Patio Screen Door Maintenance and Care

A patio screen door is probably the most common type of door most of us encounter. Even though they are built ver simply, we depend on them for use almost every day. Keeping a screen door in tip top shape will save you money. So long as your patio door components are working properly, theres no need to spend thousands of dollars on new patio doors

Screen Door Roller Adjustment

Screen Doors often have rollers at each corner and each of these rollers can have an adjusting screw. There are a few doors whose rollers have no adjustment. For the adjustable ones though, all that is necessary is a screwdriver and a can of WD-40 to loosen the occasional rusted screw. To adjust the rollers, close the screen door against the side door jamb and observe if the door frame is parallel to the jam. If the screen door frame is at an angle, adjust the two bottom rollers to get it straight.

Why Screen Doors Start Sticking

As patio screen doors get old the corners start to loosen and at some point the only thing holding the frame together is the screen cloth. The door will rack frame side to side and will tip and bind when you try to open and close it. If you have access to new corners and the frame is not too worn, you can replace the corners and the door will operate as good as new. Some screen doors are screwed together at the corners. If this is the case you can tighten the screws at all four corners to get the frame nice and square again.

How the Screen Cloth is held In

The screen cloth in a screen door is held in a "spline channel". This small "U" shaped channel runs all around the inside of the screen door frame. The screen cloth is rolled into the channel and a tight fitting plastic spline is rolled on top of it, until it too is forced into the channel. The fit is so tight, the cloth will usually rip before it pulls out of the spline channel. Click the Patio Screen Door link to get back to the home page