From time to time, there will be household chores that every homeowner has to do. One of them is to fix holes in window screens. Screens often get holes in them and cellophane tape, while a nice quick fix, becomes unsightly over time. Window screen replacement is not that hard a task to perform. All you need is a roll of replacement screen, a roll of spline, a thin silicon or rubber twine like material, something to cut the screening and a splining tool. The splining tool looks like a two headed pizza cutter, but instead of cutting things, you will use it to press the spline. That’s what holds the screen in the frame. You will also need something to cut the replacement screen to size.
The first thing you do is remove the damaged screening from the frame. It is easier to do this with the frame on a flat surface, not in the window. Take the screen out of the window, making sure that your indoor cats don’t get outdoors.
Lay the frame on a flat surface, a card table or the floor. Pry an end of the old spline from its groove along the frame, pull the whole strip out and remove the screen you are replacing. Take the old spline away from the cat. Move the other cat from the middle of the frame.
Lay the roll of new screen on the frame; unroll screening from one side of the frame to the other. Move a cat from the middle of the frame and lay the screening flat. Cut the length you have just rolled out from the roll, taking care not to cut any cats, the table or the floor. Unroll some spline from the roll, or reuse the old spline if it is still intact and pliable. Move a cat out of your way. Begin pressing it into the grooves of the frame, ensuring that you have screening between the spline and the groove. Remove cats from the screening as required.
Realize that you’ve cut your screen too short to secure it on all four sides of the frame. Swear, pull out the spline toss the screening aside and unroll some more screening. Make sure that you have allowed for the screen to fit across the entire frame. Swear again as you remove a cat from the screening. Begin splining again. Jump a foot as you step on a cat’s tail while moving around the card table or kneel on the cat as you move around the frame on the floor. Firmly press the ends of the spline in the grooves and replace the screening while ensuring the indoor cats remain indoors. Throw out the old screen. Roll the new screening that you cut wrong into a roll and place with any leftover screening. Be sure to forget where you put them, as they will work for patches in the future. Take any spline lying around away from the cat. Fix yourself a strong drink and collapse in front of your newly replaced window screen.
I am not one who is comfortable talking about myself but here goes. I enjoy writing, family history, and reading. I decided to do this blog because I wanted to try something new. I decided to make it a weekly blog because I wasn't sure that I could keep up with a daily one, and monthly seemed like I was writing a magazine. I think I did ok with my choices. You'll notice that there are not a lot of graphics on my site. That's because there are graphics plastered everywhere on the Internet and those sites sometimes take forever to load. This blog is a place where you can kick back, relax and be ready to be amused. At least I hope I willbamuse you. This blog is on a variety of subjects from my ficitional cat agency, the FFL, which is monthly, to instructional blogs to editorials, which are my opinions only. I admit that I don't know everything and could be wrong -- I frequently am. Now, stop reading about me and read what I have to say!
Check out my novel, The Accidental Colony — It's the story of a group of scientists fighting for survival.
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