Spring Home Fixes For the Handy Woman, Part 2, Replacing a Screen

Here I will continue with my handy-woman Spring fixes list.  If you missed the first article, you can read it here.

When I lived in the northeastern United States the spring season couldn’t come soon enough.  Watching all that snow melt away meant the flowers would be growing soon and the sun would be up higher and longer.  It also meant the Black Flies would keep me indoors throughout the month of May.  I’d prefer to be outside getting my gardens ready, but once the weather warms up it’s a good time to clean the windows, and clean the screens too if they need it.  If screens can easily be removed, take them outside on a nice warm day and spray them with the hose.

Some window and door screens may need to be replaced.  If you have naughty cats that like to climb up the screen door (yes), or generally tear at them for no good reason (yes again).

Go to the local hardware store and buy some animal strength screen, (or regular screen if you have good kitties, or no kitties), and a roll of spline.  Spline is that black stuff that holds the screen in the frame.  Also a spline tool which will be needed to hold the new screen in place once the old stuff is removed.  To get the old screen out, you will need a screwdriver.

I have done this, but with help from my son.  It may be tough to do alone.  But after watching this You Tube video, I’ll bet you can do it alone if you have to.  This is not a super expensive fix, but it will take a little time and effort.  First you must take the door off the hinge, or the window screen out of the window.  Pay attention to how you do that so putting it back will be easy.

FYI, when I replaced my back door screen with animal strength screen my naughty cat would climb up to the TOP OF THE DOOR using the screen, and it didn’t damage the screen at all…. It’s totally worth it.  The screen is darker than normal screen, but I didn’t mind it at all.

When the weather warms up it’s a good time to get some indoor painting done.  With my daughter’s help I painted my bedroom, bathroom, stairs and hallway.  My next article is about painting a whole room, or doing some touch ups.

Author: Pam

Spending time on the water is the best, and blogging about the sea life found along the saltwater river and ocean is what I do. I’m also a designer at Zazzle and sell products containing beach, tropical, and water themes. View all posts by Pam