[quote=temeculaguy]I hate them, go conventional especially if you have kids or pets. They all break, maybe not the first few years but they will break and the manufacturers come and go so it makes getting parts difficult. The screen material is exponentially more expensive if it needs replacement. I found them more expensive than other screen doors, I think i paid $300 for the front door which was standard sized or maybe a little tall. The wife at the time had to have it because all her friends had one. Within a few years, all those friends had removed them and thrown them out. While they were made by different companies and installed by different companies, not one was in existence 5 years later, so the lifetime warranty doesn’t mean squat. I’m trying to remember how many people it happened to so this doesn’t sound too anectdotal, I’m going to guess 8, but more importantly, I know not a single person who has one that still works and who has had it for more than a few years.
I took the clearview link, the contactor states they have been in business since 2002, so at 8 years it is longer than most, but i wonder how long they have been selling that brand of screen. The slowing down technology sounds promising, mine closed too fast and that’s where the problems seem to begin. One buddy of mine used a company that changed names after a few years and changed manufacturers of their screen to avoid all the warranty claims. He had them come fix it about 5 times in the first few years, then once they stopped honoring the warranty, he had it removed. He had a bunch of little kids and a big dog, a screen like that had about a 90 day lifespan at his place, you place might be a lot different and the screens may have gotten better, but just be cautious, the old school screen doors have stood the test of time, these haven’t.[/quote]
In essence, my experience with these have been…kinda like owning a German car……Either (1) you don’t mind constantly contacting the repairman or (2) you better be pretty handy… I have a sliding screen for the main patio window. And replacing the screen mesh is a snap not to mention cheap ($10-15)…One the upstair door, I have one of these…And replacing these screen mesh cost about $40-50…And whatever warranty there is, they don’t cover if you or someone causes a tear in them.
