Rescreening Tips

Preparation

• Preparing your door or window will make rescreening easier and more effective. If possible, remove the window or door and place it on sturdy, flat surface such as a floor or table. Remove the existing screen and spline from the frame in their entirety. Inspect the spline channel and remove any debris or scrape any pieces of spline that have fused to the frame.

Screen Choice

• Choose a screen that is the same material or similar to the one that you are replacing. Fiberglass is the most common screen material for its ease of installation, low cost and effectiveness against keeping insects out. Stronger materials such as aluminum wire and fabric are ideal solutions in situations where pets could come into contact with screen. Online retailers offer various colors that can be coordinated to match your home decor or exterior siding.

Spline and Roller

• Spline is the rubber string gasket that is pressed into the channel that runs along the frame of the door or window to hold the screen tightly in place. Measure the length of the spline channel and bring a piece of the old spline when purchasing a new product. This will ensure your new spline will fit snugly into the channel. A spline roller is essential to effectively pressing the spline into the channel. Using a screw driver or anything else could damage the spline and screen.

Installation

• Lay out your new screen material over the bare frame with the edges evenly overlapped. Starting from a corner and evenly working outwards both directions will allow you to keep the screen square against the frame. Stopping and removing the spline to start over will not damage fiberglass screen, but this process can cause wrinkles in a wire screen. Stretch the spline away from where you started and when pressing with the roller to stretch the screen outwards. You should use several lengths of spline so that if you have to fix a small area, the whole spline does not need to be removed. Rescreening is a process that should be done slowly and carefully for best results.