The United States makes up a fraction of the world's population, and yet we consume about half the world's energy. Most of that energy is spent on heating and cooling! Instead of habitually switching on your air conditioner, use screen doors to create cross breeze. These retractable screen doors make it easy, sliding open and close in the tightest of spaces. Read more to find out how...
Small space friendly, retractable doors don't need the space that regular doors need to swing open and close, so they work great at apartments and any type of tight corner. They're basically like roller shades shades on a window, but instead of retracting up and down, they retract sideways into a thin, sleek, completely encased holder.
Why Retractable Screen Doors are Great:
- Cools your space without using energy.
- Attractive and sleek! Invisible when "closed," your door frame isn't muddied by an ugly screen door.
- Doors are about twice as large as conventional windows, so they're a huge resource for cross breeze ventilation.
- Small space friendly. You don't need the space that regular doors need to swing open and close.
- Clean the air in your space by reducing indoor air pollution. The EPA says that the indoor air of the average American home is hundreds of times worse than the air directly outside of it.
- Save a lot of money. Reining in the impulse to use air conditioner will dramatically reduce your monthly bill.
Find it! Mirage Retractable Screen Systems. $ (Contact dealers for pricing).
(Images: Mirage Retractable Screen Systems.)
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as an apartment dweller I would like nothing more than to be able to have a screen door for some cross vent ...
I've looked into these, but with cats and a dog, I'm not sure how they would stand up....anyone have any experience?
My parents got one of these and LOVE it! I really want one!
won't work in my area. while the heat's pretty bad, the humidity is a killer (literally). i'd rather live in Texas with their 105* temps and a decent cross breeze than Baltimore with our summers.
This is really a no brainer if it is logical in your area...I live in Western Pennsylvania so this strategy would have me roasting (literally) in the summers...I will forward this on to my sister in Minnesota though.
-Robb.
my parents have one (NE Ohio), it's a nice way to let in some fresh air. the magnet used to hold it in place when the screen is out is a bit strong/ aka you have to tug on it pretty hard to open it, but other than that it works great, they've had it for about 4-5 years now. they have a small cocker spaniel which is seriously hyperactive- has held up well, but then again he's scared of EVERYTHING, so he hasn't attacked it. i'm hoping to get one or two for our front and back door sometime, but we have a gutted bathroom right now. priorities. they run about $189-200 at home depot last time i checked.
We have had retractable screens for several years, and really like them. We used to have a dog that charged through them, so it didn't work that great with her. Our current dog doesn't do that. He waits for us to open the screen for him, so it works great now.
I don't know if I really understand the whole retractable concept but for years, I had french door screen doors in my condo and they worked great, we had the doors open all the time. Screen doors were locking too, home depot/lowes carried some nicely designed ones as well.
I don't have retractables but had security doors made with screens so I could draw in the cool air at night without concerns for safety. To deal with my cat, the lower sections are glass instead of screens. I live in Philadelphia and even with our summers I don't use A/C. (The white coating on my roof is a huge help too!)
Nice idea, but with the heat here, we could only use them for a few weeks out of the year. I already open our windows whenever it is cooler outside. During the summer, it is much cooler inside if we keep the windows shut!
Oh falnfenix, the temps here in TX summers are 105 PLUS humidity. I will say this year has been pretty mild so far. We even had a nice Spring (seasons are such a rarity here) and got to open up windows till May which was lovely. Even now temps are only 98-100 and the daily humidity is not overbearing like it usually is in summer (most summers my windows are all fogged up when I go to my car every morning, not this year). But yeah, the AC is a must till Oct or Nov (though I'm hoping for a nice Fall this year cuz it was hot last year).
I thought about getting one of these, but realized I didn't want everyone in the building hallway walking past looking into our living room and listening to everything we said =/