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Cairns Security Doors
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Cairns, QLD

Security Doors in Cairns North

Made to measure security doors, window screens and onsite repairs for a suburb where four in five occupied homes are flats or apartments.

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Four in five occupied homes in Cairns North are flats or apartments, and only 14.2 percent are separate houses. That reorders the questions. Before anyone chooses between fine stainless mesh and a diamond grille, a unit owner needs to know whether the door is theirs to change, and in a Queensland scheme that turns on the registered survey plan and the by-laws. Cairns Security Doors makes security doors, window screens and flyscreens to measure and fits them at the unit, and repairs the screens, locks and sliders already there. Get the measure and the specification in hand first, then take it to your body corporate.

Two storey modern home with security screens enclosing the poolside patio

Cairns North covers a little over six square kilometres, 1.9 km from the Cairns City centroid, bounded by Aeroglen, Cairns City, Edge Hill, Manunda, Parramatta Park and Whitfield with the Coral Sea to the east. Density follows from that: 5,334 residents across 3,024 private dwellings, a median age of 37, and 79.6 percent of occupied homes flats or apartments against 14.2 percent separate houses. Cairns Hospital, the largest major referral hospital in Far North Queensland, is on The Esplanade inside the suburb and runs around the clock. The housing mix decides what a security screen job looks like here: a unit entry door off a common walkway, or a sliding door onto a balcony, rather than a gate on a fenced block.

Why security doors matters in Cairns North

In a house, whoever owns the door is whoever orders the screen. In a unit that is the part worth settling first, and where 79.6 percent of occupied homes are flats or apartments it is the question that stops people enquiring at all.

The Queensland position, stated once: Government guidance for building format plans, the subdivision type used for most multi-storey unit complexes, puts the boundary of a lot at the centre of the floor, wall or ceiling separating it from another lot or from common property, so the body corporate is usually responsible for doors and windows and their fittings in a boundary wall, including fly screens or security screens the builder installed, while an owner's own improvements are the owner's to maintain. Doors and windows leading onto a balcony that forms part of the lot are the owner's, and a balcony outside the lot boundaries is common property. Where that line falls in your building is a question for the registered survey plan held by Titles Queensland. An improvement to common property needs approval: a committee can approve it where the total cost is under $3,000, the improvement does not detract from the appearance of a lot, and the body corporate is satisfied its use will not breach the owner's duties as an occupier. Anything outside that goes to a general meeting for an ordinary resolution, after which the owner must comply with the conditions, maintain the improvement and give the body corporate details of the type of work and its value. The state's advice is short: work out whether the change affects common property, then read the by-laws.

The rest of the page is about the screens. A unit entry off a common walkway and a balcony slider in an older block are rarely a current standard size, so the opening is measured as built at the unit and the frame finish comes from a range finished in Queensland. Where an overlooked walkway or the afternoon sun is the problem rather than entry, PERFGUARD perforated aluminium is sold for privacy and sun screening as well as security. Cairns humidity at the airport in adjoining Aeroglen averages 72 percent at 9am on 2,025.5 mm of rain a year, which is why a unit needs an opening it can leave open.

Our part is the measuring and the specification. We do not sit on committees and we do not lodge applications. We can put the type of work, the product and the finish in writing, which is the detail the state says an owner has to hand over.

Not knowing whether the unit's door is yours to change, or who has to approve it

In a Queensland building format plan the lot boundary runs through the centre of the floor, wall or ceiling between a lot and common property, so doors and windows in that boundary wall, and builder installed fly screens or security screens, are usually the body corporate's, while an owner's own improvements are the owner's to maintain. Doors and windows leading onto a balcony that forms part of the lot are generally the owner's. Where 79.6 percent of occupied homes are flats or apartments, that is the majority position rather than an edge case, and an owner who guesses wrong either wastes a committee meeting or fits something they were not entitled to fit. Whether a committee can sign it off or whether it has to wait for a general meeting turns on the cost of the work and on whether it changes how the building looks, which is a Queensland Government rule rather than one scheme's preference. We measure the opening and specify the door as a product, and we put the type of work, the product and the finish in writing so an owner has something concrete to attach to a request. Where your boundary sits is a matter for the registered survey plan held by Titles Queensland rather than for us, so bring the plan and the by-laws to the measure. We do not prepare, lodge or argue applications.

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Open plan living room looking through black-framed security screen doors to a pool and palms

A screen that does not look like it belongs on the building

In a block where every unit shares one facade, a mismatched frame is visible from the street and from every other balcony, and the Queensland Government tells owners to check whether any by-laws affect the changes they can make. Appearance is also one of the conditions a committee approval turns on. Appearance is the objection most likely to come back at an owner, and it is the one that can be removed before anybody reads the request. SCREENGUARD frames use T6 grade high tensile extruded aluminium and are finished in a range of colours, so a frame can be specified to sit with the existing windows and railings instead of against them. Where the look carries more weight than the sightline, Colonial Casting is a decorative door in a modern style or a heritage range.

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Wanting to sleep with the balcony door open and not being able to

Cairns humidity recorded at the airport in adjoining Aeroglen averages 72 percent at 9am, peaking near 78 percent from February to April, on a mean 2,025.5 mm of rain a year and a mean maximum of 29.1 C. In a unit the balcony slider and one or two bedroom windows are usually the whole of the cross ventilation. An opening that cannot be left open at night is an opening that stays shut, and in a suburb where the average household holds 1.9 people the balcony door is often the only one anybody uses. Flyscreens are made alongside the security work, in fibreglass mesh as standard, which will not rust, rot or corrode, with pet mesh where there is a cat or a dog, a thicker fibreglass with some give. Where the opening has to be secure as well as screened, the 316 marine grade woven stainless is the fine mesh and PERFGUARD perforated aluminium the shaded panel.

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Fitting out a tenanted unit, or more than one, to a different budget

63.6 percent of occupied homes in Cairns North are rented, so the person ordering is often an investor owner or a property manager working to a different budget from an owner occupier, on a product that has to last through several tenancies. The four ranges sit at different price points, and choosing the wrong end of the range for the opening costs more than choosing the cheaper product. Diamond Grille is the cost effective option in the range, and PERFGUARD earns its keep where one panel has to do privacy and sun screening as well as security, on a 7 year product warranty from installation, conditions applying. SCREENGUARD carries the full 10 year manufacturer's warranty, conditional on regular maintenance with SCREENGUARD Powawash. All of it is made to measure.

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A tenanted unit where the existing screen, lock or slider has worn out

With 63.6 percent of occupied homes rented and an average household of 1.9 people, plenty of screens are in constant use in a home whose occupant is not the person who can order the work. The symptoms the business is called about are consistent: a door that will not lock or close properly, a broken handle, a key that jams, and a slider that rolls incorrectly, bounces or jumps off its track. None of those need a new screen, which counts for something where the person living with the fault is usually not the person who can order a replacement. Repairs are done at the unit rather than coming back as a replacement quote. An owner or a property manager can send through the fault and the unit number, and the visit is booked to that opening; there is no premises to bring a door to.

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Stainless Steel Mesh Security Doors (SCREENGUARD)

316 marine grade stainless steel mesh in T6 grade high tensile extruded aluminium frames, made to measure for doors and windows. Cairns North fronts Trinity Bay along The Esplanade, and Queensland Reconstruction Authority guidance says homes close to seawater should use components and connections with higher corrosion resistance than normal; Cairns is coastal and north of Bundaberg. An east facing balcony several floors up takes that air with nothing in front of it, which is the argument for 316 marine grade mesh rather than a cheaper fixing. The mesh is woven fine enough to leave the outlook, which is the objection the business answers first in its own product copy.

Stainless mesh screens
Dark security screens on the sliding door and windows of a white painted brick home with a tropical garden bed

Perforated Aluminium Screens (PERFGUARD)

2mm perforated aluminium, powder coated black, with 40 percent view through, for security doors, windows and patio enclosures. The same panel that secures a door is sold for privacy and sun screening as well. In a suburb where 79.6 percent of occupied homes are flats or apartments, plenty of windows face a common walkway or the next building rather than open sky, and that second use is what the product is made for.

Perforated screens
Side by side comparison of a garden view seen directly and through black perforated aluminium screen mesh

Diamond Grille

The cost effective security screen for doors and windows. Diamond Grille is the cost effective end of the range. Combine it with DVA one way vision mesh if a ground floor or walkway facing unit needs privacy as well; DVA is a privacy mesh rather than a security product on its own, so it sits behind a Diamond Grille or Colonial Casting screen instead of replacing one.

Diamond Grille

Colonial Casting

Decorative security doors in a modern style or a heritage range, also used to enclose a patio. This is the range to look at where appearance is the sticking point, since a committee approval turns partly on whether the improvement detracts from the appearance of a lot. A Colonial Casting door is chosen for how it reads rather than in spite of it, in a modern style or a heritage range.

Colonial Casting
Pair of cream decorative cast security screen doors with a scroll pattern over timber windows

Flyscreens and Mesh Options

Flyscreens plus the full mesh range: fibreglass, 316 marine grade woven stainless, perforated aluminium, pet mesh and DVA one way vision. Fibreglass mesh is the standard flyscreen infill and will not rust, rot or corrode. Pet mesh is the thicker fibreglass with some give, for a unit with a cat or a dog. Both are made to the opening rather than cut down from a stock frame.

Mesh options
Open plan living room looking through black-framed security screen doors to a pool and palms

Onsite Repairs

Repairs to existing security doors and screens: locks, wheels and tracks, closers, hinges, triple locks, patio bolts and pet doors. A door that will not lock or close properly, a broken handle, a jamming key, and sliding doors that roll incorrectly, jam, bounce, fail to close or jump off the track are the faults the business is called about generally. All of it is repaired at the unit. Where 63.6 percent of homes here are tenanted, repairing what is already fitted is a shorter path than adding something new.

Onsite repairs
Hinged security screen door fitted over a grey front door on a brick home entry
Licensed, tested, locally made

Credentials you can check

Everything here is made to measure rather than supplied in a stock size, across four product lines plus flyscreens and onsite repairs, and it is manufactured in Cairns. That is the substantive point in unit stock, where a walkway entry or a balcony opening is rarely a current standard size, and it is why the specification can be written down, naming the product, the finish and the tests, before anyone approaches a committee. SCREENGUARD screens are put through dynamic impact, knife shear, anti-jemmy, and pull and probe testing, and carry a full 10 year manufacturer's warranty conditional on regular maintenance with SCREENGUARD Powawash; PERFGUARD carries a 7 year product warranty from installation, conditions applying. The business holds a QBCC licence, worth knowing if an owner has to name a contractor in a request to a committee, and behind it is a sole trader, ABN 37 916 171 681, active since October 2013, checkable on ABN Lookup. There is no showroom to visit; measuring and fitting happen at your unit.

QBCC Licensed Contractor
Queensland Building and Construction Commission licence 1199847
Verify this
Tested Security Screens
SCREENGUARD states its stainless steel mesh screens pass dynamic impact, knife shear, anti-jemmy, and pull and probe testing. PERFGUARD adds a probe test, with hinged and sliding doors tested using three point locking hardware.
10 Year Manufacturer's Warranty
SCREENGUARD products carry a full 10 year manufacturer's warranty. Regular maintenance with SCREENGUARD Powawash is required to comply.
Locally Made
Family owned and operated. Doors and screens are made to measure and manufactured in Cairns; SCREENGUARD frames are manufactured and finished in Queensland.

Questions we get asked

Do I need body corporate approval to fit a security screen to my unit door?

It turns on whether the work affects common property, and that is the first thing to settle. Queensland Government guidance is that an owner can improve common property only with approval, that a committee can sign off smaller work meeting the conditions the state sets, and that anything beyond that goes to a general meeting for an ordinary resolution. Older schemes work to different rules, so the by-laws and the registered survey plan for your building decide it rather than any general answer. Read those first, then book the measure so a request goes in with a product attached to it.

The doorway in my block is not a standard size. Can a screen still be fitted?

Yes, because nothing is supplied in a stock size. The opening is measured as built and the screen is manufactured to those figures in Cairns. That counts for more in a walk-up block than in a house: a unit entry off a common walkway or an older balcony slider is often out of square, and the reveal can be shallower than a stock frame allows for. There is no showroom to bring measurements to, so the measure happens at the door itself.

What does the written specification you give me actually contain?

The type of work, the product, the finish and the value of the work, which is the detail a Queensland owner has to hand the body corporate once an improvement is approved. In practice that means naming the range and the frame colour, the mesh or panel going into it, and every opening it covers. It is written before any request goes in, so a committee reads a specification rather than a description. We do not prepare, lodge or argue the request itself.

What happens if the body corporate says no?

Then the screen does not go on, and where an owner takes it from there is their decision rather than ours. Queensland body corporate law does require a body corporate to act reasonably in what it does, and the Queensland Government publishes the improvement process an owner can work through. What often helps first is narrowing the request: a screen on a door that forms part of the lot is a different question from a change to a boundary wall, and the registered survey plan is what settles which one you are asking. If a refusal stands, repairing the screen, lock or slider already fitted is a separate path.

I rent my unit. Can I arrange a security screen myself?

Not on your own. The owner orders the work, because a change to the lot is the owner's call and anything touching common property needs the body corporate's approval as well. With 63.6 percent of homes in Cairns North rented, this comes up constantly. What a tenant can usefully do is ask the owner or the property manager to book the measure and pass on the building and the opening, so the specification is ready when the owner decides. Repairs to an existing screen or lock take the same route through the owner.

Is replacing a worn out screen treated differently from adding a new one?

Often, yes. Queensland Government guidance separates maintenance from an improvement using a like for like comparison, so putting a similar screen back where one already sat is a different question from adding something that was never there. It is a general test rather than an answer for any one scheme, so it still gets read against the by-laws. Either way the work happens at the unit, and a lock cylinder, a handle, a set of sliding door wheels or a track can be replaced without a new screen at all.

Are your security doors made to measure?

Yes. Every door and screen is made to measure rather than bought off the shelf, and it is manufactured here in Cairns. SCREENGUARD aluminium frames use T6 grade high tensile extruded aluminium, manufactured and finished in Queensland in a range of colours. Get in touch to arrange a measure for your doors or windows.

Can you repair my existing security door?

Yes, and we repair onsite. The common jobs are replacing a lock cylinder or the complete lock when a door will not close properly or the key jams, and replacing the wheels or track work on sliding doors that bounce, jam, or jump off the track. We also replace door closers, hinges, triple locks and patio bolts.

How are your security doors tested?

SCREENGUARD stainless steel mesh doors are put through dynamic impact, knife shear, anti-jemmy, and pull and probe testing. PERFGUARD window grilles and hinged and sliding doors pass the same set plus a probe test, with the doors tested using three point locking hardware. Ask us for the current test certificate for whichever product you are considering and we will pass it on.

What warranty comes with your security doors?

SCREENGUARD products carry a full 10 year manufacturer's warranty, and the warranty card is provided at the time of installation. Regular maintenance with SCREENGUARD Powawash is required to keep that warranty valid. PERFGUARD products carry a 7 year warranty from the date of installation. Conditions apply to both, and we will go through them with you.

Which Cairns suburbs do you service?

We service Cairns and the surrounding areas. That covers the northern beaches from Machans Beach up to Palm Cove, the northern suburbs around Smithfield, Redlynch and Freshwater, the Cairns city suburbs, and the southside through to Gordonvale. Check our service areas page for the full list of suburbs, or call us to confirm your street.

Can you fit a pet door to my security door?

Yes, though there is a trade-off worth knowing first. Industry guidance from the National Security Screen Association is that cutting a pet door into a security door voids its compliance, because the door is no longer the product that was tested. Plenty of people still choose it. Talk to us about where the pet door goes, and ask about pet mesh if you have animals.

Nearby suburbs we cover

Related services

Related reading

Sources

Need security doors in Cairns North?

If the work turns out to need a committee's sign off, the request is easier to write once the type of work, the product and the finish are already settled. So the order that works is: check the by-laws and whether the change affects common property, book a measure, then take the written specification to your body corporate. If what you actually need is a slider that stops jumping its track or a lock that stops jamming, that is an onsite repair and a shorter conversation. Call (07) 4057 5443 or use the quote form to name your building and which opening you want looked at.

Call (07) 4057 5443Get a quote