Phantom Retractable Screen Door

[wfopete]

I have a Reliabilt french patio door from Lowes that I need to incorporate a screen system into. The Reliabilt version is crazy expensive. Lowes offers the Phantom Retractable Screen Door also for a much lower cost and there are also other systems by Clearview, ODL etc, does anyone have experiance with these systems?

 

[58Yeoman]

My late MIL had a Larson storm door on the front of her house, but it was only a half window, and the screen would roll down into the bottom half of the door. I had a small hole at the bottom of the screen. I thought it would be easy to just replace the screen with regular vinyl screen. NOPE. You had to buy a whole screen cartridge for around $150. We sold the house with the ripped screen.

We were at HD the other day and saw the phantom screen door that slid sideways. It looked cool, but then I thought back to my MIL's door. It was ~$180. I think it might have been Larson also.

 

[Colin Len]

Subscribing because I'm interested in this too. I bought the expensive upgrade with my Milgard slider and have their disappearing rollscreen. So far I like it - but it was very troublesome at first and I needed a tech to come out and adjust it so it worked well. Now I'd like to get a similar setup for our front door. I was going to install one myself but can't find one that isn't really ugly looking (ODL Brisa).

I bought a Genius screen from Costco but when I opened it came to find that it was a return and had cut pieces inside. I need to return or possibly exchange it. It was really cheap and I think quality was OK but I never got to see it up and running.

I just now noticed there's a Seasonguard brand at Home Depot which looks like it might be OK from an aesthetic standpoint but has very poor reviews.

 

[mslim]

Yeah I had a Phantom installed when I lived in California. It's a good product with a couple of caveats. It's like a roller shade mounted vertically instead of horizontally. When you pull it to close and latch it, keep the rigid piece parallel or plumb to the door frame. The top and bottom of the Phantom have no rigid structure. It's simply fiberglass screen material. The bottom can fray after a while but it is simply esthetics. Occasionally vacuum out the tracks and roller mechanism as best you can and lubricate with the supplied Phantom spray lubricant (which may just be silicone IDK).

The Phantom is so transparent it's easy to walk right into it until you get used to it being there.

Slim

 

[fattogatto]

I've had a phantom for 10 year sand it still is perfect. Just keep it clean and watch the alignment when closing. Well worth the money.

 

[mtnkrake]

I have 2 on my house. They work great with yearly cleaning. And yes you willl walk through it. Don't ask.