The Art of Replacing Screens

Article by: Jim Muckle

To remove a screen door , A Quick Guide to Residential Mailboxes lift up and simultaneously pull out the bottom. If it sticks you can take a putty knife, or a regular pocket knife, and on your knees, find where the two little wheels at the bottom of the screen door , Home Air Purifier: What You Need The Most are. Slip the putty knife under each one and lift them off of their track. While you're putting the putty knife under the wheels lift up a little on the screen door. , Repairing Your Own Machine Components Once you have them free you can lift the door , Hampers: Aids In House Organization out.

With windows , How A Filterless Air Purifier Works there should be, but aren't always, two little tabs at the bottom, side, or the top of the screen frame. If they're at the bottom pull up on the tabs and free the screen frame. Sometimes these tabs break off or pull out if the screens are ancient, so you may have to push up and down on the screen frame to get it free.

Once you have the door , Roofing Nail Guns or window , Hardwood Floor Refinishing - For The Faint of Heart out lay it down on the carpet, , Outdoor living spaces extend your livable space and delight the senses. or wherever you're working, and find the end of the rubber gasket which is called a spline that is holding the screen in. This gasket/spline is rubber and embedded in a canal on one side of the door , Getting Started With Home Improvement Ideas or window. , Hampers: Aids In House Organization You're going to find the end of this rubber spline and pull it out. It will come out fairly easy. Once you have pulled all of it out the screen will fall , Home Air Purifier: What You Need The Most out. Now, if you're working on a screen door , Log Homes - What's Different About Log Homes? you'll have to unscrew the handle and lock , Tankless Water Heaters assembly, which is no big deal. Just remember how yours goes back together. Sometimes you only have to remove the plastic , Huff and Puff - Power Your Home with the Wind piece that is on the side where the spline is, but each door , A Quick Guide to Residential Mailboxes is a little different so it's difficult to say if the whole piece has to be removed. I've had it go both ways.

With the door , Custom Log Home Design Ideas or window , Flooring Tips You Must Know laying on the ground roll your new screening over the top of it. You can get the screening mesh at your hardware , What features does a good cleaning supplies website contain? store in different types of fabric and you can have it cut to order or buy a whole roll for future use. I prefer working with the soft dark plastic , Selecting the Right Kitchen Sink like mesh rather than the old stiffer metal , Enjoy The Beauty Of Hardwood With The Endurance Of Laminate Flooring like fabric.

Lay your screen material over the door , Living Room Feng Shui or window , Huff and Puff - Power Your Home with the Wind frame. Now, there's a little tool , Vacuum Pump Repair you need. It has two wheels on either end of it. One of the wheels has an indentation in it, and the other wheel does not. They are called a screen rolling tool, , How To Choose The Right Fridge & Freezer or a splining tool. , Composite Decking – The Ultimate Choice In Materials For Your Deck You can get them at your local , Desk Clocks For Your Home Or Office hardware store.

Now, here's the tricky part. You want to push the new spline down into the canal with the new screen underneath it. Make sure your screen is laid out nice and even before you begin and continue to smooth it as you work. Push the end of the spline down into the canal, then with the rolling tool, , All Time Favorites - Iron Railings using the wheel with an indentation, begin working the spline into the canal. As you work pull on your spline a little to stretch it out so that it goes into the groove a little easier, but not too much. The trick here is not to cut into the screen, and this takes a delicate balance and patience. If you cut into your new screen you have to start all over again.

If you're right handed start with the left hand side of the window , Gas Boilers or door; that way you can work with your right hand, or if you're left handed start with the right hand side of the window. , Vacuum Pump Repair You'll see what I mean once you get started.

So, you're working your way down the groove and everything is going okay and you come to a corner. Now, if you like you can snip off the spline, imbed it in the groove right up to the end, or you can round the corner, not cut the spline and work it in with your fingers, or sometimes I use the dull rounded tip , Bath Tubs & Bathing: which Bath to Choose? of a pair of scissors, or straight slot screwdriver to push it in around corners, but be careful not to cut into your new screening material.

Keep stretching, pulling, and imbedding your spline while at the same time smoothing your screen so that it doesn't have any wrinkles or creases in it. When you're finished cut off your excess spline and you're done.

You can use the other wheel on the rolling tool , Arming Your Kitchen With Basic Cooking Utensils to push the spline deeper down into the groove, but I rarely if ever do.

Don't forget to put your lock , Tin Ceilings Have So Many Virtues assembly back into place. , Consumer Guides: Finding A Quality Contractor and Power Washing Tips

To reinstall the screen door , All Time Favorites - Iron Railings place the top section into its track first and then once again getting down on your knees hold the spring , Tankless Water Heaters loaded wheels up with your putty knife and try and settle the wheels, which have grooves in them, on to the rail they rest on. This can be maddening because they will slip from one side to the other of the railing, and if they're not setting right on the track, then the door , Installing Solar Panels on Your Home or Business won't open or close smoothly. The wheels fit on the railing just like train wheels fit on a train track.

The screen should roll smoothly and effortlessly. If not you'll find some screw , Log Homes - What's Different About Log Homes? adjustments at the top and bottom of the screen door , What features does a good cleaning supplies website contain? frame. Loosen the screws , Area Rugs For Home Decorating on one end or the other and adjust the screen frame so it fits comfortably.

Another thing that helps screen doors , Home Improvement Service Companies and Liability Issues move smoothly is to first clean the tracks, sweep out any debris around them, and then spray the area with WD40. Often this has saved me the trouble of making any adjustments to the door. , Bathroom Interior Design

When reinstalling the screen window , Country Style Bathroom Decorating find a side of it that will fit back into the window , Decorating a Mis-Matched Dining Room frame. It may be the top, or one of the sides or the bottom. Rock the screen back and forth until you maneuver it back into the window , When is it time to buy a new bed? frame.

Some of these old window , Desk Clocks For Your Home Or Office screens are warped and bent out of shape so you'll have one side that is bowed and won't fit in the window , The Bathroom - The Forgotten Area Of Your Home? frame properly. If you find yours intolerable, you can go to your hardware , The World of Kitchen Cabinets store and purchase a new window , Vacuum Pump Repair frame kit, cut it to size, install a new screen in it, and install it in the window , Huff and Puff - Power Your Home with the Wind frame.

That's it.

Here are the steps in review.

1. Remove screen door , Horizontal Blinds – Enjoy Real Wood, Vinyl, Or Aluminum or window. , Building Material Choices for Environmentally Responsible & for Those Who Want to Save a Little
2. Pull old spline out of canal.
3. Remove handle in screen door. , Area Rugs For Home Decorating
4. Roll screening over door , How Easy It is to Install a Kitchen Faucet or window , When is it time to buy a new bed? frame.
5. Push new spline into canal over new screen.
6. Reattach handle on screen door. , Building Material Choices for Environmentally Responsible & for Those Who Want to Save a Little
7. Reinstall screen door , Enjoy The Beauty Of Hardwood With The Endurance Of Laminate Flooring or window. , How A Filterless Air Purifier Works

Jim Muckle - EzineArticles Expert Author

Jim Muckle is the author of The Property , Huff and Puff - Power Your Home with the Wind Manager, How To , Huff and Puff - Power Your Home with the Wind Find Jobs Teaching Overseas, Teaching In Saudi Arabia, Teaching in Japan, The Class Act Reading Game and The Stay At Home , Gas Boilers Dad. The contents of all of these booklets can be viewed at his web , Selecting the Right Kitchen Sink site at Booklets From Jim Muckle @ http://hometown.aol.com/jimmuckle/myhomepage/business.html

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