull the strip off the frame, and that is the one case where we point you to a hinged frame with a closer. The detail is in our guide to fly screens with cats and dogs.
Will it go on a sliding door?
Yes, on the fixed frame around the opening, not on the moving panel. For a single sliding door the door model is enough. For a stacker of two metres and up, the large opening model is cut as several panels with magnetic splits, so you walk through wherever you like. See the sliding and patio door page.
Does the mesh stop midges and sandflies?
Not reliably, and we would rather say it. The 18x16 weave is built for mosquitoes, houseflies and wasps. Biting midges on some coastal and estuary stretches are small enough to get through a standard mesh, and what stops them is a much finer weave than we make. If midges are your problem, that is the screen to look for.
How long does delivery to Australia take?
Standard sizes leave within 48 hours. A made-to-measure panel is cut and sewn first, which adds a few production days before it ships. The delivery estimate for your size is shown on the product page before you order.
What if it does not fit or I change my mind?
You have 30 days after delivery to send it back, made-to-measure sizes included, and the return is at our expense. If a measurement went wrong, tell us first: nine times out of ten we can sort it without a return.
Do you fit it, or do I?
You do, and it takes about ten minutes: wipe the frame, press the adhesive strip on, hang the panel. There is no tradie to book and nothing to drill. If you have never done it, the step by step is in our guide to fitting a fly screen without drilling.
Before you order
The right fly screen door is the one your door needs
If that is the magnetic one: two measurements and it is on this weekend.
See the magnetic door screenArched, sloped or otherwise unusual opening? Configure a made-to-measure screen for any shape.