Screen Door Won’t Clear Patio Door Framing

I thought replacing missing screen door would be a simple thing. It turns out the screen won’t clear the framing around the screen door track. The track isn’t deep enough to allow me to insert the door at the top to clear the bottom and vice versa. The size of the screen door is correct for the track as it measures correctly I just can’t get it past the frame. See photo below:


Frame area that is blocking the screen from being installed vertically.

Patio door size is a standard 72x80 according to the sticker on the door. If that framing wasn’t there the screen door would go in just fine. Anyone else run into this problem? Screen size purchased is 35.5 x 77.875 which I thought would be more than enough to fit.

 

Screens are not necessarily one size fits all. So its very possible if you bought a generic screen door that the screen is NOT the right size. (Despite what you think) Screens almost always have to be OEM and come from the exact company you got the door from in order to fit and slide properly.

Add to that, some vinyl patio doors were engineered by idiots. On some doors, the screen and the fixed glass panel need to be inserted into the frame of of door BEFORE it is installed so that you can bow the frame apart in the middle, which is the only way to get enough clearance to get it installed. Once the door is installed in the opening and the fin is nailed to the wall, you can then no longer bow the frame up enough to get either panel out. So its possible that the screen door IS the right size, but you can't get it in without taking the entire door frame out in order to spread it apart. Believe me, I've run into this more than once.

I need to rescreen a door just like this on an apartment tomorrow, where its just the opposite problem... the screen door is in the opening and its to tall to come out. So I can't take it out to get it repaired, I have to rescreen it on site.

 

If you can't return the screen it's possible to take it apart and cut the vertical sides down a tad. The corners will come out but it might be tricky and sometimes they break. But usually you can get corners. But if you do cut the sides you'll want to be very accurate on the miter.
BTW...that will mean a rescreening since it's unlikely you'll be able to use the old screen material.

 

Yea…I figured that was going to be the situation. I don’t who would design a patio door to where you have to remove the whole thing just to replace a screen door. I know there’s custom places out there but it seems like a whole lot of work for nothing. Guess I’ll just do without the screen.

 

If you're stuck with it or can't return it, then it's worth trying to cut it down to size.
Or you could put a FOR SALE sign on it and put by the curb side.

 

Can you post a picture of the top screen track?

 

 

@Norm201 - a family member needed a screen door badly and this one fit her sliding door just fine so it ended up not going to waste. Looks like it’s just my set up. I may end up replacing the whole patio door with a one I can remove and replace a screen door easily if need be.