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With just a little instructional help, there are plenty of DIY projects within the realm of capabilities of even the barely handy.
One area where you, as a home owner, can save yourself in the repair expense department is with damaged screens on your doors and windows.
The occasional damaged screen is par for the course as a home owner.
But there is no reason why you have to put up with the loose aluminum screen flap, while waiting for the repairman to find time to come out and over charge you for a fairly simple task.
Sheets of screens are readily available at home improvement centers and hardware stores.
There are a number of precut dimensions that are sold in packs.
You can also buy lengths from rolls, much as you would with fabric.
You might also consider screen material that is designed to filter or block out the sun.
Whatever the case may be, measure your windows and doors ahead of time and buy accordingly, making sure that you purchase material that slightly exceeds the dimensions of the doors and windows.
You'll need a few tools for your project.
To hold the screen in place in its frame, you will be using a spline - a spaghetti-like rubber cord.
Get a splining tool for this part of the job.
Start off by taking the damaged screen out of the frame.
Next, lay the frame on a work surface.
Use an awl or needle-nose pliers to remove the old spline from the frame groove.
Once this has been removed, the old screen should be easy to pull out.
Next, meticulously clean out the small channel where you removed the spline.
Now, lay the new screen over the frame, making sure that each screen side extends about ¼-inch beyond the frame sides.
Then, snip off the screen corners at a 45-degree angle just inside the spline channel.
Then, use the convex side of the spline tool to work the screen into the channel, making certain to hold the rest of the screen fairly tightly to ensure that no wrinkles are formed during installation.
Once this is done, you can use the same tool to install the spline.
This time, use the concave end of the installation tool.
Install the spline in one strip without cutting it at any of the corners.
Cut the end piece of the spline with a sharp knife by pressing the knife against the edge of the channel.
That should do the trick.
Clean up should be minimal.
It's probably best to make your first screen repair attempt on a small window to perfect the process.
Once you have installed a screen or two, the entire process shouldn't take more than a few minutes per window, slightly longer for screen doors.
Keep one step ahead of the home improvement game and save a nice chunk of change in the process by tackling simple DIY jobs like this one on your own.
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