Screen doors keep fresh air circulating in the house while securing door ways closed. And making one yourself is not as hard as you might think. One doesn't need a masters in home repair or be some expensive contractor for a simple project like this. No, this is something anyone can do to help make their home more comfortable and also save on air-conditioning as with a screen door in place you can get a nice circulation in your home without opening it up to insects and other crawling things.



Here's how we can fit one for our backyard doorway.

1. Have everything needed at the work place. Have the wood pieces pre-cut at the lumber store and label what piece goes to what part of the screen door.

2. Check the existing doorway dimension and base our screen door size to it. From jamb to jamb (face to face dimension) and top jamb to floor. The screen door height should be about ½ inch shorter for easy and smooth swinging.

3. An ideal frame piece thickness is 1 by 2 inches. We have the long and short sides of the screen door frame. The two long frame pieces should be parallel to each other and so with the two short frame pieces—the connectors. The two long pieces are connected at the top and bottom through the short pieces. The short piece at the top should be perpendicular to the two long sides and so with the bottom connector.

4. Put the mid portion connectors. These are two pieces of 1 by 2 inch frame members we attach at the mid section, dividing the screen door into 3 equal parts. Middle connectors snugly fit into the space between the two long sides, their tips touching the inner faces of the long sides. Connect through nails driven diagonally near their tips and into the long sides of the screen door frame.

5. All corners of the screen door frame are perpendicular. Use a square for checking. Double check by fitting the whole thing into the doorway. Make sure every corner of the screen door fits the doorway corners neatly. Then put short braces at the four main corners of the screen door frame. The braces' tips should be slanted forming a 45 degree to make the braces lie on the inner faces of the perpendicular corners. Nail them there.

6. Have the lower third portion of the screen door covered with plywood on both faces. The upper two-thirds we cover with screen on its side facing out. Roll the screen on that side, cut to size, and fix by the edges of the screen door frame with a 1-inch by ½ inch strapping wood piece. Drive 1-inch nails through the strapping wood and the screen door frame.

7. Attach the screen door to the door jamb using 3 pieces of hinges. Put a hook and lock or two at its opening side. And there we have a screen door constructed.