Screening Oversized and Multi Panel Doors in Beverly Hills: The Right Fix for Wide Openings

Custom and large format retractable screens fit by Tashman Home Center, serving Los Angeles since 1961.

A retractable screen door is the right choice for wide patios, sliding doors, and multi-panel openings in Beverly Hills because the mesh rolls out of sight into a slim housing when you do not need it, keeping sightlines clear on large glass walls. Most retractable systems cover openings ranging from a standard single door to spans exceeding 12 feet. Tashman Home Center has fitted, fabricated, and installed screens for homes in Los Angeles since 1961.

Beverly Hills homes were built for indoor-outdoor living. The wide sliding doors, the folding glass walls that open a living room onto a patio, the oversized French doors that frame a garden. All of it looks beautiful, and all of it creates the same quiet problem the moment the weather turns warm. You want the doors open to let in the breeze. You do not want the flies, the mosquitoes, or the leaves that drift in off the canyon. Standard screens were never designed for openings this size, and a fixed screen frame across a twelve-foot patio door would defeat the entire point of the glass. This is where a retractable screen door earns its place. The mesh pulls across only when you want it and disappears into a narrow housing when you do not, so the view your home was designed around stays intact. If you have been searching for retractable screens near me and getting results built for tract homes, this guide is written for the kind of openings West Los Angeles homes really have.

We will walk through how retractable systems work, why wide and multi-panel openings need a different approach, what the retractable screen options Tashman installs look like in practice, and what a project like this typically costs. The goal is simple. By the end, you should know exactly what to ask for when you call a contractor, and you should be able to tell a serious installer from one who is about to sell you the wrong product.

How a Retractable Screen Door Works

A retractable screen is a roll of fine mesh housed inside a slim cassette mounted along the side or top of the door opening. When you want the screen, you pull the leading edge across the opening and it latches into a track on the far side. When you are done, you release it and the mesh rolls back into the housing, out of sight. The track sits flush at the threshold so there is nothing to trip over and nothing blocking the glass when the screen is retracted.

The advantage over a fixed screen is the part homeowners care about most. A traditional screen door is always there, always visible, always cutting across the view. A retractable screen is invisible until the second you reach for it. On a home where the doors and windows were chosen for how they look, that difference is the whole decision.

Where retractable screens fit best:

• Sliding glass doors and patio doors that open onto a yard or terrace.

• French doors and single swinging doors where a fixed screen would clash with the look.

•  Multi-panel and folding glass walls that open a full room to the outdoors. A retractable screen door for a sliding door keeps the airflow without a permanent frame across the opening.

• Entryways and back doors that get heavy daily use and need to stay clear most of the time.

Why Wide and Multi-Panel Openings Need a Different Screen

Here is the issue most homeowners run into. The retractable screen you find at a big-box store is designed to cover a single standard door. Stretch that same mesh across a wide sliding door or a folding glass wall, and it starts to sag, billow in the wind, and pull out of the track. Mesh has a span limit, and once an opening gets wide enough, a basic system simply cannot hold a clean, taut screen across it.

Wide openings are exactly what Beverly Hills homes are full of. Multi-slide patio doors, bi-folding door panels, and oversized French doors are everywhere in the neighborhood, and each one needs a screen engineered for the span. This is the single most common reason a screen project goes wrong. The wrong product is specified for the opening size, and within a season the homeowner is dealing with a screen that droops, drifts, or jumps the track every time the wind picks up off the hills.

The fix is a screen system rated for the actual width. The mesh tension, the housing depth, and the track design all have to be matched to the opening, not borrowed from a smaller one. A proper wide-span retractable screen holds flat and quiet across the full opening, slides smoothly with one hand, and does not fight you when the air moves.

Why Tashman Fits Phantom Screens on Large Openings

For the wide and oversized openings so common across Beverly Hills, Tashman fits retractable screens from Phantom Screens, a manufacturer known for retractable systems built to span large doors and folding glass walls. Phantom builds an extra-large line designed specifically for openings that defeat standard screens, making it a strong match for multi-panel patio doors, bi-folding systems, and the oversized French doors found on so many homes in the area.

What sets the large format Phantom systems apart:

• The mesh and housing are engineered for wide spans, so the screen stays flat and taut across openings that would overwhelm a standard retractable unit.

• The retractable mechanism rolls the mesh fully out of view when you are not using it, which preserves the clean sightlines on large glass walls.

• A controlled, smooth glide on the larger units means the screen does not slam or snap back, even on a tall, wide opening.

• Installation is straightforward for a trained crew, which keeps the project clean and quick inside an occupied home.

If your project involves a single standard door, a smaller retractable system may be all you need. If it involves a wide slider, a folding wall, or a run of French doors, this is the category to ask about by name. Matching the system to the span is the difference between a screen that performs for years and one that frustrates you by the end of summer.

Custom Screen Fabrication for Beverly Hills Homes

Not every screen need is a wide patio door. Plenty of Beverly Hills homes have window openings, entry doors, and custom sizes that no factory screen will fit out of the box. Tashman fabricates aluminum screen frames in-house, which means a screen can be built to the exact dimensions of an opening rather than forced to fit a standard size. That matters most on older and architecturally distinct homes where nothing is a stock measurement.

In-house fabrication covers:

• Custom mesh screen windows in black, bronze, or white to match the home.

• Welded security screen doors built for strength as well as airflow.

•  Pet-resistant mesh for homes with dogs or cats that lean on screens.

• Same fit retractable systems and a range of professional screen installation services for openings that factory products cannot handle.

Being able to fabricate locally also means faster turnaround on repairs and replacements. A torn screen or a damaged frame does not require a multi-week wait on a factory order. For a busy household, that responsiveness is often as valuable as the screen itself.

What Retractable Screens Cost in Beverly Hills

Cost is the question every homeowner wants answered, so here is a straight one. Pricing for a retractable screen depends on the size of the opening, the type of door, the mesh you choose, and if the system is a standard single door unit or a large format model built for a wide span. As a general guide, a retractable screen for a standard single or French door commonly runs in the few hundred to roughly one thousand dollar range installed. Large format systems for wide sliders, folding walls, and multi-panel openings cost more because the engineering and the materials are built for the span, and a project covering several large openings is priced per opening.

The honest advice is to be careful with the cheapest option. A bargain screen on a wide opening is the fastest path to the sagging, track jumping problems described earlier, and replacing it later costs more than choosing the right system the first time. Value on a project like this comes from matching the product to the opening, not from shaving the quote. You can review the full range of retractable screen solutions before you decide which fits each door.

How to Choose a Retractable Screen Contractor

The product matters, but the contractor matters just as much. A retractable screen on a wide opening has to be measured correctly, fit precisely, and installed so the track and housing sit clean against the existing door. A few questions separate a specialist from a general handyman.

Ask any installer these questions:

• Do you carry a screen system rated for the full width of my opening, not just a standard door size.

• Will you measure on site before quoting, rather than pricing off a photo or a rough number.

• Can you fabricate or source a custom size if my opening is not standard.

• Do your own trained crews handle the installation, or is it handed to a subcontractor.

Tashman has answered yes to all four for Los Angeles homeowners for more than sixty years. As a fourth generation family business in operation since 1961, the company has fit screens on everything from compact bungalow windows to sprawling folding glass walls. That same depth of local experience is why Los Angeles homeowners trust Tashman with the rest of their home as well, as covered in this feature on the company's work silencing city noise. The screen on your patio door is a small project on its own. Done right, it is also the start of a relationship with the people who keep your windows and doors performing for years.