Window Screen Not Fitting Properly? The Usual Reasons
Fuad Atasoy3 min read
A window screen should sit square in the window, with no gaps at the edges, and stay put when the wind blows. When it does not, bugs get in around it, it rattles, or it ends up on the ground.
There are only a few reasons a window screen does not fit, and each one shows itself in its own way.
Signs a window screen is not fitting properly
- Light shows through a gap along one side, the top or the bottom
- The screen rattles or shifts when the wind blows
- It falls out, or will not stay in the window
- It will not go into the window at all
- It sits crooked, higher at one corner than the other
Sized from the glass, not the screen channel
The size that matters is the screen channel, the track in the window frame that the screen sits in. It is not the same as the glass, or the opening you see from inside. A screen ordered from the glass size, or from a quick measurement across the opening, very often comes out wrong.
There is very little room for error. An eighth of an inch too small leaves a gap, and an eighth too big means the screen will not go in. Screens held in by tension springs have to allow for the springs as well, which is another place the size goes wrong.
Stock sizes on windows that are not stock
Store-bought window screens come in common sizes. If your window happens to be one of them, the screen fits. Many windows are not, especially in older homes, where windows were often built to sizes no store carries and openings are not always perfectly square. A stock screen on a window like that is always a little off.
A bent frame or a broken corner
A window screen that fit once and has stopped fitting has usually been bent. Frames bend when a screen is pushed out, dropped or forced in. A corner that has split lets the frame go out of square, so it no longer lines up with the channel. A slight bend can often be straightened, and a split corner can be replaced.
Missing clips, pull tabs or tension springs
Sometimes the screen is the right size and the frame is fine, but the small parts that hold it in have broken or gone missing. Without its clips or tension springs, a screen that is the right size will still rattle, leave a gap or fall out. New clips or springs are a small repair.
Repair or a new window screen?
The fix depends on the cause:
- A bent frame, a split corner, or missing clips or springs: usually a repair
- A screen that is the wrong size for the window: a new screen built to the window
- A frame that is kinked or corroded: a new screen
- A window with no screen at all: a new screen, measured and built for it
We take the measurements ourselves, at the screen channel, so a new window screen fits the first time.
We build custom window screens to fit your windows, and repair the ones that have stopped fitting, at your home across Tampa Bay. Send a photo of the window and the screen with your quote request, and we can usually tell you which one it is before we arrive. Quotes are free.
See our custom window screens serviceWe come to you in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon and Riverview, and across Tampa Bay.