Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I love learning new things

Have you ever had a project looming in your garage that you feared tackling simply because you had never done it before?  Mine was the set of ripped up screens that came off one of our apartment units.  A new tenant moved in and we noticed none of the windows had screens.  Hmmm, that's odd because just last summer we spent $25.00 per window to have screens made and hung.  It seems the former tenants didn't want them.  I found about 5 of them tucked away in laundry rooms, behind the building,  and under the carport, so I gathered them up and brought them back to my garage.  I really didn't want to spend another $125.00 to make new screens for this unit, so I thought to myself "how hard can this be?"  When we purchased the building, I found in one of the storage units a few unusual tools and "window screen corners".  I saved them, of course, just in case I ever needed them.  Well, what do you know - I needed them!

Before tackling this project, I Googled "window screen replacement" and clicked on the video link.  Ta da!  SEVERAL how-to videos popped up and I watched a step by step instruction on how to do it.  So here's what I did;

First start by laying the old screen on a flat surface.

You will need a few tools.  A knife, small flat screwdriver, screen roller and possibly needle nose pliers.

Start by lifting the corner of the rubber spline with a screwdriver.

Then you pull the spline all the way around the screen.  Save it - you will need it later.

Once it is removed, take the old screen off and throw it away.


Lay the new screen down leaving about an inch all around the frame.

Using the roller, lay the spline over the screen and the groove and press the screen into the groove



Once the spline is pressed into the groove, press the corners of the spline down with the screwdriver to make sure everything is tight.  Then cut just outside the spline all the way around the screen.


Remove the excess screen from around the frame.


There you have it!  Fresh screens using the old frames!
The replacement screen just cost about $14.00 at the hardware store.  It sure beats replacing them all for $125.00!