How to build a Screen Frame

Window screens for residences take quite a beating as the years go by. The screen frame is only made from thin aluminum and if you remove it for cleaning two or three times a year, there’s a good chance it will eventually get damaged from all the handling. Sometimes it’s possible to repair a screen frame if the only problem is just a bent rail.To fix a screened frame with a bent rail you will need to pull the spline out and pull out the screen cloth from the rail that is bent. Stand the screen up vertically with the bent rail down on a table top so you can see how much you have to bend it to get it straight again. Grab the top and the bottom of the bent rail and push on something solid where the rail is most bent. A little trial and error and you will have the frame straight again. Just dont push too hard, window screen frames are easy to break !

Metal door and window screens are most often made from thin aluminum. The strongest window screens for residences are made from extruded aluminum which is usually quite thick and resistant to bending. Extruded aluminum frames are usually staked together at the factory so if they do get bent, its not so easy to take the frame apart. But it is still possible to remove the bent rail and straighten it, using the method I just described.

Extruded aluminum metal door and window screens are staked together by inserting an aluminum corner and using a hammer and a metal punch to force a small amount of the frame material into a recess in the corner. If you want to repair a bent extruded aluminum frame, you need to drill through the little indentations you see at the corners. Usually four per corner. Then flip the frame over and drill out the corresponding four holes on each corner on the opposite side.

Then you remove the spline holding the screen cloth on the bent rail. You carefully lift the screen cloth out of the channel and pull the bent rail out. If the screen cloth is aluminum in your metal door and window screens, you will have to remove all the cloth, whether it is damaged or not. Most window screens for residences use fiberglass cloth, and if it is in good shape, it’s likely you can roll it back in after repairing the bent rail. Aluminum screen cloth cannot be rolled back in.

After removing the cloth from the bent rail, pull the rail out of the frame by gently pulling the corners apart with your hands. It should come apart very easily if you have drilled through all the places where the corners were staked together. To bend the rail straight you need to clamp it in a vise and bend it back into shape by hand. Some extruded aluminum frames are very strong so you need a solid place to clamp them so they don’t spring back and injure you while you are trying to straighten them.

Most window screens for residences are made of rollformed aluminum which only uses friction fit aluminum corners to hold the corners together. Fixing a bent rail in one of these window screens is much easier. Locate the bent rail and pull out the screen cloth on that side as just described. It should be quite easy to pull the bent frame rail away from the corners with your hands. Rollformed aluminum is much easier to straighten. In fact it’s so easy to straighten that you could easily use too much force and break the rail in half. Bend it back into shape gently and carefully. After getting the rail straight, install it back into the frame. If it’s an extruded aluminum rail you will need to get a hammer and a pointed metal punch and make indentations in the corners to lock them together again. With a rollformed aluminum rail the friction of the corners holds the frame together. With a bit luck you should be able to roll the old screen cloth back in so long as it is made of fiberglass. The old screen cloth may stretch enough although it is possible that rolling in the old cloth will bend the rail out of shape again. If that happens pull out all the cloth and rescreen the whole frame.

For information on Patio Screen Door Frames Click Here

Need more help ? Use the form below to contact me.