What window and screen repair usually involves
The list under window and screen repair is scattered: mesh, spline, frames, cranks, rollers, balances, weather stripping and the caulking around the outside. Plenty of homes in Toronto need several of those at once, which is why I like to walk the whole house and deal with everything in one visit rather than come back for a single screen.
Re-screening: mesh, spline and tension
A screen is four pieces: the frame, the corner keys, the mesh and the spline that squeezes the mesh into the groove. Get the spline diameter wrong and the repair fails, either straight away or next summer. Too thin and the mesh pulls out of the channel on the first push from a cat or a kid. Too thick and it splays the frame out of square.
Tension is the other half of it. Mesh needs to be drawn just taut, not stretched drum tight, because a light aluminum frame will bow inward and stop fitting its opening. I roll the spline in with a proper screen roller, work opposite sides in turn, then trim the waste back into the groove with a fresh blade so no fringe shows along the edge.
Mesh choices that matter
Standard fibreglass is soft, forgiving and fine for most windows. Aluminum mesh holds its shape and suits doors and low windows that get pushed on. Pet mesh is a heavy vinyl-coated polyester that shrugs off claws. A tighter no-see-um weave keeps out the very small insects near ravines and the lake, and solar mesh cuts glare and heat on west-facing glass at the cost of a little view.
Cranks, operators and window hardware
Casement operators wear out from the inside. The worm gear strips, so the handle turns while the sash barely moves, or the arm shoe drags in its track. Replacements are matched by manufacturer, by hand, and by arm length, which is why photos of the operator, the arm and any numbers stamped on the sash help me source the right part before I come out.
Grit is the quiet killer here. The track that the arm slides in fills with dust and paint, and oil makes it worse because oil holds dirt. I clean the track, use a dry lubricant, check the hinge arms at the top and bottom, and replace the handle when the splines inside it have rounded off.
Sashes that stick, drop or will not lock
Sliding and hung windows have their own faults. Vinyl sliders ride on small nylon rollers that flat-spot and drag. Older hung sashes hang on spiral or block-and-tackle balances that lose tension, so the window creeps down or feels heavy to lift. Paint build-up in the channel is the simplest cause of all, and often the real one.
Locks and keepers go out of line once a sash has dropped or a frame has moved. Forcing the handle bends the keeper, and then nothing latches at all. I adjust the sash first, move or shim the keeper second, and replace parts only when they are genuinely worn. Adjusting first and replacing last is the habit that makes window and screen repair worth paying for.
Drafts, condensation and caulking
Weather stripping is what actually stops a draft, and it is the part of window and screen repair people forget is consumable. Kerf-in bulb seal compresses flat over the years and foam-backed tape hardens. Fresh seal pushes into the same kerf, cut slightly long so the corners stay compressed. A strip of paper closed in the sash gives a quick check: if it slides out freely all the way round, the seal is finished.
Condensation confuses people. Water on the room side of the glass in winter is indoor humidity meeting a cold surface, which is a ventilation problem more than a window problem. Fog trapped between the panes is a failed sealed unit, and that unit has to be replaced by a glass company, so I will point you there instead of pretending a repair exists.
- Old perimeter caulking cut out fully before new sealant goes on
- Backer rod pushed into wide joints so the bead can flex
- Exterior-grade sealant tooled into a clean, dry joint
- Weep holes at the bottom of the frame left open, never caulked shut
- Interior stop and trim gaps sealed where drafts track in
- Sills cleared out so water drains away instead of sitting
