Nasty little insects all want to get in your house and they will find a way in if they can. After all, when your windows are open to let the fresh air in through your screens, those diminutive critters are engrossed to the same aromas that we are, the very same smells that are flowing out while the fresh air flows in, and at night, they even want to be near your lights. You spend your days working hard and want to relax at night. During those wonderful cooler seasons, you want that fresh air to freshen your rooms as well as for the pure delight of the natural cool breeze.

Now, if I was an insect, and I smelled something delectable cooking, a hot homemade pie cooling by the window, or seeing that extraordinary incandescent glow in the evening hours, I would be banging on that screen trying to find a way to enter. To bugs, it’s heaven inside your home, and they want IN! So how do we resolve this and prevent unwanted company?

Anyway, with all these excellent smells and good lighting coming from your house, insects will look for a way to get at them, and the easiest way is through even the tiniest hole in a screen. That’s where they will give attention to in the first place, and if there is so much as the teeniest rip or split, it will be just as inviting as if you left the door wide open.

What all this means is, you’ll need a new screen. Sure, you can probably locate a hole and possibly take some goopy adhesive or a dab of silicone and plug it up. But for anything larger like a tear, you’ll seriously have to replace it. Screens are in most cases budget friendly. This is a task that is really easier than it might appear, and here’s how to do it.

You can find do-it-yourself re-screening kits at your favorite local hardware store, and even Wal-Mart carries everything you’ll need. And basically, you’ll need 3 different things before you can begin. Fabric screen, spline and a spline rolling tool.

Fabric screening has just about replaced the old metal type, and basically every modern window uses a fabric type screen. Spline, is a plastic type inlay, which presses into a groove that holds the fabric screening in the window, and the spline tool is a little roller that pushes the spline into the groove.

Here’s what you do. Take down the window that needs to be re-screened and place in on a large flat surface. I generally use a floor, but any large table will do. Pull out the old plastic spline and discard it. Next, pull off the old torn screen.

Now, take some brand new screening and place it over the entire window allowing about 2 inches of overlap on each side. Then, take your spline tool, and using the solid roller, push the screen into the groove on the short side of the window. Now, unroll a little spline and push that in over the screen.

Go around the entire frame, and when you get to the last side, use one hand to pull the screen reasonably taught while the other pushes the spline into the groove. Now, just trim off the excess screen still attached and you will have completed your task.