Replace magnetic fly screen curtain: when to buy new

The patio door is open, the two halves of the curtain have drifted apart, and something small has already found the gap. You can pinch the edges together and they hold for a minute, then a breeze or a shoulder opens them again. That is when you replace a magnetic fly screen curtain: you are judging the mesh in front of you. tesa does not publish a tested life in seasons for the Insect Stop magnetic curtain, and the amazon.co.uk listing does not either. You buy the next one when the magnets miss, the mesh is torn, or the stock size was wrong for the opening.

A fresh curtain every summer shows up in reviews of the 2.2 m x 1.0 m anthracite sheet. Other people get more than one summer from the same hanging, and others lose it to a dog or to the door slab long before twelve months. We will not print a pretend interval in months.

In short

There is no official year for replacing a magnetic door curtain. On the amazon.co.uk listing for the 2.2 m x 1.0 m tesa Insect Stop curtain, some reviewers buy another each year, and that habit is not a standard. Replace yours when the magnets no longer meet, the mesh is torn, or the size never matched the frame. Buy another stock size. This curtain is sold on the understanding that you do not cut it.

There is no official replacement year

The UK product page describes the magnetic curtain as reusable and not trimmable. The PDF says the material is polyester, that you should hand wash it, and that residue-free removal is marked no. An introductory line on the wash is looser than the body and the PDF. Follow hand wash at 30°C, which is what the listing states, and leave the scissors in the drawer.

The curtain in our comparison is ASIN B0BD8XKRP6, anthracite, 2.2 m x 1.0 m, model 55394, with 30 sewn-in magnets. In the snapshot it was about £13.40, rated 4.5 out of 5 from 1,505 reviews on amazon.co.uk. Those stars do not say how many winters the polyester will take. The printed weight, 0.1 g, is not credible for a door curtain. Ignore that field.

This page is from the Products Compared editorial team. We read the tesa UK page, the PDF, and the amazon.co.uk listing. We did not wash, age, or pet-test the curtain in a lab. If you use our link to the 2.2 m x 1.0 m curtain on amazon.co.uk, a qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. £13.40 is the snapshot, and the shelf price will move.

While the magnets meet and the mesh is whole, hand wash when dust has loaded the fabric, dry it, and hang it so the edges can swing. Washing does not fix a tear or a curtain that was too narrow. Taking it down before adhesive bakes on is covered in storing a fly screen over winter. That still does not give you a replacement year.

Signs the curtain is finished

Stand outside in daylight and look for a gap you could pass a pencil through. Look again at night with a lamp on indoors. Insects use the gap you stop noticing after a week of walking through it.

The magnets no longer meet. This curtain is sold as self-closing, with 30 magnets, for a balcony or patio door. If the edges wave past each other, or they touch only at the top and gape at knee height, the overlap has gone. Holding the edges together with your hand is the symptom. Buy a width that covers the opening. Sewing extra magnets into the polyester is a craft project the listing does not support.

The mesh is torn, or the stitching has opened. A claw, a thorn by the door, or a dog that treated the curtain as a toy leaves a hole the magnets cannot hide. Tape will not turn that hole into the season's insect barrier.

The size was wrong from the start if fabric pooled on the threshold or the sides stopped short of the frame. The listing says you cannot shorten or cut this model, and a too-long curtain is the one the slab shuts on. A bow that leaves the magnetic edges a few centimetres apart is an open route for flies. tesa does not publish a UV life or a slam count, so judge the gap you can see.

Buy another stock size, do not cut

Measure the clear opening, not the curtain you are about to throw away. Width is the distance between the sides of the frame that the mesh must cover. Height runs from the head, where the curtain will hang, down to the threshold. Write both in millimetres before you open amazon.co.uk. Guessing from the old curtain repeats the miss.

tesa lists four sizes in this magnetic family: 0.8 m x 2.0 m, 0.9 m x 2.1 m, 1.0 m x 2.2 m, and 1.2 m x 2.4 m. B0BD8XKRP6 is the 1.0 m x 2.2 m anthracite curtain, stated on the listing as 2.2 m x 1.0 m. If your opening falls between two widths, take the next width that still covers, and check the height on that same pair.

A general tesa page says some fly curtains can be cut. That sentence conflicts with this magnetic product. The product page, the PDF, and the amazon.co.uk bullets for this ASIN all refuse a trim. B0BD8NV1CF, at 2.1 m x 0.9 m, is another hanging size, and it is not one of the twelve ASINs in the tesa fly screen comparison. We have not scored it. Check that listing's own size line on the day.

If none of the four sizes covers your frame, change the tool. A window sheet you trim onto a casement is the wrong object for a door you walk through. A magnetic curtain is the wrong object for a window that needs a cut. The choice is set out in window sheet or magnetic door curtain.

The listing claims fitting with no drilling. The PDF does not claim residue-free removal. When you peel an old header off uPVC, expect adhesive, especially if the tape has baked on through July. If the frame was dirty, silicone-treated, or rubber, a new header in the same place repeats the failure. When fly-screen tape will not stick is the check before you press the next strip down.

Pets and the door slab

Dogs show up in the reviews as a cause of a ripped curtain. Drop any idea that the mesh is pet-proof. We do not claim it is cat-proof either. If the curtain is torn, replace it, which may be week three. That is not a calendar rule for houses without pets.

The magnets close the curtain only when both edges hang free. Bunched on the hinge side, or hooked over a handle, they miss. Let the halves fall straight and walk through the centre. If you gather the whole curtain to one side every night so the door will latch, the width or the hanging height is wrong.

Keep this curtain on the door you walk through, and keep mesh off any opening you would need in a fire. Where the magnets miss, insects pass, including midges on a west-coast evening. A fine mesh with a 3 cm gap in the middle still lets them through.

If you rent, a new header on the landlord's uPVC can turn into a deposit conversation, because residue-free removal is marked no. Read a fly screen in a rented home before you stick anything to the frame. About £13.40 does not include a decorator.

Washing, and what it will not fix

Hand wash at 30°C when the mesh is dirty and the magnets still meet. Do not use a machine cycle because one introductory line on the UK page is looser than the body and the PDF. Dry the curtain before you hang it again. There is no published wash count. If the edges still meet and the mesh is intact, keep it. A wash does not mend a tear.

Residue-free removal is marked no on the tesa PDF. Yanking the header off can leave adhesive and a crooked next hanging, which is how a new curtain starts with a gap. Take it down slowly and clean what the uPVC will allow. Replace the curtain when the magnets miss, the mesh is torn, or the size was wrong. A different colour is separate from the magnets failing.