A sliding patio door provides one of the very best ways to connect the interior of your home to the outdoors. Its two large, glass panels—one fixed, one sliding—flood the room with sunlight, making even the smallest space feel bigger. And the sliding-screen door lets you enjoy fresh air and cooling breezes, while keeping annoying bugs at bay.
The screen door is much lighter and thinner than the sliding-glass door, so it tends to roll a little rougher and jump off the track more frequently. Therefore, it’s important to regularly vacuum or sweep the track clean along the door’s threshold.
Also, inspect the wheels on the underside of the screen door to ensure they’re spinning freely and not damaged in any way. To remove the screen door, simply lift it up and pull the bottom edge out of the track. If the wheels are cracked, badly worn, or seized up and not spinning, remove them and bring them to the hardware store to find same-size replacements.
Most modern screen doors have a lightweight aluminum frame that’s fitted with a large fiberglass insect screen. The screen is stretched tight and secured to the door with rubber splines, which are pressed into shallow grooves. While fiberglass screening is excellent at blocking out bugs, it’s not very tough, so it doesn't take much to rip it or punch a hole through it.
The good news is that if your screen gets damaged, you can easily replace it, using tools and materials found at any hardware store or home center.
What to Buy
When buying the replacement fiberglass screen, be sure it’s big enough to overlap the four edges of the screen-door frame by at least 2 inches.
💡It’s better to have too much screen, than too little.
And while you can sometimes use the old spline to install the new screen, it’s smarter to buy some new spline, which is very affordable; 25 feet of spline typically costs less than $5. Just be sure the new spline is the same diameter as the old one.
Prime-Line Rolling Tool
Craftsman Utility Knife
CRAFTSMAN Slotted Screwdriver
Channellock Phillips Screwdriver
Besides the new screen and spline, you’ll also need a spline tool, which resembles a double-ended pizza cutter. It has two disc-shaped rollers, one on each end of a short handle.
At first glance, the rollers look identical, but there’s a slight, but important difference: The edge of one roller has a convex profile that’s used first to force the screen down into the existing spline grooves in the door’s frame. The other roller has a concave profile, and it’s used to then press the spline into the grooves to lock the screen in place.
Remove the Old Screen
A sliding screen is supported on rollers that ride in a track. Lift it until the rollers clear the track. Then, pull the bottom out and lower the door until it clears the top edge of the frame.
Install the New Screen
Now that the old door is out, you're ready to put in the new one. Here's how:
Joe is a former carpenter and cabinetmaker who writes extensively about remodeling, woodworking, and tool techniques. He has written eight books and is a contributing editor to Popular Mechanics. He also appears on the Today’s Homeowner TV show, and co-hosts the weekly Today’s Homeowner Radio Show. Joe writes from his home in Roxbury, Connecticut.
