Screen & Window Refresh
Handis screen and window refresh is the single-visit reset that takes a Seattle home from winter-shut to actually-window-open for the warm months — every stored screen pulled from the garage or attic, every tear re-meshed with fresh fiberglass or aluminum on the spot, every bent frame replaced, every sliding-door track lubricated with silicone (never WD-40, which destroys the nylon rollers in about a season), every vinyl-window weep hole cleared so the spring rains drain right, every window track vacuumed and wiped, every screen re-installed on the window that takes it. From $300 for a small home with five-to-eight screens; up to $900 for a full re-mesh on a larger home with multiple sliders and pet-resistant mesh.
Service
What Does the Screen & Window Refresh Include?
The screen and window refresh is a single visit that takes every screen in a Seattle home from winter storage to mounted, taut, and bug-tight. The tech runs a fixed checklist across screen inspection, re-mesh work, sliding-door tracks, vinyl-window weep holes, and re-installation — every item is on the list before the visit starts, every screen gets a photo on the report, and any repair beyond the named scope is quoted at member labor rates before the tech touches it. The standard package covers a home with up to eight screens.
Pull and Inspect Stored Screens
The tech pulls every screen from wherever it is stored — the garage rafters, the attic, the basement, the side-of-the-house stack. Each screen gets a visual inspection on the workbench (usually set up on the back patio): mesh integrity (any tears, holes, sagging), spline condition (is it dry-rotted, has it pulled out of the channel), frame condition (any bends, cracked corners, missing tabs), corner clips. Anything beyond simple re-installation gets flagged for re-mesh or frame replacement before the tech starts.
Re-Screen Torn Mesh (Fiberglass, Aluminum, or Pet-Resistant)
Torn mesh gets pulled, the spline pulled out of the channel, and fresh mesh installed with a spline roller. Default mesh is charcoal fiberglass (the standard for residential windows — soft enough to spline easily, dark enough to disappear from inside the house). Aluminum mesh is available where strength matters (kitchen screens that take grease and abrasion). Pet-resistant heavy mesh (Phifer PetScreen and equivalents) goes on sliding-door screens that take a dog claw or a cat — it is seven times the tear resistance of standard fiberglass and worth the modest upcharge on slider doors. Spline diameter gets matched to the existing channel; using the wrong spline diameter is the most common DIY re-mesh failure.
Bent Frame Repair or Replace
Aluminum screen frames that took a hit (the lawnmower-throws-a-rock kind, the closing-the-window-on-the-screen-corner kind) get straightened where they can be straightened and replaced where they cannot. Common residential screen-frame stock (5/16-inch, 7/16-inch, 3/8-inch) is on the truck for the standard sizes; oddball custom frames get measured and a follow-up replacement visit scheduled with the right stock. Corner keys, slide tabs, and pull tabs all get replaced as needed.
Window-Track and Weep-Hole Clean
Every vinyl-window weep hole (the small slot at the bottom of the outside frame that lets condensation and rain drain out) gets cleared with a thin pick — clogged weep holes back water up into the sash channel and cause the chronic mystery-puddle on the windowsill every spring. Window tracks get vacuumed of winter dust, dead bugs, and grit, then wiped with a damp microfiber. Sash channels get the same treatment so the windows slide smoothly.
Sliding Door Screen Track Service
Sliding-door screen tracks get cleaned of every grit pebble and dead leaf accumulated over winter, then lubricated with silicone lubricant — never WD-40, never standard machine oil, never graphite. WD-40 dissolves the nylon rollers on standard slider screens and the door binds within a season. Silicone (CRC Silicone Lubricant, 3-IN-ONE Silicone Spray) is what the door manufacturers actually specify. Slider doors that have lost a roller get the roller replaced from truck stock where it is a standard size; oddball custom rollers get measured for a follow-up.
Re-Install on the Windows That Take Them
Every cleaned-and-checked screen goes back on the window that takes it, fitted tight, tabs latched, corner clips set. Casement-window screens (the interior-mount kind) get installed last with the right pressure on the clips so they do not pop loose the first time someone opens the casement. Screen position labeled if the homeowner wants the labels for next year so storage and re-install go faster.
How the Screen & Window Refresh Works
Five steps every Handis screen and window refresh visit runs through — pull stored screens, inspect each one, re-mesh torn mesh and replace bent frames, service sliding-door tracks and vinyl-window weep holes, re-install and send the same-day photo report.
Pull Stored Screens from Wherever They Live
Tech pulls every screen from the garage rafters, attic, basement, or side-of-the-house stack and sets up a clean workbench on the back patio for the inspection and re-mesh work. Storage-location notes go into the report so re-collection at the end of next winter is faster.
Inspect Each Screen on the Bench
Mesh integrity, spline condition, frame condition, corner clips, slide tabs, pull tabs — every screen gets a visual check before any work starts. Anything beyond simple re-installation (re-mesh, bent frame, replacement parts) gets flagged with a member-rate quote for your sign-off before the tech opens the spline roller.
Re-Mesh Torn Screens and Replace Bent Frames
Torn mesh gets pulled and re-splined with fresh fiberglass, aluminum, or pet-resistant heavy mesh sized to the use case. Spline diameter matched to the existing channel — the most common DIY re-mesh failure. Bent aluminum frames get straightened where possible and replaced from truck-stock standard sizes where not.
Service Sliding-Door Tracks and Vinyl-Window Weep Holes
Sliding-door screen tracks cleaned of grit and dead leaves, lubricated with silicone (never WD-40 — it dissolves the nylon rollers). Vinyl-window weep holes cleared with a thin pick so spring rains drain right instead of pooling on the sill. Every window track vacuumed and wiped.
Re-Install and Send the Same-Day Photo Report
Every checked screen goes back on the window that takes it, fitted tight with tabs latched and corner clips set. Casement screens installed last with the right clip pressure. Same-day dated photo report with re-mesh counts, frame replacements, slider service notes, and any add-ons quoted for follow-up. Nothing beyond visit scope is touched without your sign-off.
Screen & Window Refresh Pricing
Final pricing depends on screen count, how many need re-mesh or frame replacement, slider count, and whether pet-resistant mesh is requested on any screens. Larger homes and multi-slider installs price higher. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us how many screens you have and how many sliders. We will quote the visit.
Why Seattle Homeowners Book Handis for Screen & Window Refresh
Screen work gets done wrong in three predictable ways every spring in Seattle. The wrong spline diameter gets jammed into the channel and the mesh sags by July. WD-40 gets sprayed into a sliding-door track and the nylon rollers dissolve by August. Vinyl-window weep holes get ignored because nobody knows what they are, and water pools on the sill every March. Our screen visit was built backward from those failures — the right spline diameter matched on the spot, silicone lubricant in place of WD-40, every weep hole cleared with a pick. The tech who shows up has re-meshed thousands of screens and can spline a 32-by-40 frame faster than you can find the receipt for the spline roller you bought at the hardware store.
Spline diameter matched on the spot, fresh mesh that holds
Screen channels come in three common residential spline diameters (0.140-inch, 0.160-inch, 0.175-inch) and a handful of less-common ones for storm-screen and casement applications. Using the wrong diameter is the most common DIY re-mesh failure — the spline either will not seat or pops out of the channel within a month. The tech carries every common diameter on the truck and gauges the channel before pulling fresh spline. Mesh is charcoal fiberglass by default, with aluminum and pet-resistant options on request.
Silicone on slider tracks — never WD-40
Standard sliding-door screens ride on small nylon rollers and a steel or aluminum track. WD-40 is a degreaser and a solvent, not a lubricant — it dissolves the nylon roller bearings over a season and binds the door. The factory spec on every slider screen we have ever opened up calls for silicone lubricant (dry or wet film), and that is what we use. A track that has been WD-40'd before we arrive gets cleaned of the residue before silicone goes on, otherwise the silicone never sticks.
Vinyl-window weep holes cleared with a pick, every visit
Vinyl-window sashes have small drainage slots at the bottom of the outside frame called weep holes — they let rain and condensation drain out of the sash channel. Painters paint over them. Spider webs block them. Years of grit pack into them. When they are blocked, water backs up into the sash channel and the homeowner gets a chronic mystery-puddle on the windowsill every March that no amount of caulk fixes. We clear every weep hole with a thin pick on every screen visit. Five-minute task, multi-year fix.
Honest scope — handyman work only, contractor handoff when needed
Screen and window refresh visits cover handyman scope only. Glass replacement, sash replacement, broken window-balance repair (the spring-loaded mechanism in vinyl double-hung windows), and full window replacement route to a glazier or window contractor — we name the issue in the photo report and recommend who to call. Re-mesh work, frame replacement, track service, and weep-hole work are all handyman scope and stay with us.
Insured, background-checked, 30-day workmanship guarantee
Every Handis handyman carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening before the first job. The 30-day workmanship guarantee applies to any work done during the screen visit — if a screen we re-meshed sags or pulls loose, a frame we replaced bows, a slider track we serviced sticks, a weep hole we cleared re-clogs from our debris, we come back and fix it at no extra charge. Guarantee covers our work, not pre-existing window damage and not new tears from a pet or a kid after we leave.
Estimate
Tell us how many screens are in stored, how many sliding-door screens you have, the rough age of the windows (vinyl, aluminum, wood-framed), and whether any screens have visible tears or bent frames. We send back a clear estimate for the visit.
Customer Reviews
Recent screen and window refresh reviews from verified Seattle-area customers.
Two cats and seven torn screens. Handis tech showed up with a workbench, set up on our back porch, pulled the old fiberglass out of every torn screen, and re-meshed all seven with pet-resistant heavy mesh in under three hours. Re-installed everything. The cats have already tested the new mesh and the mesh held. Worth every cent.
1978 sliding patio door in a Renton split, screen had been binding for years. Previous handyman sprayed WD-40 in the track which made it worse over the summer. Handis tech cleaned out the residue, replaced two destroyed nylon rollers from truck stock, lubed with silicone. Door now slides like new. Fifteen years of binding fixed in twenty minutes.
Every spring we had a puddle on three of our vinyl windowsills and we just assumed the windows were bad. Handis tech checked the weep holes on the bottom of the frames and every single one was blocked solid — paint from the previous owner, mostly. Cleared all of them in fifteen minutes total. First spring with dry windowsills in seven years.
Our 1948 Phinney Ridge bungalow has eleven wood-frame windows and three with original wood screens. The tech re-meshed all three wood screens with fiberglass to match the original look, replaced two bent aluminum frames on the modern windows, cleared every weep hole, and lubed both slider tracks. House is bug-tight for the first time in years.
Small vacation place on Camano. We only get there summer weekends and the screens had been stored in the garage rafters since 2019. Tech pulled them all down, found four torn and two with bent frames, re-meshed and replaced where needed, lubed the slider, re-installed everything in a single afternoon. Place is finally usable with the windows open.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the Handis screen and window refresh — pricing, mesh types, slider tracks, weep holes, and what routes to a glazier or window contractor.