Rolscreen from Pella

by Shelli
(North Carolina)

We have a three year old Pella storm door with the hideaway Roll-screen at the top. On one side, something in the roller area (behind the cover) has bitten into the screen, so that side of the screen has been chewed off.

I am pretty handy, and am more than willing to repair this myself if I could just find some info on how.

I've scoured the net and found nothing. I've attached a photo (two in one) that shows the damage...any ideas on how to fix this? The door is not under warranty.

Roll screens use hardware very similar to window blinds. The only trick is that the roll is usually concealed behind a plastic housing at the top of the door.

Repairing them is difficult because these doors were assembled in a factory and no thought was ever given to ease of repair. (You are supposed to buy a new door when the screen breaks !)

First task is to look for screws that hold the top cover on. Other doors may use a plastic cover that clips in place. With gentle tugging you can often pry it off without breaking it.

There may also be side guides that keep the left and right sides of the screen tracking properly. These will likely clip in place and also have to be removed. Again gentle tugging and prying will be the way to remove them.

The bottom of the screen will probably be attached to an operating window with spline. Remove that spline by prying it out with an awl.

Once thats done you should be able to unhook the screen roller and unroll, remove and replace the screen from the roller. You need a couple of wooden cleats screwed to your work table to make sure you get the new screen installed exactly 90 degrees to the roller.

As with window blinds, the roller is spring loaded. When you reinstall it the roller, you will need to check its operation to make sure it functions properly before you put all the plastic trim back in place.

Once its operating correctly, roll the spline back in the bottom portion to attach the cloth to the operating window.

Replace all the plastic trim and the roller cover and you should be back in business. Everything that is not held by a screw, should easily clip back in place. Finding how it clips in, is usually the toughest part !

Here is a page with some pictures of a storm door rollscreen I did recently