A screen door rehab,
An 84″ door with a pet guard metal mesh, that was riveted to the frame, a hold open washer on the closure that was facing the wrong way and a missing spring loaded strike plate,
Because the metal mesh pet guard was riveted, a pry bar worked well, the rivets popped right out,
Even though it’s tempting to attempt to re-screen the door without completely removing the door, it’s and act in futility, trust me, this is through personal experience,
Remove the pin in your closure, remove the hinges from the frame and lay the screen on top of a tarp, cardbord or even a sheet, something to prevent scratching, make sure you do this on a hard flat surface, not the grass,
Remove all the hardware such as the closure and the door handle,
Pull out the rubber spline, remove screen and re-use the rubber spline, if it’s still in good shape, get a new one if necessary,
Now, the subject of screening tools,
There are many size, shapes and colors, they all work, some better than others, so a middle priced one at Lowe’s or Home-Depot, should do the trick,
The wheels are like grooved pizza cutters, just put the wheel on top of the rubber spline and put a little weight down on the wheel, ever increasing till the right balance is found between insertion and keeping the wheel moving slowly foward, you’ll find your groove, pun intended!
After the insertion of the rubber spline is complete, the excess screen around the perimeter needs to be trimmed away, take a utility knife, press it against the outer part of the frame, above the screen, and trim all the excess away,
Reinstall the hardware and put the door back on the hinges, reconnect the pin into the closure and reconnect the cosure,
Closures can be adjusted, but if it was working before it was removed, it’s best to screw back into the same holes. same goes for the hinges,
A new spring loaded strike was installed and the metal pet mesh was re-installed by drilling some pilot holes and torquing down some sheet metal screws,
*see photo below
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