- Service
- Screen repair
- Usually
- Done on the visit
- Custom sizes
- Built to your opening
- Small jobs
- Accepted
Screen service
Window Screen Repair
Torn mesh, frames bowed by wind, screens that drop out when you touch them, and mesh the sun has made brittle enough to split at a fingertip.
Symptom index
Find your symptom
Screens fail in a small number of predictable ways, and only one of them actually needs a new screen.
A tear or hole in the mesh
Ordinary wear, a pet, or hail. The frame is usually fine and only the mesh needs replacing.Rescreen
Mesh loose and bowing
The spline has hardened and released its grip, or the mesh was fitted slack in the first place.New spline
Mesh splits at a touch
Ultraviolet has made the fibreglass brittle. It will keep tearing wherever you handle it.Rescreen
Screen falls out of the window
The frame has racked, or the clips and tabs holding it have worn.Frame or clips
A corner has come apart
A corner key has corroded or pulled out. New mesh alone will sag again within a season.Rebuild corner
Frame is bowed or twisted
Wind pressure on slack mesh, or the frame has been stood against a wall and knocked.Straighten or rebuild
Holes punched right through
Hail. Usually across one elevation rather than a single screen.Rescreen, check all
Mesh grey and clogged
Dust loading from field work or dry conditions. Restricts airflow noticeably.Clean or rescreen
Nothing at the store fits
Older Kansas housing is full of non-standard openings. This is normal, not a problem.Custom build
Room unbearable in afternoon sun
Standard mesh does nothing about solar gain. Different mesh will.Solar mesh
Pet has been through it twice
Standard fibreglass is not strong enough for the job you are asking of it.Pet mesh
Screen door jumps its track
Rollers worn or the track is packed with grit.Door rollers
How it works
A frame, a spline and the mesh
Three parts, all consumable, all replaceable. Knowing which one failed is the whole diagnosis.
01 / Frame
Aluminium, held square by corner keys. If the corners have let go the frame racks, and no amount of new mesh will hold tension in it.
02 / Spline
The rubber cord pressed into a channel to grip the mesh. It hardens with exposure and lets go, usually before the mesh itself has worn out.
03 / Mesh
The consumable. Standard fibreglass, fine insect mesh, heavy pet-resistant mesh or dense solar mesh, depending what the screen is actually for.
04 / Tension
The part most often done badly. Mesh fitted slack bows in the first windy week and pulls out of the spline. Fitted correctly it stays flat for years.
05 / The fit
Screens sit in a channel or on clips. A screen that keeps dropping out is a fit problem, not a mesh problem, and rescreening it will not help.
06 / The opening
Measured directly, because older Kansas housing is full of openings that are no longer any standard size at all.
Specification
What a screen job should include
It is the cheapest work we do, which is exactly why it is worth doing properly rather than quickly.
| Item | Status | Why it is on the list |
|---|---|---|
| Frame square check | Included | Diagonal flex tested by hand. A racked frame will not hold tension however new the mesh is. |
| Corner key inspection | Included | Corroded or pulled keys are the real fault behind a lot of sagging screens. |
| Spline assessment | Included | Hardened spline is often the whole problem and is cheaper than rescreening. |
| Mesh recommendation | Included | Standard, fine, pet-resistant or solar, based on the elevation and what the screen is for. |
| Correct tensioning | Included | The single thing that decides whether a rescreen lasts a season or a decade. |
| Opening measured directly | Included | Not assumed from a standard size chart. |
| Refit and operation check | Included | Clips, tabs and channel depth, so it stays in the window. |
| Old mesh and spline removed | Included | Taken away rather than left with you. |
| Written fixed price | Included | Including custom frame work if that is what it needs. |
| Replacement windows | Not offered | Nobody should be replacing a window over a screen, and we have nothing to sell you if they tried. |
Kansas conditions
What Kansas does to screens
Wind, hail, dust and sun, with very little shelter from any of them.
01
Wind, all year
Kansas is among the windiest states in the country and most of it is open ground. Constant pressure on screen mesh works slack material out of its spline and racks frames at the corners. It is the main reason screens here fail earlier than people expect.
02
Hail punching through
Kansas hail puts holes in screen mesh most years, typically across one whole elevation at a time. Screens are the first thing on a house to show storm damage and by far the cheapest thing to put right.
03
Dust loading
Dry conditions and farm work put a great deal of fine soil into the air, especially in central and western Kansas. It clogs mesh, cuts airflow noticeably and holds moisture against the sill underneath.
04
Strong sun on exposed elevations
With little shade on most Kansas lots, ultraviolet degrades fibreglass mesh until it splits rather than stretches. A south or west screen can reach the end of its usable life well inside its rated span.
Workmanship
Five ways screens get done badly
Screens are simple enough that corners get cut, and the corners that get cut are always the same ones.
01
Rescreening a racked frame
If the corners have gone, the frame cannot hold tension. New mesh in it will bow within a season and the money is wasted.
02
Fitting the mesh slack
The commonest fault of all. Slack mesh bows in the first wind, works out of the spline and tears. Tension is the entire skill in this job.
03
Reusing hardened spline
Old spline that has gone rigid will not grip new mesh properly. It costs very little and it should be replaced every time.
04
Fitting standard mesh where pets are
If an animal has already been through a screen once, putting the same mesh back is a guarantee of a repeat visit.
05
Forcing a screen into the wrong opening
Older Kansas housing has openings that are not standard sizes. A screen trimmed or bent to fit never sits properly and falls out eventually.
Coverage
Window screen repair across Kansas
A mobile service covering the whole state, east to west. Pick your town below, or call and we will come to you.
Window Screen Repair Across Kansas
Questions
Screen questions
Q1
Can you rescreen the frames I already have?
Yes, provided the frame is square and the corners are sound. It is the cheapest option and most of what we do.
Q2
Nothing at the store fits my windows.
Normal in older Kansas housing. We build screens to the opening you actually have rather than the size it was supposed to be.
Q3
What is solar mesh?
A denser screening that blocks a significant share of solar heat and glare before it reaches the glass. On a west-facing room in a Kansas July it makes a real difference.
Q4
Do you have pet-resistant mesh?
Yes, and it is worth fitting anywhere an animal pushes against the screen. It is several times stronger than standard fibreglass.
Q5
Will you come out for one screen?
Yes. But ask about the rest while we are there — most of the cost is the visit, so the second and third cost far less than the first.
Q6
Should I take screens down for winter?
It extends their life noticeably if you have somewhere to store them. If not, we will tell you which frames are getting tired before they fail.
Related
Other repairs we handle
Windows and doors are the whole business, so whatever has failed, it is on this list.
Next step
Get the screens sorted before summer
Free estimates across Kansas, and we are glad to take the small jobs.