Project story · French door security screens
The brick-arch entry that kept its doors open
A matched pair of 316 stainless screens on a wood double-door entry - sightlines intact, both leaves locking steel.
At a glance: a pair of wood entry doors under a brick arch, fitted with matched Daylight Steel French-door security screens in a dark bronze powder-coat. Both panels carry woven 316 marine-grade stainless mesh; the active leaf locks with a multi-point lever and the second seals with flush bolts and an astragal. The staircase reads straight through the mesh, which was the whole point.
The setting
A brick-arched entry with a pair of stained wood doors, each with a tall leaded-glass insert. Doors like these are the reason people fall for a house, and they are exactly the doors that never get to stand open, because a double-wide entry with nothing across it is an invitation to insects, heat, and everything else. The owners wanted the evening air and the sound of the street without giving up the doors they chose.
What we installed
A matched pair of French door security screens, one screen per leaf, powder-coated a dark bronze to sit quietly against the wood and the brick. Both panels are woven 316 marine-grade stainless mesh - the same marine-grade alloy used on boat fittings, fine enough to read as a light tint rather than a barrier. The active leaf carries a multi-point lock that throws stainless bolts top, center, and bottom with one lever; the second leaf secures with flush bolts into the frame, and an astragal seals the meeting stile against bugs and weather. The screens hang inside the masonry opening, so the brick arch was never touched.
The result
Day to day the household uses one leaf like an ordinary screen door. When people come over, both swing wide and the entry is the full opening again - no center post, no compromise. The photo tells the rest: with a screen closed you still see the staircase, the runner, the light from the back of the house. The doors get to stay open now, which is the only review a project like this needs.
French-pair security screens are published at a flat $4,475 installed for the pair, both panels, astragal seal, and matched hardware included. Shaped openings like this arch are the exception our flat pricing is honest about: they get their own straight number, in writing, before the free measure - see the full pricing.
About this install
Questions people ask
Does the brick arch or the shaped opening complicate a French-pair install?
It changes the measure, not the outcome. The screens hang in the door opening itself, inside the masonry, so the arch stays untouched. Shaped and oversize openings are the honest exception to our flat pricing: they are measured to the exact reveal and get their own straight custom number in writing, which is exactly why every job starts with a free in-home measure rather than a guess.
Both panels are the same wood doors underneath - why add screens to both?
So the entry works the way it was designed to. On a matched pair each leaf gets its own screen, so one side opens for everyday traffic and both swing wide when you want the full opening. The active panel carries a multi-point lock; the second secures with flush bolts and an astragal seal down the meeting stile, so both leaves are locked steel when closed.
Can you match a dark bronze frame like this to my own doors?
Yes. Frames are powder-coated in standard architectural colors, chosen to complement your existing paint or stain. The pair in these photos reads as a quiet dark bronze against the wood and brick, which is the intent - from the street most people see the doors, not the screens.
More installs, told in full, on our project stories - or see the wider photo gallery. Considering a slider instead of an entry pair? Read the backyard-slider story.
Your entry could be the next story.
A free in-home measure, a written quote on the spot, and doors you finally get to leave open.
Get your free quoteOr just call (657) 695-2454 - or text us a photo of your opening and we'll reply with the number.