Pro Advice

Your windows let in beautiful views and sunlight, but they can also lead to leaking and draftiness if they aren’t caulked in properly. Caulk is used around the exterior joint between your windows and the exterior siding or brick to fill in the gap. If a gap were to remain, bugs, water, and wind could get inside.

Caulk is important because it keeps that gap closed. However, all caulk will eventually shrink and possibly crack. So what, is this another costly fix? No, it’s something you can do yourself with some time and a caulk gun.

What You’ll Need

• A Caulk gun
• A putty knife
• A utility knife
• Tubes of caulk
• Some rags and some water
• Your hands

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Springtime is coming! We are less than a month away from the first day of spring, and with it come all of the amazing smells of budding trees and flowers. Your sliding screen door or screen patio door is a great way to be able to enjoy the upcoming weather, but not if it has a hole. Holes are common in screen doors, but they tend to let in bugs and other critters.

Luckily for you, fixing a hole in a screen is not too difficult – it is definitely something you can do yourself with a quick trip to the hardware store.

What to Buy

Most hardware stores have rescreening supplies and door hardware for you to use, but you need to be aware of manufacturer specific parts. Anderson only sells parts through Home Depot due to an agreement. But, if your door is not Anderson, generic parts will probably work just fine.

Buy enough screen so that you can overlap the frame of the door by at least 2 inches on each edge. You will also need a new spline, which is the rubber tubing that holds the screen in a groove surrounding the frame. Spline tends to become brittle and break over time, so replacing that can be a good thing.
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