diy screen repair

by babhoyersh on June 8, 2011

screen_repairChildren can be like puppies sometimes. When they find something new in their environment, they zero in on it, and worry away at it. Just simple curiosity that can cost parents time and money.

For years, we had a very small hole in one of the living room window screens. Along came our current 3 year old who decided that shoving small toys through the hole was a fantastic idea. The hole grew, and grew. Then there was the 5 year old sent to his room for a time out. He decided to make a hole in a screen that was secured in place to prevent children from falling out of a 2nd floor window. In his zeal, he ripped a huge hole in the screen and shoved books through it.

Turns out repairing these screens was easy and inexpensive. My husband found the replacement screen fabric, the spline roller, and the spline at the local Home Depot for $23.78 (tax included). The screen fabric is 25 feet long, good for at least 10 to 15 windows depending on the size of the windows. The spline is 25 feet long, and probably good for 4 to 5 windows. Each screen replacement will probably cost few dollars. When I googled replacing a window screen, the average cost ran between $16 and $25 per screen, depending on the size. Doing it yourself provides significant savings both on the screen, and future repairs including saving money on gas to drive the damaged screens to a repair place.

The repair itself took my husband about 25 minutes for the first one, and 15 for the second since he knew how to work with the materials. The trick is to go slowly and carefully with pushing the spline into place. Reuse the old spline if it is in good shape. Having a second pair of hands to hold the screen fabric taut helps. Don’t cut the screen fabric too closely to the correct size, but don’t leave too much extra to trim off.

 

Because I love meeting new people and sharing, this post is linked to:

Works for Me Wednesday, Wow Us Wednesday, Tackle It Tuesday

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