Repairing Window Screens

Living in the mid-eastern United States affords me a simple pleasure once each year. Mid spring, just a few weeks before summer, finds me in my living room at dusk, a cool breeze gently fluttering the white sheers at the open windows. With just enough daylight to read without benefit of a lamp, sometimes I toss the book aside and simply listen to the day ending, and catch the subtle fragrance of the hyacinths' and crocus' lilt on the breeze into my home. I enjoy leaving the windows open at night, anticipating feeling the cold morning air on my bare feet the next morning as I walk by them.

At the beginning of spring each year, when it's still cold enough to leave the windows shut, I check all of the window screens in my home to see if they need repairs. Repairing a window screen is easier and less expensive than replacing the entire screen, and there are different methods you can try. The only time I replace the entire screen is when the tear or hole is at the frame of the window, or if the screen has been entirely ruined by an impact, creating a hole nearly as large as the entire screen. Follow these guidelines when you need to repair your window screens:

• At your local home improvement store, purchase the same type and color screen as your existing screen, and a bottle of clear fabric glue from a craft store.
• Remove the screen from the window and lay it on a flat surface, or you can try to make the repair with the screen in place.
• Cut a piece of screen leaving one-inch margins larger than the hole or tear.
• Using quilting thread the same color as the screen, and a large needle, sew the patch onto the screen, using small stitches, going through both layers of screen.
• Flatten the screen every few stitches to ensure there are no gaps, and then finish the repair with a strong knot, knotting at least three times.
• Apply fabric glue to the edges of the patch, then turn the screen over and apply the glue directly along the line of thread.

Once you've finished the repair, replace the screen into the window frame. You can also repair very small holes with just fabric glue, with the screen still in place at the window. If you choose to use fabric glue instead of thread, glue the patch in place, apply a piece of waxed paper to both sides of the screen over the patch, and then use a magnet on either side of the screen on top of the waxed paper to hold the patch in place until it dries—usually about twenty minutes—and then gently remove the magnets and the waxed paper.