Magic Mesh Review

“CLOSE THE DOOR PLEASE!…MILES, PLEASE CLOSE THE DOOR!…GUYS!  THE DOOR!”

or…

*click click click*…*click click click*

Which one sounds better to you??  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  Who wouldn’t prefer the quiet, almost undetectable clicking of the Magic Mesh screen closing?

I’ve been contemplating buying a  for a few months, ever since I saw an ad for them on TV.  As we entered spring and my boys started playing outside more, I decided that we really should drop $14.99 (at Walmart) for one of these things.  My boys are not great about remembering to close the door behind them and when they do, they tend to slam it.  I had to do something or I would be irritated by this all spring and summer.

I finally bought one last week and would love to share my thoughts with you.

Installation of the Magic Mesh is really quiet simple.  It comes with two panels (the screen) with magnets already placed along the seam.  You start by measuring your door frame and marking the middle.  Then you lay the screen panels down and place the Velcro strips along the top and outside seam of the panels.  Then, one at a time, you line up the panel on your door and press the Velcro strips’ sticky side onto your door frame.

Unfortunately, we quickly found out that the Velcro tabs were not going to hold up.  The instructions recommend using the included metal tacks (by sticking them through the Velcro) and that is an excellent idea.  After the Velcro tabs gave out completely after about 12 hours, we removed most of the Velcro completely and reinstalled the panels with the tacks only.  There were a few extra tacks in our package, which can be used on any gaping areas that might be there, depending on the way your doors are set up.

The great news is that the panels really do what they say they will.  When you push through the screen panels, the magnets will find each other and close the panels behind you.  That is, so long as it is installed correctly.  You’ll want to make sure your panels have enough room for the magnets to find each other easily.  If they are stretched too tight, they will struggle to meet.

There are two issues we have at our house with the magnets on the panels.  Our back door has metal in it, so sometimes when the kids or dogs come through the panels, one of the magnets will stick to the door instead of coming back to meet the opposing magnet.  Also, some days we get really strong winds coming across the field behind our house and the magnets just aren’t strong enough to work through that.  Thankfully, those days are rare and most of the time they work perfectly.

The kids and dogs quickly figured out how to use the Magic Mesh.  The kids love it and take responsibility for making sure the panels have closed behind them.  The dogs are a little wary of it still but definitely know how to use it.

The quality of the panel itself isn’t top-notch, but it works.  There is some odd stitching around it and I’m not sure it will last more than a year, but they’re also only $14.99 and I think if you buy them from TV at $19.95 you might get two!  I wrote on Facebook that while the Magic Mesh isn’t the classiest thing ever, I’m pretty sure it beats hearing me yell “CLOSE THE DOOR PLEASE!” all summer.  It has been lovely to leave the back door open while the kids and dogs come and go as they please.

I’ll take a nice breeze and the quiet clicking of the Magic Mesh any day.

Magic Mesh did NOT supply the product for this review and we would LOVE it if you would buy one from our Amazon store!  Click below to purchase on Amazon!

Update [5/11/12]

About a week ago, part of the bottom began detaching from the Magic Mesh.

A few days later, we ended up just cutting off most of the bottom hem piece because it was all loose and our dogs were getting tangled in it (no joke).  It still works, it’s still great, it’s just not that well made in places like the bottom edge.