New Patio Door

hi all - I'm in a new rental townhome (one level) in which one of the bedrooms has a sliding glass door (and screen) going out to the backyard. This is the only "window" in that room, which, I will want open sometimes - even at night (only a few inches). The usual solution is to open the door a few inches and then place a hefty dowel rod or 2x4 in the rest of the "sliding pathway" so that noone from the outside can continue to slide open the door. BUT - this door seems to be put on backwards! Gack! The "sliding door" part is on the outside track! So, there is nowhere on the inside to put the dowel or slider. I'm in need of a solution! Initially I thought of just taking apart the whole thing, the frame and all, and flipping it around, and then re-installing. I'm seeking advice on that strategy from all the handy-women and men out there: is this a huge strategy? Is it stupid? Is there another way to do it? I'm going this weekend to Home Depot to look at certain sliding door locks to see if there is one I can put at the bottom to "lock" the door open a few inches, but all someone would have to do is slit the screen and flip it open. IDEAS? Thanks! I'm going to go to my landlord with it as a safety issue anyway...but would like to have some suggestions or strategies for it, and costs, for either replacing the whole door and frame, or, "reversing it" THANKS FOR YOUR IDEAS AND HELP :-) A.J.G.

We are remodeling our family room and space is at a premium. We have a fiberglass, 8' slider that opens from the family room to the patio. We are ordering french doors, and are considering outswing doors to save on space in the family room. We will place our dinette table (42" diameter round) up near the door opening, so outswinging doors seemed to be the solution. Is there anything to consider before installing outswing doors? I heard that they don't seal against the weather as well as inswing doors. Is there anything to consider due to the fact that the hinges are exposed on the outside? I heard that it might be a security problem. We'd like to install some insect screens, and for outswing doors, we guess this means some kind of retractable screen on the inside of the door. Does anyone have any experience with the functionality of insect screens on outswing doors? Any information would be a big help.