Do not do it!!! It is horrible having the screen on the inside if you have any bugs around. Just think of every bug on your screen as a new member of the family. I HATE HATE HATE the screen on the inside. We have stopped keeping the sliding glass door open because of the bug fest we invite in every night. It is so disappointing since that is why we bought the huge door.

We purchased four Pella sliding doors with screens on the interior in 2017 and they have been a huge disappointment! The Pella design lets in a huge number of bugs when trying to close the door at night - the exact thing that a screen is supposed to prevent! Pella has chosen a marginal improvement to the air seal between the sliding door and fixed door at the cost of making the screen ineffective. Consider this trade off carefully before purchasing sliding doors with interior screens.

While i see what you are saying we have several of these doors and absolutely love it. The screen is the best part. Exactly how many bugs do you have on your screen??? This be the issue is almost silly. it is so nice having a retractable screen so all you have is the glass and nothing blocking the light. Will never go back to an old screen.

This refers to a regular screen, not retractable. The interior design screen is terrible and will definitely not get another Pella door if these poorly made and designed interior screens continue. External screen, the screen door is left in place and the glass door opened when needed. Internal screen; cannot be done. As others stated, open the glass door, let all the bugs in, then slide the screen door in place, open again to get the glass door in place, and let more bugs in. Lights on in a house, there are plenty of bugs. The lame statement by Pella about less wind resistance- this is a door, not an airplane, so make it work like a useful door with a screen. I can't imagine someone was paid to come up with this idea. Also, the quality of the screen is cheap and poorly done. For the cost, this is absurd.

I concur. No more Pella doors for me. Bugs galore. Might as well not even have a screen.

I had a Pella door with inside screen and love it. Dirt doesn't get into the track and it always opens smoothly. My house is on Cape Cod and backs up to a bog but I've never had a bug problem.

I used to have Andersen (standard exterior screens) and now have Pella (interior screens). Boy do I hate these Pella's and would never do them again. I understand the logic of having screens on the inside, they do stay cleaner and are more protected. I love them on the inside of casement and awning windows but on sliding patio doors they're extremely annoying. The benefits of keeping a clean screen and track are not worth the hassle of having to open and close the screen every time you open and close the window. Our screens stay closed at all times but our sliding doors do not.

Agree. We have interior screens on windows. But the interior screen sliding door has caused us to never open that sliding door and remove the screen-- it just serves as a very large window. Thank goodness we only had the one installed and can instead open windows with screens in that room. The other areas of the house we will not replace the sliding doors or find new exterior screen sliding doors.

No terrible design to have the screens on the inside of a slider. I do not reccomend at all. There are so many bugs at night you can’t get them out of your house !

I also have 2 8’ and 1-6’ Pella sliding doors. These are very nice doors, slide very nicely but I hate, hate, hate the inside screens!!!! I have to go out a different door at night and close the patio doors without opening the screens or all of the mosquitos come in because they are all over the screens. Another problem all the crap that blows toward the doors, leaves etc, are now in the house when you open the screen. DON’T do it you will be sorry. inside screens suck!!!

I just moved into an apartment with this type of Pella sliding door/screen and totally agree with the ridiculousness of the set up. Bugs have the opportunity to come right in every time you want to open/close the sliding glass door.

Something that has not been mentioned is if there is a safety concern with the *sliding* glass door on the outside. If it were on the inside (regardless of where the screen door had to be) you could put a stick behind it as an added security measure (there is a small foot lock that does not look especially sturdy and is a little challenging to operate). That's not possible with this Pella door. Since I am on the first-floor security is a concern. Any thoughts on that?

Good point Dawn. This is a stupid set up. We are finally moving away from this house and I will insist any future doors be installed correctly.

Whichever door or brand you choose, physically test the door and screen before buying.

All my Jeld-Wen sliders have screens on the outside. But the (old?) door design has a small vertical center ridge on the outside which causes the screen to ”catch” as it slides over the middle of the slider. No such issue with my Andersen slider - screen is on the outside and opens/closes smoothly.

Just to add to the discussion… yup Pella’s screen-door-on-the-inside is the dumbest design ever. Not to mention the standard wood framed screen door is incredibly flimsy. I have 3 old sliding glass doors installed when the house was built in 1990, metal framed screens on the outside and they still work great. The two Pella glass and screen doors, installed 2018?? Falling apart on top of three ridiculous design.