A patio door is a great way to bring the spaciousness of the outdoors into your home. And with its sliding screen, you can enjoy fresh air without inviting in a variety of airborne pests. As for routine maintenance, there's little more to do than keep the track and rollers clean. That is, until someone accidentally tears the screen.Most modern screen doors consist of a lightweight aluminum frame across which fiberglass screening material is stretched. While fiberglass is an economical choice, it doesn't take much to punch a hole in it. The good news is that a damaged screen is easy to replace and you'll find all the materials you need at your local hardware store.Before your shopping trip, slide the door back and forth and check for broken parts. If the door doesn't slide easily, vacuum all dirt from the track and try again. If it's still sticky, add new rollers to your shopping list. To remove the door from the frame, simply lift it up and pull the bottom edge away from the track.When you replace a damaged screen, there are two things you need to become familiar with, fast.

After the screen itself, the most important material is the spline--the narrow rubber tubing that locks the screen in a groove around the frame. Spline comes in various diameters--with some sizes differing in diameter by only 1/64 in.--and matching your new spline to the old is important. Then, you'll need a spline-installation tool. This pizza-cutter-like device has a roller at each end. The convex end forms the screen in the groove, and the concave end presses the spline in place.What to BuyWhile almost all home centers and most hardware stores stock rescreening supplies and universal door hardware, doors from some larger manufacturers may require specific replacement parts. Anderson, for example, sells replacement hardware for its doors at The Home Depot. However, if your door is from a smaller, regional company, generic parts will most likely work. If you're replacing your door's rollers, bring an original along so that you can find the right match.Buy enough screen to overlap the doorframe by about 2 in. on each edge.

You'll also need a new spline (which holds the screen in its groove) if the existing one is brittle or breaks, and a spline-installation toolRemoving the ScreenA sliding screen is supported on rollers that ride in a track. double glazed door handle screwsLift it until the rollers clear the track. lowes screen doors 32Then, pull the bottom out and lower the door until it clears the top edge of the frame.solid oak doors high wycombeStep 1: Remove the Handlewooden garage doors in port elizabeth Remove the door handle to provide unobstructed access to the screen. emergency exit door regulations australia

If the handle is damaged, this is a good time to replace it.Step 2: Use an Awl It's common to find a separate length of spline on each side of the frame. used garage door for sale edmontonUse an awl or pick to catch the end of a piece and pry it up. single garage door torsion spring replacementTry not to damage the spline--if it's not broken or brittle it can be reused.Step 3: Remove the Spline Grab the screen spline with your hand and gently pull upward to remove it. Repeat the process for the other spline segments.Step 4: Remove the Rollers To remove the rollers, carefully pry them from the edge of the door with a screwdriver. On some doors, you may have to depress a spring clip to release each assembly.Step 5: Installing New Spline If you're installing new spline, use scissors or a knife to cut it to lengths that fit in the frame grooves.

Make sure that the diameter of the new spline is the same as that of the old material.Step 6: Align Replacement Screen Lay the replacement screen over the doorframe. Align one edge of the screen with the outside edge of the door to ensure that the screen is square to the frame.Step 7: Convex Roller Beginning at one corner, use the convex roller on the spline-installation tool to press the screen into the groove on a long edge of the doorframe.Step 8: Concave Roller Use the concave roller on the tool to press the spline into the groove. Apply gentle pressure and angle the tool slightly toward the outside of the frame to avoid tearing the screen.Step 9: Pull it Tight Step 10: Trim the Excess After installing all of the spline, use a sharp utility knife to trim the excess screen. Position the knife tip at the junction of the spline and outside edge of the spline groove.Step 11: Install New Rollers Slide the new roller assembly into the opening in the edge of the door and engage the clips that hold the roller in place.

Step 12: Replace the Panel Replace the screen panel in the door track and check that it closes evenly against the jamb. If it doesn't, correct the roller positions by turning the adjustment screws.Step 13: Secure Replacement Latch If the door latch is broken, buy a replacement and secure it to the jamb with a screw.Garage Door, Roll Up Door and Commercial Door GlossaryGarage Door GlossaryRoll Up, Commercial and Garage Doors Provided nation wide by Buy Doors Direct. GET MORE FOR LESS $$$ 1-877-753-6677Welp, we had some rot. Specifically, the trim around one of our exterior windows was rotting away. How can you tell if window trim is rotting away? It feels like a sponge when you poke it. Wood is not supposed to resemble a sponge. Since winter is coming (don’t laugh, we have embarrassingly short summers!), Mrs. Frugalwoods and I are trying to knock out a few needed projects on the exterior of the ol’ Frugalwoods home and this rotted window trim quickly ascended to the top of the list.

Our reasons for replacing it were not entirely cosmetic–rotten window trim can let water infiltrate behind your sheathing (the board, plywood, or OSB layer underneath your siding). If water gets to your sheathing, all sorts of bad things happen: mold, rotting insulation, and in the worst cases, rotting framing members. We’re lucky because the window itself is a relatively new vinyl replacement window. Vinyl window are awesomely weather resistant so I knew we didn’t have actual window issues. If our windows were wooden frames, we’d likely have a bigger problem on our hands. Fixing it isn’t rocket science, but the going local rate for this project is $350-$500. Knowing that this cost is almost entirely labor, we figured we could do better, and we did! Demolition is my favorite part of any home improvement project. Nothing like bashing things with hammers to make me smile! For this project through, you’ll want to be gentle. First try and figure out which trim sections are rotten.

Our window had both a flat board (sometimes called a “brick mold”) as well as a decorative molding. I originally thought it was only the brick mold that was rotten, but it turns out the molding was also getting soft in spots. Poke around with a screwdriver and you’ll quickly note which components are in need of repair. If it feels like wood, great! If it feels rubbery or spongy… then it’s time to tear it out! Once you’ve determined which components need to go, use a small pry bar to start removing the pieces. Your goal is to expose enough of the boards to get accurate measurements. Once you can clearly see what’s where, take a photo and measure the dimensions. If you can keep the trim pieces from falling apart as you demo, it will make cutting your new pieces to fit all that much easier. Now finish removing all trim boards and pray to the god of old houses that you don’t find additional rot as you delve deeper into your wall. If you do find rotten sheathing or even framing… then you have bigger problems.

Not insurmountable, but also maybe not a weekend project. If that’s the case, then you should go find another how-to post 🙂 Now that you know the quantity and size of trim boards necessary, head to your local home store and make a beeline for the construction supplies. Here’s a pro-tip: Most of the pros are pretty nice. If you are confused, ask the guy in the filthy shirt with giant bulging muscles for advice. Dude will almost always hook you up. In our case it was a very nice Eastern European gentleman with forearms the size of cantaloupes who explained the finer details between brands of cellular PVC trim. It’s time to inspect and insulate around the window. If you have a house built in the last 50 years, it won’t look like this. Modern houses use plywood or OSB (oriented strand board) as their sheathing. Besides being cheap, strong, and not requiring the destruction of old growth forests, OSB and plywood also make for very tight window installs. Old houses like ours have board sheathing. I

n addition to being expensive, weak, and requiring the wide-scale deforestation of most of the United States, board sheathing tends to be poorly fitted around windows. C There’s probably a better way to do this, but wow do I love spray foam. The stuff is magical, especially for filling giant irregular voids. Four extremely important things to know about spray foam: So have a plan! Move quickly and evenly apply a light layer of foam wherever your voids are deepest. Keep working your way around the window filling cracks, voids, holes, and whatever else gets in your way. In our case, we had giant voids to fill. If you have a newer home you might only have the area immediately adjacent to the window frame to insulate. In either case, insulation is worth the money while you have the window opened up. Might as well do it right. After you’ve foamed all there is to be foamed (plus some stuff that probably shouldn’t have been, but you know how it goes…) take a break while the foam hardens. I

t should be fine to continue working after 20 minutes or so. If your house was built correctly, you won’t need to do this step as you’ll already have flashing. As for us, we needed it. Flashing a window is a way to seal the area around the window from water infiltration while allowing any water that gets behind the trim boards to exit the wall structure. You can use all manner of materials as flashing: plastic, aluminum, lead (yes, and it works great!). We chose a flexible, sticky asphalt product commonly know in the trade as “Ice and Water Guard.” This stuff is really easy to use. Just cut your pieces to size, peel the backing paper off, and stick it up. You’ll want to apply the various pieces around the window from bottom to top. That is, you want water to be able to travel down the face of the flashing and never find an overlapped seam facing upwards. For the top strip of flashing, try to get it as far underneath the layer of siding above as possible. For the flashing on the sides, try to end the flashing on top of the bottom course of siding. T

his sounds great in theory, but reality can prevent it from being perfect. Just try the best you can. Now measure for your trim and cut. I like working from the top down, but I have no idea if that’s actually better. Our old brick mold wasn’t mitered in the corners so I followed the pattern and butt jointed it. Yes, I just said butt joint. It’s a carpenter’s term, for real. To cut a straight line with a chop saw or miter saw is simple. If you are making the cut with a circular saw, draw a straight line on the board with a carpenter’s square to make sure you don’t wander. Don’t be a cowboy, you and I both know you can’t eyeball it. While the left side and top of the window was a dead ringer for 1×5, the right side was juuuust too small for me to wedge it in there. Oh the joys of old houses! So I scribed the 1×5 to match the variation in the siding edge and ripped it with the circular saw. This I did mostly eyeball because I knew I would be covering the crappy edge with the decorative molding. S

crew the boards in place with your nifty special screws (they are actually pretty neat) and step back and admire how much more like a window it looks already! Unlike your trim board brick mold, decorative molding is pretty ugly in the corners unless you cut it on a 45 degree angle–aka a miter joint. When faced with cutting a miter joint, normal folks would go out and buy a miter saw. This makes it really easy to cut perfect miters every time, but will run you a couple hundred dollars. If you are like me and a member of team “if it can’t be done with a circular saw then you shouldn’t be doing it,” then read on. Cutting a 45 degree miter is not much harder than a 90 degree straight cut. The trick is getting a good line in place, and for that the carpenter’s square is essential. Measure carefully to the outside of the miter (the longest part) and check your marks twice before cutting. It’s really easy to get confused and draw your 45 degree line in the wrong direction (ask me how I know this…).

Once you have your line in place, carefully follow it with your circular saw. If you go slowly and check your measurements, no one will ever know you didn’t use a miter saw. Now screw in your molding and admire your handiwork! Oh you thought you were finished? Nreak out the caulk and run a bead on all of the joints. Smooth each joint with a moist finger (no joke, the best way to get a good caulk line). Don’t forget to add a dab of caulk to each screw hole as well. Once the caulk is dry you can decide whether you want to paint. So far we haven’t, because the new white trim matches our existing trim pretty well. Now you are actually done. Bask in the glory of saving hundred of dollars. Revel in the new confidence you built in your DIY skills. Or just take a shower. You probably need a shower real bad by now. We’re focused on building (hah!) a sustainable life, both from a skills-learning perspective AND from a stable financial perspective. Our immediate goal is to “retire” early to a homestead in Vermont and leave our city jobs behind.