How to fix a storm door screen

How to fix a storm door screen in-place right in the door.

You may wish to fix your storm door screen yourself because these kind of screens are often ones that cannot easily be taken to the local glass shop or hardware store. Often the storm door screen frame is covered with paint or just too difficult to remove from the door.

Storm door screens are not that difficult to repair in-place. With the main door open and the storm door closed and latched, remove the sliding glass panel that is directly behind the screen. If you cannot do this, then you are probably ready for a new door. Usually the sliding glass can be removed by raising the glass all the way to the top of the frame untill the bottom edge comes free. Then you pull the bottom edge out and pull the sliding glass down so it comes right out of the frame

How to fix a storm door screen after the glass is removed

After the glass is out and you are able to access the whole screen frame, pull out the spline all the way around and remove the old screen material. Cut a new piece of screen cloth at least three inches wider and taller than the opening to be covered. Cut four or five short pieces of spline. The spline should be the right size. You can reuse the old spline if it is in good condition and you have no other. If you have to buy new spline, get a size which is identical to that which you pulled out.

Get a helper to hold the cut piece of screen cloth over the screen opening. Take your short pieces of spline and with a flat screwdriver blade push one piece of spline into each of the four corners of the screen frame. Try to align the cloth a perfectly and as evenly as you can. Put an extra piece of spline in the middle of the left hand side of the screen frame, assuming of course you are going to roll in the screen starting on the right side. Now that the screen cloth is held in place, start carefully rolling in the spline all the way around, removing the short pieces of spline that you used to pin the screen in place as you go.

Following this procedure should result in a perfectly good rescreening job. Just go slowly and carefully. You will soon know how to fix a storm door screen. You may want to have someone put their hand behinfd the screen frame when you are rolling in the spline near where the screen frame joins to glass above. This helps prevent putting too much pressure on the roller and breaking the glass.

How to fix a storm door screen when the door is very old

A special note if your storm door is very old and has the screen material stapled in place. You will make your life much easier if you have an aluminum screen frame made by your local glass shop to fit into the old storm door frame. That way , if it ever gets ripped again, you can remove the screen frame easily and have it repaired without going through prying off the old wood and stapling in new screen.

If you have any questions about how to fix a storm door screen please contact me using the form below. Also, if your door is damaged beyond repair please check this link to wooden screen doors

If your screen porch or screen gazebo needs repair check this link to Screen houses page

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