Screen Door

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KaLvan

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We are looking to find a screen door set up for the side barn doors on our Chevy Express van. Specifically for use in Maine to avoid black fly season. We see several made for French doors on Amazon that have magnets down the middle and velcro attachment on sides and top of screen door. Does anyone have experience with these or a recommendation? Just 2 adults, no pets going through them. We have not had the best luck with standard velcro sticking on the plastic interior parts of the van in heat. Heavy duty velcro worked better and stayed put. Some of the attachment points for this set up would be plastic, some metal and some wood. Appreciate any input.
 
I know a couple who set up what you describe in their self-made van, and they are very nice.

We used a tension rod with screen on it years ago, and that also worked well.
 
When I built out my Ford Euro van..........I wanted a Sliding Screen door ! I have Two cats and wanted to control their egress as well as the insects..........After 5 years it's still a VanFan favorite........Barn Door style

I left a recessed "Track" slot in the flooring for the door to operate

Framed a wooden Door Jamb inside the van's side door opening

Filled half of the opening with a solid wood fixed panel....attached top and bottom

And finally a Sliding Screen Door fills the remaining opening........The door slides behind the fixed wall panel....held in place by the sub-floor track and a removable stop on the upper door jamb

You could also skip the fixed solid panel and make both half's of the opening "SCREEN".....one fixed screen and one sliding screen doorIMG_5930.JPG
 
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In the past I purchased mosquito netting to make screens. Purchased tent zipper the height of the door opening and had a woman who took in sewing to sew a binding/edging on all of it. Then I went to a upholstery shop and purchased metal snaps to install on the edges of the door so I could snap the screen in place when camping.

But for my 90 E 350 High Top I'm buying a magnetic screen doors and sewing strips of tent canvas to it to make up the difference in width so they fit the side doors of the Van. The screen door is taller than the Van door so I'll cut it down and bind the bottom to fit. The outer edges will have snaps so the screens can be removed and stored. The front door windows have 6" wide vinyl rain gutter screen mounted at the top of the window which will provide more than adequate ventilation . I'll use some vinyl window screen material to make screens for the rear windows and sew binding around them with magnetic strip in that binding to hold them in place over the windows. Now days I have a small sewing machine so I can sew this stuff myself. $16 dollars from Aldi's.

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Rain_Gutter_Guard_WS.jpg


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YES! I've had a very good experience with this on our Express. I used two sets of these (one set for side barn doors; one set for back doors). https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Mag...n+fiberglass+mesh+door+curtain,aps,139&sr=8-1

They are very good quality, and we love having them! They are obviously too long, and a little wide. If you are interested in all the gory details, I'd be happy to share how I customized them. Depending on whether you sew, there are different options. Just let me know.

Originally, I also purchased some "recommended" tape to boost the sticky Velcro. It was worse than useless for my application, but might be helpful on some surfaces. I used a staple gun where there is wood above the doors. Some of the side door area is upholstered with "rats fur" over plastic panels. I ended up using T pins blackened with a Sharpie in those areas. In the rear, the included Velcro stuck very well to the vinyl upholstery above the door.

Seriously, these have been a fantastic addition to the van. One thing: the holes might be a little big for no-seeums, but we've had no issues at the beach (no Florida) so far.
 
Thanks to all and the specific recommendation from VanFan. We've got one ordered. Please share how you customized it. I sew and would probably go with a sewn option. Thanks.
 
I did mine from a remanufactured RV door I got real cheap at a Habitat for Humanity store.

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My first step was to use a staple gun to attach the included Velcro along the top where there's wood underneath. Wear safety glasses :). Next, I test fit the screen at the top. Moving the center opening of the screen 4" forward of the door opening resulted in a nice taught fit over the rear side door. (The end of our bed extends about 6" forward of where the doors meet, so it also helped us get in and out more easily.)

For the rear side door, I applied the Velcro (press firmly, and leave it alone for a good 12 hours), following the curve. Note that because of the curve, the forward "offset" of the center opening is about 3" below window level, versus the 4" higher up. This may affect the length a little, too.

Do the same for the front side door. I found the Velcro stuck reasonably well to some surfaces (carpet, vinyl), but not others (plastic, "rats fur"). If you plan to remove the screens from time-to-time, you may want to explore any and all options. I used T-pins pointed downward through the Velcro and slipped between the rats fur and plastic the panels it covered in places, for example. I've only removed this edge once, and was gentle.

I ended up with about 8" excess at the top across the front door. Rather than modify the screen or spread the excess across the two doors (moving the center line back), I opted to simply fold a 4" pleat at the top and tuck it behind the end of my cab curtain rod. Looks fine to me.

Once you do a test fit, you will probably want to shorten the screens. My finished length is 60" at the center where the screens close. You may arrive at a different length. I determined this length very... um... scientifically: by folding the bottom edge up and marking with chalk. (If you're in a hurry and/or don't mind the bulk, you can simply baste that fold in place and call it good.)

I cut the excess off, which gave me some extra magnet bars from the center closure. These can be cut easily with scissors, BTW. Next, I unpicked the bindings from the original bottom edges and sewed them to the raw cut bottom screen edges, closing up one end and leaving one end open on each piece. This provided a nice casing to insert the extra magnet bar pieces into. The screen bottoms now stick nicely to the metal strips on the inside door step.

Above the front side door, we have a passenger assist handle. The top-edge Velcro runs just above that, so I cut two 1-3/4" slits through the top binding and into the screen itself a little where the handle attaches to the door. This could have been finished with seam binding, but instead, I zig-zagged the dickens out of the edges, which did the job.

Since we are in a low top van, my husband is tall, and our bed limits the space we have to get in and out, I decided to snip the screen halves apart where they are joined in the middle at the top. That allows me to detach the screen at the top and fold the front half out of the way (toward the passenger seat) if desired. I'm not entirely sure I'd do that again.

Again, we love these screens! They allow us to leave the doors or just the pop-out windows open, and go in and out without letting in all manner of flying creatures. They don't obstruct the view, have held up, and snick together reliably every time.

Hope you enjoy yours, too!
 
In the past I purchased mosquito netting to make screens. Purchased tent zipper the height of the door opening and had a woman who took in sewing to sew a binding/edging on all of it. Then I went to a upholstery shop and purchased metal snaps to install on the edges of the door so I could snap the screen in place when camping.

But for my 90 E 350 High Top I'm buying a magnetic screen doors and sewing strips of tent canvas to it to make up the difference in width so they fit the side doors of the Van. The screen door is taller than the Van door so I'll cut it down and bind the bottom to fit. The outer edges will have snaps so the screens can be removed and stored. The front door windows have 6" wide vinyl rain gutter screen mounted at the top of the window which will provide more than adequate ventilation . I'll use some vinyl window screen material to make screens for the rear windows and sew binding around them with magnetic strip in that binding to hold them in place over the windows. Now days I have a small sewing machine so I can sew this stuff myself. $16 dollars from Aldi's.



Rain_Gutter_Guard_WS.jpg
Can you explain the gutter guards in the front door better? Are these permanently attached?
 
I've no experience with screens, but I do with Maine blackflies...good luck!
 
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