Not every door will be built this way.

But this will require an extra piece of wood to support the track.

But I'm planning a different approach, so I'll need to measure differently.

This board was about 7/8" thick by 1½" tall. I ripped it from a straight, clear piece of 2x4.

Measuring The Height Of The Opening:

I measured from the top edge of the new sill extender that I just installed...

I got 82 inches exactly.

Width Measurement:

For face mounting, the width measurement starts at the outer edge of the flat face on the brick molding...

I got 38-3/16".

From this measurement I subtracted 1-3/4" to get the cut length for the top track and bottom track, which in my case was 36-7/16"

The instructions seem to indicate that the pull bar can be cut at the same time as the cassette, but I know that such a loose piece will flop around like crazy in the miter saw.

This will make the screen 1/8" shorter than the cassette housing. This is very important.

I made this cut extremely slow, to avoid bending the metal extrusion.

Wear eye protection! Getting a chunk of metal in your eye will really hurt!

This stuff cuts like plastic.

The spring end cap will only fit on one end of the cassette.

Important:

This plastic rod on the end cap needs to go inside the "hole" on the extruded aluminum cassette.

BUT NOT YET!

Winding Up:

I wound the spring by rotating the end cap clockwise 12 turns.

The instructions say to use a rubber mallet, but I forgot to bring one, so I just hammered carefully.

The Other End:

This little plastic bushing almost got forgotten.

I'm pretty sure it goes on this end cap.

The instructions mention this part but don't illustrate it well.

Caution:

When I first assembled the spring-loaded end cap, I didn't notice the alignment of this bushing. After the door was installed the screen seemed really difficult to pull out. I took everything apart and discovered that the little tab on this bushing was jammed against one of the ribs on the splined tube. I simply had to re-position the bushing so the tab was between the ribs, and then everything worked fine.

The plastic prong-thing must be properly aligned with the hole, or else the cap won't go together. It's possible to install the end caps with the prong just slightly outside of that hole, and then the end cap will be turned slightly and won't be able to fit inside the metal cassette.

Handles:

There are two different handles that are mounted on the pull bar.

It was quite difficult to insert this plastic handle into the groove in the pull bar, so I gently tapped it with a hammer.

I crimped both ends, because it seemed to need it.

While this leaves a mark, the ends are concealed by the other parts.

The mounting brackets (red arrow) don't take into consideration the shape of the brick molding. These brackets would work just fine on a flat surface, but almost all entry doors come with a brick molding that has a contour.

That straight red line above the arrow represents the proper orientation of the L-shaped bracket. With the contours of the brick molding, the bracket sits on quite an angle, and the screen cassette seems too loose. This is sloppy engineering.

The instructions won't tell you this.

(This tends to dull the chisel.)

The top track is supposed to be fastened to the brick moulding, and it will bow inward, which I think looks cheesy.

The latch bar has a tapered shape. It CAN'T sit squarely against the face of the brick molding.

And the instructions say to drill a 3/8" diameter hole through the front surface of the latch bar so it can be fastened to the face of the brick molding.

Please, Larson, tell me how!

I used a power planer to remove the raised contour of the brick molding. This could also be done with a block plane or a belt sander.

Next I fastened a 1" x 1" piece of wood to the planed-down brick molding, on the top and latch side.

Frankly, they didn't provide enough screws. There were 8 screws for the top, bottom and latch tracks. I used up all their screws on the top and bottom, and used my own screws for the latch bar.

These screws were tricky to drive because the heads could stop at the inner flanges if the holes were drilled off-center.

A Note Of Caution:

Note how the screw head can hit the inner flanges. It's important that the holes be drilled close to the centerline of the track.

This is a sample of bottom track, but the top track has the exact same inner flanges.

While this was a real chore to figure out the instructions, once it was finished it was definitely worth it.

I could see a problem developing if a lot of dirt gets in the bottom track. It may need to be vacuumed out occasionally to keep the pull bar from dragging in dirt.

You can hardly see the thing when the screen is opened.

If this was installed over a 32 inch entry door, the opening might be too narrow, especially when moving large things (like appliances) into the house. However, the entire roll-up screen can be removed in a couple of minutes, and re-installing the parts is simple.

It was kinda tricky to grab this handle to open the door from the inside. After a couple of days we turned this handle around, which made the door easier to open.

However... to close the door it was necessary to reach around and grab the outside handle, unroll the screen a ways, then use the inner handle.

How About Swinging Out?

This project involved an ordinary in-swinging door, which is by far the most common type of door. Turn the knob and push the door in. Simple.

But some entry doors are out-swinging. None of my local home centers and lumberyards stock out-swinging doors... I've always had to special-order them. Out-swinging doors have the hinges on the outside. This screen could be installed on an out-swinging door, BUT:

• The screen would need to be installed on the inside of the building.
• It might be necessary to use the "inside" mounting method, where the four components are attached to the inner surfaces of the door jambs. However, the bottom track will pose a tripping hazard.
• Outside or "face" mounting could be employed to attach the components to the door casing, if the casing was flat and straight. Any curved profile casing would need to be replaced with a casing made of simple flat material, such as 1x4 or 1x3.