Big project: repairing the garage screen door

I got a wild hair last week and decided to tackle a project that's been on my list of things to do for months - repair the screen on the door leading into the garage. (Actually it was more like a year and some change.)  I had all of the supplies for it except the spray paint but I thought "well, why don't I see if I can take the door down first?".  Just do the first step, no pressure.

Ok, well I could.  Then I thought, Oh man, this is also going to have to be sanded and repainted. And the hardware needs repainting, too.

That flat bar across the screen was to keep the kids from pushing directly on the screen and it did a great job until the screen part just wore out. (its a 30 year old screen door!) That bar will have to be removed and cleaned up.

I removed the torn screen and the hardware, then scrubbed the whole thing.  Sanded some rough spots.  Then taped up the remaining screen to prevent overspray.

I set it on top of a big leftover piece of plywood out in the garage. 

I taped off the door sweep - I had replaced that not too long ago. Then I stopped here because I had to buy paint. And lately, it works better if I divide these kinds of projects into manageable chunks.

The next day the hardware got a fresh coat of black paint.  Then I sprayed the door, let dry, turned the door over, sprayed the other side.  It was tedious, but we had a 93% humidity day and I knew that painting was going to be the most time consuming part of this project.  Could I have just replaced the screen without spiffing up the door and hardware? Yes.  But not really.

Day three I got out here and started replacing the screen.  I had a new package of spline and found the tool plus a small roll of screen fabric out in the tool chest.  Hooray for saving those two things.

The hardest part was being on my old lady knees on concrete!  I used a flat head screw driver to make sure the spline was deep into the corners.  Then I trimmed it all up with a utility knife.

A break for lunch then I will do any needed paint touch ups and put the hardware back on. It was so hot out here I thought I might melt.

Re-hanging the door was HARD.  But I was home by my lonesome and as we know, it doesn't take whiskers.  You just have to think out what you're going to do, then calmly proceed.  I remind myself often that Mark wasn't born knowing how to do these things, and he learned them so I can too.

The solid door got a good scrub and I even painted the trim around the screen frame with leftover paint from painting the garage.  So clean and neat!

What a difference painting out here made, not to mention repair of the screen and previous purging of all the junk that was sitting near this door as you walked out of the house.  The screen door took three days of slow and steady work, but I'm very pleased that this project is crossed off the list! 

Gina