How to Repair a Tear in Your Screen Door?

A screen door is a wonderful way to keep insects out of your home but still allow fresh summer or spring air in and protect you and your family from the elements. However, screen doors need periodic maintenance to mend bent or broken pieces. There are many reasons a screen door can bend or break in parts. Pets sometimes jump on the doors or claw at them, ripping the fine mesh. Young children sometimes press too hard against them when opening the door, which weakens the material and causes breaks. On occasion, balls and toys, if thrown in the direction of the door, hit the door with enough force, can be the culprits behind the tears in screen doors.

Although it seems inevitable, a tear in your screen door is inconvenient. When parts of the screen door bend or break, there is more likelihood of insects entering your home because there is a larger opening for them to do so. You and your family can either live with it, take the door to a repair shop, or you can repair it yourself. It might be a good idea to avoid the hassle of either of the first two options and fix the door yourself. Below is a simple step-by-step process for completing this task.

Slide the screen out from inside the door. Take the connecting strip out of the track that holds the screen.

Discard the torn or broken screen.

Take new screen mesh and place it inside the screen track. Be sure it fits. You may need to cut off some of the extra mesh, but measure carefully so that you don’t leave any open spots in the door.

Reattach the connecting strip to where it was on the track. You can do this simply by pushing it in. You will want to verify that this connecting strip has caught the new mesh. If not, the new screen would not be secure inside the door and could fall out.

Take the track with the reattached connecting strip and the new screen and return it to the door, sliding it in carefully and making sure it goes back in evenly.