Built a sliding screen door!

So I apologize for this not being 100% garage related...but I figured you guys might appreciate it nonetheless

The Georgia sun hits the back of my house pretty hard and sicne I have 3 large windows and a 71" sliding glass door the AC unit has been working harder than it needs to to keep up. I have window treatments on the inside but I needed some type of solar shade on the outside to break up the light hitting the house.

Anyways I decided on a sliding, cedar and screen door for the door cover. I used stainless hardware, solar mesh screen, and just standard width cedar boards from Home Depot and Lowes. Had to get the roller track from the tractor supply company. I'm about halfway through the project...I'll also be building cedar frames with screens to cover the windows. Eventually I hope to seal the window frames so they act like regular screens and can be removed if needed. The door I'll likely use something comparable to rubber garage door trim to seal at the sides...I'm still thinking on that one. Here's some pics in the meantime...

Inside of the house with the solar mesh on the right and nothing on the left. The pic may not show it but there was a big difference in heat/light:



Solar screen draped outside:



Door plan:


Door with some bracing and screen trim:




Screen in:


Hanging in the track:




From the inside looking out...of course it wasn't a sunny day so I didn't get to see the difference!?!?



Sitting in the house until I can stain it this weekend:



I'm going to screen over the other side of the glass door behind where the roller door slides. I also put casters on the bottom so all of the weight isn't hanging...it's supported. I've got to stain it and put some trim on the back to seal it so bugs don't get in in the cooler months.

Any recomendations on a sealer? I want to keep it simple to available stuff from local places...no special orders. Just something that will add some color and protect it.

Now that's using your head! I like it, an inexpensive solution to a problem that looks good too!

BigAl62 said:

Now that's using your head! I like it, an inexpensive solution to a problem that looks good too!

Click to expand...

Thanks...should have it all up this weekend once it's stained

That's pretty darn good idea. Since you made it out of Cedar, you may not need a sealer on it.

NUTTSGT said:

That's pretty darn good idea. Since you made it out of Cedar, you may not need a sealer on it.

Click to expand...

It will probably just grey...although I didn't want it to get any sort of mold or odd discoloration at the bottom either.

I'm eventually going to redo the rest of the deck and put a roof over it...but in the meantime I think I might redo the hand rail and put down some of this stuff too:

http://synta.com/prod_restoredeck2.html

For like $300 I could probably really transform the exterior look

Curious, how does this handle the wind? Does it bang around a lot? Do you need to hook it somehow?

Mattlt said:

Curious, how does this handle the wind? Does it bang around a lot? Do you need to hook it somehow?

Click to expand...

I have casters concealed on the bottom and treated furring strips (not shown in the pics) that it sits and slides in so it maintains a uniform slide. I'm going to do a removable screen over the other door...just a basic white frame that will just block the sun.

Here's a pic with the track in place:

Stained the top and one of the supporting boards:

And mounted:

Man, I like the color of that stain.

NUTTSGT said:

Man, I like the color of that stain.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

It's called Australian Timber Oil and the color is mahogany flame:
http://www.cabotstain.com/products/...er-Oil.html?productTypeName=Staining Products

Some updated pics of this project below...here's the sun block I made for the other side and the door about 99% finished and mounted:





Assembled door:


All bolted up:


Big difference in shade and heat on the inside:

We have 2 decks at our beach condo with sliding glass doors opening to each deck. I was going to get a reflective film to put on- but now I know it may keep the inside cooler - but the decks will become blazing hot. Is there anything to put on the sliding glass doors that I can buy to keep cool in and not heat up the decks?
I will add that there are screens already in the sliding glass doors . The screens are on the deck side of the glass doors .
Any ideas?


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Nice work!

That is very nice. Great job. I love custom, relatively inexpensive solutions to problems, especially those that can pick your pockets for a long time. Those sun screens really do a great job. I have them on my south-facing windows; made a big difference on windows heating up from the AZ sun.