Phantom Screen Door
Phantom, along with Mirage, Eclipse, Dreamscreens and others, make a quality retractable screen door with a powder coated aluminum frame, high quality plastic and stainless steel accessories. These brands depend on a design using a spring loaded tube that runs on bearings onto which the screen fabric is coiled. Sharing the same basic design, they also all share the same basic problems. Some of these problems are: high initial cost due to the complexity of the mechanism, difficulty adapting to the real world out-of-square and out-of-level door openings and wind related failure. Wind related failure causes the screen to either come out of the track or pop open because the fabric is held in place by spring tension alone.
A New Retractable Screen Design
Screen Solutions Inc has an alternative to this design with the introduction of the Plissé (PLEE'-say) retractable screen. The Plissé uses the same type of aluminum frame and accessories, but utilizes a unique pleated screen fabric to fold rather than coil. This simple design makes the Plissé more affordable, costing about the same amount as a traditional hinged screen door. The Plissé is also much more adaptable than those coiling retractable screens to the type of openings that you will find in the average home. This adaptability makes the Plissé easy enough for almost anyone to install thus also saving money on installation. The Plissé design doesn't suffer from wind related failures. In a test with a common household fan two feet away and set on high the fabric on a Mirage, which is identical to the Phantom screen door, came out of the track in less than 10 seconds. When the Plisse was tested, even with the fan set as close as possible, the fabric never came out of the track.
To learn more about this alternative to the Phantom screen door and how you can have it for your home click here.
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Updated: 11/19/2006