Posted by QuickReadAbout.com Staff in Accidents do happen. Dogs jump up on doors with nails like World War II punch knives, cats shred screens with the precision of neurosurgeons, and kids stare up at you with huge eyes, telling you they have no idea what happened – or why there is now a hole the size of Manhattan in your screen door or window.
Before you rush off to replace the entire screen, however, you might want to consider repairing it instead – even if only as an interim measure, to keep the bugs out.
This is a bit finicky, but easier than you might think. (If the tear is low down in a door, do yourself a favor and grab a kitchen step or a footstool to sit on.)
First determine which sort of screen you have – aluminum or nylon. It’s easy to tell the difference. Aluminum will feel quite hard and unyielding to the touch. Nylon is soft.
Nylon Screen Mesh
There are two options you can choose between, when repairing Nylon Screen Mesh: Gluing or Sewing.
Sewing Method
If you have a tear, rather than a hole, you can quickly sew the tear shut. Make sure you use thread that matches your screen as closely as possibly in color.
Gluing Method
Proceed as above, only making larger stitches.
1.When you have sewn the tear shut, pull the knotted end of your thread back out of the screen a couple of inches, and snip other end leaving another “tail”. 2.Push the tear ever so gently open again (so that the stitches widen) and carefully glue the ends of the tear. 3.Pull both end of the threads taut, so stitches close up again. 4.Once the glue is completely dry, pull the thread out. (If it remains firmly embedded in the glue, you have most likely used too much glue. In that case, just trim the thread away as closely as you can.
Alternate Gluing Method
If the damage is a hole, rather than a tear (common when dogs, cats or kids treat a screen too roughly) cut out a piece of screen.
1.Sew it roughly to screen using brightly colored thread and large stitches that do not re- cross each other. 2.Leave tails loose at both end, as in the “tear” gluing method 3.Take a length of thread that is as close in color as possible to your screen, and thread your needle. 4.Re-sew the screen patch carefully this time, now that you have it in position. Adjust it as you sew, making the old and new mesh match as closely as possible. 5.When your repair is complete, grasp hold of one of the brightly-colored, loose ends of thread, and slowly ease out of the screen.
Aluminum Screen Mesh
If your screen is aluminum, you have 2 methods to choose from. This is the method Home Improvement professionals from RONA advise:
1.Cut out a piece of aluminum mesh screening so that the edges are jagged, not smooth: like the picture on the left:
2.Bend all the little extra projections over at a 90° angle first. (Use your fingers, a splining tool or needle-nose pliers – whichever you’re more at home with.) 3.Position your patch over the hole or tear. 4.Continue bending the jagged projections until flat, snug against the screen. 5.When the patch is secure, cut and remove the original damaged area inside the repair, leaving the new patch firmly in place.
Millwork professionals at Home Depot claim their method is easier and just as durable:
1.Take a piece of aluminum screen at least twice as large as your tear 2.Unravel the mesh down to just wider than your tear
3.Place patch over tear or hole, and “darn” all the loose ends in by weaving them through the undamaged existing screen mesh.
Patching works best if the tear or hole is not too large, and if the damaged part is not at eye level. If it looks too noticeable, or cosmetic appearance matters enough that it really bugs you, replace the entire screen.
But for now – maybe you’ll get one more season out of that screen.
Or at least… until your cat leaps onto the screen in a bug-hunting frenzy again!