French Door Security Screens

Yes - the system is a matched pair with an astragal seal where the panels meet. Open one side for everyday traffic or swing both wide for a party; the full-width opening your French doors were chosen for is preserved.

Hardly at all - from the street you mostly see your doors. The 316 mesh is fine enough to read as a subtle shadow rather than a barrier, and frames are powder-coated to complement your existing paint or stain - most visitors have to be told the screens are there. If you are weighing a retractable screen for the same reason, our retractable vs security screen door comparison takes the French door case head on, and the colors guide shows which frame color disappears against which trim.

The active panel carries a multi-point lock - one lever throws stainless bolts top, center, and bottom. The second panel secures with flush bolts into the frame, so both leaves are locked steel when closed, and the astragal keeps the meeting stile sealed against bugs and weather.

A standard French pair in Orange County - both panels, the astragal seal, and matched hardware - is $4,475 installed. That is $475 less than two hinged doors, priced as the pair it is. The price is flat and published, and the written quote at the in-home measure confirms it.

It now lands below all three of the French door figures Boss Security Screens publishes. As of October 2026, Boss Security Screens publishes French doors starting at $5,000 on its Orange County pricing page (it read $4,000 when we checked in August 2026) and at $4,500 to $6,500 on its national pricing page, and its separate national cost guide gave $4,800 to $5,500 when we last read it in August 2026. Our $4,475 sits under the lowest of those figures. The distinction that matters is what kind of number each one is: a starting figure describes the smallest opening in a product line and rises from there, while $4,475 is the flat installed price for a standard pair and the number that appears on the written quote. The full published-price table for Orange County is in our price report.

Not usefully, and it is worth understanding why before you ask for it. A French opening is one opening with a seam down the middle. The astragal seal at that seam is what makes the pair weathertight and bug-tight, and it only exists if both leaves are screened. Screening one panel leaves the other half of the opening open, so you have paid for half a system that does not close. If budget is the constraint, the better move is usually to do this opening properly and defer a different opening to a later visit.

It changes the configuration rather than the answer. Most French doors swing inward, which is why the screens normally sit outside them and everything stays simple. Out-swing doors need the screens configured so the two do not fight each other for the same space, which is a real design question rather than a problem, and it is settled at the in-home measure rather than assumed from a photo.

It must not, and that is something we spec rather than hope for. Where a door is the room's way out, the screen has to open from inside immediately, without keys, tools, or anything you would have to remember under pressure. We flag those openings at the measure and configure them accordingly, the same way we treat bedroom windows. The California rules that drive this, and what they require, are laid out in our egress guide.

Less than a single hinged door would, proportionally, because a French pair is mostly glass and the mesh is fine. It is still a woven screen, so some light is intercepted, and we do not publish a light-transmission figure because we have no sourced number for this mesh and will not estimate one. The honest way to judge it is the mesh sample held against your own doors at the measure, in your own light, which is why we bring one.

Everything the opening needs: both leaves in woven 316 marine-grade stainless, the astragal seal at the meeting stile, the multi-point lock on the active panel and flush bolts on the second, matched hardware, your choice of standard architectural colors, the in-home measure, and installation by our own employees. $4,475 installed is the whole number for a standard pair, not the number before the hardware and labor appear on a second page.

Measured and answered at the measure visit rather than guessed from a photo. Fixed sidelites alongside a pair are usually workable as fixed screened panels, and because configurations vary more on sidelites than on the doors themselves, anything beyond the standard pair is quoted individually in writing before fabrication. The pair price stays the pair price; the sidelites get their own honest line item.

Usually a morning. Install day runs under two hours per door for hinged work, and a pair with its astragal and matched hardware sits at the top of that range rather than double it, because the frame preparation is shared. The measure visit beforehand is about 45 minutes, and the written quote states your fabrication timeline so the install date is never a mystery.

Sometimes yes, and it is a fair question. Swapping French doors for a patio slider is a construction job: new unit, new frame, likely a permit, and a bill that starts well above what screening the doors you already have costs. It makes sense if you dislike the French doors themselves, or if the swing genuinely wastes floor space you need. It makes no sense if what you actually want is to leave the opening open, because that is a screening problem and replacing the doors does not solve it on its own.

Yes, in all 39 Orange County communities we serve, from La Habra on the Los Angeles County line to San Clemente at the San Diego County line, and the price does not change by region: a standard French pair is $4,475 installed in Fullerton, Irvine, Newport Beach or Mission Viejo alike. There is no North County or South County price list and no travel surcharge. The full community list, grouped by part of the county, is on this page and on our locations page.

The measure takes about 45 minutes. Fabrication typically runs 3 to 4 weeks per Vista's factory FAQ as of July 2026, and your written quote states your exact build timeline, because it moves with the factory queue and your color choice. Install day itself is usually under two hours per door.