screen repair

[Joe Wos]

any tricks or hints on installing fiberglass screen on my pool enclosure the ends have triangle openings, 8ft. x8ft. x12ft. thanks

[cshenk]

"Joe Wos" wrote

Need more info Joe. What is the enclosure made of? It's totally different depending on if it's metal or wood.

[gfretwell]

Can you get to it? I know mine is 14' high and I just paid a screen monkey to roll in new screen (a reference to agility, not intellegence) . It was about $100 but I was not climbing out on that

2" framework for $100. If you can get to it from the bottom and you can get to an edge from the outside, start rolling from the middle to the edge on 3 sides as far as you can go and then go outside and roll the ends. You won't get the screen as tight as a guy who goes around. (start and end at the same place)

[sam left]

it is aluminum. 2x2 and 2x6

[cshenk]

"sam left" wrote

The easiest way if you can, is to dismount the pieces that need rescreening. Caution note, if they are there for structural integrity, without dismountable inside screen portions, this wont be 'good'.

Easier done flat on the ground, the process is the same however if you can't dismount the screening portion. You'll find it esier with 2 people and 2 ladders if cant dismount the unit.

They sell these long rools of thin rubber-like material which looks like a thin 'pipe' usually about 1/6 inch but some are larger for other applications. Put up a layer of the screen material over the area leaving plenty of edge all around. Start at the top of the triangle and work evenly down about 1/3 on each of the top portions, using the rubber bit to tuck the screen into the channel. I have a blunt ended metal tool that fits perfectly for this. You work both sides evenly so you can get a fairly tight fit. Once you have it all the way to the bottom, if you did it right it will be taut. Having a second person on the other side makes this much easier to do!

Then, cut a piece of the rubber (leaving a bit over on each end) and work the bottom portion of the trinagle, starting in the middle. The reason for that is you will probably find it wasnt fully taut so will have a slight ripple effect once you have the bottom all done. You fix this by peeling up the end of the top parts of the triangle just a little bit and re-seat the rubber. Second person holding the screen taut while first person puts the rubber back in works best. Then, tighten the other end. Once done, with small clippers, carefully trim the screen edges back flush.

I know there are other ways to do this, but this one worked for us and made a very nice finish.

[David Combs]

Now, what if the frame is *wood*, like on a porch of an *old* house?

Any tricks you can suggest? (Otherwide it's a real bitch -- many hours).

Thanks!

David

[cshenk]

"David Combs" wrote

Totally different setup. That earlier answer was for a fellow with a metal framed enclosure over a pool if I recall it right and a high 'triangle' portion that needed reworking.

David, I have just such a style 'porch' though my house may not be as old. It's got your basic 'stud' like risers over what in my case is about a 30 inch 'wall' and screen above that to the ceiling. We have to rescreen it every so often (pets, then the renters when we were gone a few years).

We use thin 'slat' wood (its about what you'd use to lay carpet along a cement slab floor or shim a doorframe). Call it 1/3 inch thick? It's a little hard to find long pieces so sometimes we've used 'pretty molding' of the small thin sort.

Take down the old 'slat wood' or 'pretty molding' (almost impossible to save it) then place the screen over the opening between the pillars (which are hopefully flat! If not, you'll see another way below for round ones) then cut it a bit longer than you need and fold the edges under 2 or 3 times. Use a staple gun and hang it up. Next, cover the stapled edges with the slat wood (pretty molding, whatever). If you get it thin enough, you can use the staple gun to put up the slat wood.

If they are round poles, find corner molding that fits fairly neatly to the dimensions of your poles and use that instead.

In both cases, it's a little easier if you paint or stain the slat wood to match the existing porch wood fairly closely before you cut it and put it up. Later then, you need only do a touch up and perhaps a little caulk at where the corners meet top and bottom. Then again if you plan to paint the porch after, you can wait but I find it easier to paint with no screens to have to worry about, then paint the slats, then put it all up, and touch up after.

This last time? We took all the old screen (most was badly damaged or missing) from the 44ft long screened porch off the back of the house, painted the 'pretty molding', stapled the screen up, then put the molding up. Oddly the porch itself didnt need painting except later we need to do the ceiling.

Don and I did the 44ft porch in about 3 hours, not counting the time to cut and prepaint the pretty molding in a contrasting color to the wood studs, but counting the time to dab paint to cover the staples.

There are 14 'window screen areas' along that porch. 56 portions of molding to cut with all but a few of the same size (the corner section needed shorter top and bottom pieces). We did those assembly style the day before.

Not sure if you want hints on how to make that part go fast, but harmless to add it if you do need it.

[David Combs]

In article , cshenk wrote: ...

You're laying out the plastic to the exact size of one of those 14 windows, and then using it as a template or jig for the other 13?

Question: how many mills thick is the sheeting? 2? 4?

To insure that it doesn't stretch, doesn't blow away with the slightest leaf-rustling weak-breeze?

Do you pin it to the ground, perhaps, to keep it rectangular?

After or before doing the slats/pretty-moldings, you staple-in all 14 screen-spaces.

What difficulty did you have in getting a window's screen stretched tight enough to not experience a wave-action when there's a breeze?

As I recall from here, getting it evenly stretched and holding it that way while stapling it -- didn't end up being a whole lot of fun!

What ideas for getting that done?

And once that's done, the slats/molding cover them up (and by providing pressure along the entire length, relieves the staples of some of their "hold screen tight" atasks).

(In fact (is it true that?) the job of the staples is to hold the screen (somewhat) taught *until* the slats get nailed down tight?)

For sure!

David

[cshenk]

"David Combs" wrote

Nope, one big sheet. It was just so we could paint the wood easily while on the grass. It wasnt a breezy day so no need to anchor it with spare bricks.

9ft by 20ft I think what what I used that time. It's only there to make cleanup go fast since it allows us to paint in the grass. Any spills will go away when you cut the grass later.

I'm all into labor saving and we have reused that same piece several times now.

Not really sure. This is the thick stuff folks staple up around here over windows at the backside of the house in winter to help keep the cold out. They leave it up all winter. Thick. Since the roll is no longer in it's casing, I cant check for mill. It's normally seen around industrial sites. It's definately *not* the cheap flimsy dropcloth stuff sold at dollar stores thats little more than large saran wrap.

Got an old shower curtin? It would be just as good and probably big enough for your needs.

In a windy day, I'd have used bricks I guess?

Doesnt matter. We find it easier to have all the parts cut and ready at the same time as adding the screen. We staple the screen, then the wood over the screen (staple twice, it's faster and easier). We do one section with the wood and the slats, then move to the next. No need to move ladder multiple times.

Tool note: You will need thin slat wood and a good staple gun. Cheap staple guns will just break down. A nail gun with flat largish head load capacity would work too but we use a staple gun. Craftmaster, highest end manual they have.

None really. Use the 'plastic' screening material, not metal. It has a little give.

I forgot to mention you start at the top but that shold be pretty obvious, then work down evenly both sides. Since i help, it's not hard to do this quickly. A child about age 12 should be handy enough to help as well. Adult staples, child just holds it tight for you as you staple. Can be second adult ;-)

Second person. You staple the top, then a section on one side (lets assume right for ease) down about 6 inches, then left 6 inches, then right another

6 and so on til you hit the bottom. It *can* be done by one person but as you note, it's awkward.

Cut the screen so you have 2 inches (or near that) on each side. This is what you will roll under so you staple a double layer (can be triple too but we find it easier to do double then trim excess). To make it easier to hang, follow the screen grid closely so it's as even as you can get it. The reason is visually you may create 'ripples' if not cut right. We are lucky. The openings are just right so we only have to cut the top/bottom for all but 2 of the openings. For those 2, we use the scrren natural edge for one side then cut the other.

If you do not have even sizes to cut for screen, this will actually take the longest to cut it all right.

Exactly. Lasts longer this way. Most of the screens we hung in 2000, were still there and if the sun-fade coloring hadnt bothered us, we would not have bothered to replace them.

Yup! Thats probably why Don always has the slats ready to go right then.

;-) Oh another tip, if you have pets. If you have a choice to put the screen and slat wood on the outside (leaving the ledge inside) do it. Pets are less likely to damage the screen if from inside the porch they can put their feet on the rail to leer at birds and squirrels etc. If you put the screen on the inner side, they go through it before they notice (oops) and also your 'swmbo' will get mad as she can't tuck little plants and things along the rail.

Then again, my most frequently rescreened bit is the ledge where the cat likes to loaf and watch birds. She leans against it and loosens it up a bit at the bottom over time. Lovely cat but her fat little sassy ass is a bit big for the ledge!

Lets see, since we dont have to cut the screen except the top/bottom for most of it, once the wood is ready to go, we screen a section in about 5 mins and about 5 more for the wood? 6 per hour easy but we take breaks and sometimes are tending a cookout on the BBQ at the same time.

[David Combs]

OK!

Thank you for a fine lesson on screen-replacing!

David

[cshenk]

"David Combs" wrote

Most welcome! There's a huge wealth of good information in this newsgroup once you filter around the 'not so good'. I'll be posting in a bit for some tips on a project I've delayed.