Doors and windows
Window screen replacement cost
Rescreening a window screen whose frame is straight is about $34 in standard fibreglass; making a new one to size, when the frame is bent or missing, about $91 — because the frame is most of a screen. Twelve screens and the patio screen door rescreened on one visit from a mobile service come to $547; one screen on its own is $125, trip and minimum. The cloth sets the rest — solar $69 a screen, pet cloth where the dog goes — and rescreening yourself is $86 of cloth and spline for all twelve. This counts the frames, the cloth, the doors and the trip, and what to buy if you do it yourself.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-24 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Window screen replacement cost calculator
The screens, their frames, and the cloth
A straight frame is rescreened; a bent one is replaced. The cloth sets the rest, and the patio screen goes on the same visit.
Of about this size.
The screen, outside of frame.
11.25 sq ft of cloth each.
New cloth and spline in the existing frames.
Vinyl-coated fibreglass, charcoal or grey. Does not dent or rust, disappears from inside. What most windows get.
The patio screen's frame kept, new cloth and spline, the rollers cleaned. Most sliding screens need only this.
Doors of that kind.
A mobile screen service, one trip.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
12 window screens rescreened + 1 sliding screen door
$547
$34 a window screen · fibreglass · one trip $75
The frame is kept
New cloth and spline in the frames you have: $34 a screen, against about $91 for a new screen made to size. It works while the frame is straight and its corners whole.
Not fall protection
A screen keeps insects out, not children in.
An upstairs window with its sill less than 24 in above the floor and more than 6 ft above the ground outside needs an opening limiter or a guard. The screen in it is held by two springs and a spline, and it pushes out under a child’s weight.
Each cloth, rescreened and new
The same windows and door, one trip.
What the service charges for
- 12 window screens, rescreened
30 × 54 in, fibreglass, standard 18 × 16. Old cloth and spline out, new cloth rolled in square and tight, trimmed.$407 - 1 × sliding screen door, rescreened
The patio screen's frame kept, new cloth and spline, the rollers cleaned. Most sliding screens need only this.$35 - Hanging or fitting the door
Set on its track or jamb and adjusted.$30 - Service trip
A mobile screen service's trip charge, once per visit.$75
What it costs
National average. 12 window screens of 30 × 54 in, rescreened, fibreglass, standard 18 × 16, and 1 sliding screen door, rescreened. Not included: window repairs, storm windows, or opening limiters for upstairs windows.
The window behind the screen is on the window replacement page; the sliding door the patio screen runs beside, on the patio door page.
Worth knowing
- Rescreening keeps the frame and changes the cloth and the spline: $42 a screen here, against $103 for a new one made to size. It works as long as the frame is straight and its corners are whole; a bent frame will not hold the cloth tight.
- Fibreglass, standard 18 × 16: Vinyl-coated fibreglass, charcoal or grey. Does not dent or rust, disappears from inside. What most windows get.
- A mobile screen service charges the trip once — $75 here. One screen on its own pays the whole trip; every screen in the house on one visit shares it.
- A screen is not fall protection. An upstairs window with its sill under 24 in from the floor and more than 6 ft above the ground outside needs an opening limiter or a guard (IRC R312.2); the screen will push out under a child's weight.
- Sliding screen door, rescreened: The patio screen's frame kept, new cloth and spline, the rollers cleaned. Most sliding screens need only this. If a dog goes through it, pet-resistant cloth on the door alone is the cheap fix.
On this page — 5 sections
The frame decides
The short version
- Rescreening a straight frame: about $34 a screen. A new one made to size: $91.
- Twelve screens and the patio screen on one visit: $547. One screen on its own: $125.
- The cloth sets the rest: solar $69 a screen, pet cloth on the door.
- Doing it yourself: $86 for twelve and about 4.8 hours.
A window screen is a frame and a piece of cloth, and the frame is most of the price. When the cloth is torn and the frame is straight, the service pulls the old spline, lays new cloth, rolls new spline in and trims it: about $34 a screen in standard fibreglass. When the frame is bent, kinked or gone, the screen is made new from roll-formed aluminium, cut to size and cornered — 14 ft of it on a 30 by 54 in screen — for about $91. A frame that is only loose at a corner is reset and rescreened.
$34
Rescreened
Fibreglass, frame kept
$91
Made new
14 ft of frame
$125
One screen alone
Trip and minimum
$7
Yourself, a screen
Cloth, spline, roller
MaterialsEstimator, Window screen and screen door price survey · checked 2026-09-24
The cloth sets the rest
Standard screen is vinyl-coated fibreglass woven 18 by 16 to the inch, and it is right for most windows. The others each solve one problem and pay for it in another: aluminium is stiffer and dents; fine 20 by 20 mesh stops no-see-ums and some breeze; high-visibility mesh gives view and air and wears faster; pet cloth stops claws and some view; solar cloth stops most of the sun’s heat and some of its light. Put each one where its problem is, not on every window.
| Twelve 30 × 54 in screens | Cloth / sq ft | Rescreened | Made new | Yourself |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fibreglass, standard 18 × 16 | $0.35 | $482 | $1,165 | $86 |
| Aluminium | $0.70 | $600 | $1,283 | $140 |
| Fine mesh, 20 × 20 (no-see-um) | $0.80 | $634 | $1,317 | $152 |
| High-visibility | $1.30 | $803 | $1,486 | $206 |
| Pet-resistant | $1.40 | $837 | $1,520 | $221 |
| Solar screen (80–90% heat block) | $1.60 | $904 | $1,587 | $251 |
Service trip included in the first two columns. The yourself column is rolls, spline and a roller.
Phifer, Insect screening product data — fibreglass, aluminium, pet-resistant, solar and fine-mesh screens · checked 2026-09-24
Screen doors, on the same trip
The sliding patio screen is usually the most-used screen in the house and the one with the torn corner; most of the time it needs only rescreening and its rollers cleaned. A bent sliding screen is made new to the opening. A hinged screen door on the front or back door is a carpentry job — fitted to a frame that is rarely square, with hinges, a closer and a latch. French doors and in-swinging doors take a retractable screen in a housing on the jamb. Whatever the door, on the same visit as the windows the trip is paid once.
| Sliding screen door | Hinged or retractable | |
|---|---|---|
| Rescreen, installed | $65 | — |
| New, installed | $255 | $430 hinged · $550 retractable |
| What wears out | Cloth, rollers, the latch | Closer, hinges, the housing's spring |
| Pet cloth | $88 with the door rescreened | On hinged doors, a kick plate |
| For | Patio sliders | Front and back doors; French doors |
ASTM International, ASTM D3656, Standard Specification for Insect Screening and Louver Cloth Woven from Vinyl-Coated Glass Yarns · checked 2026-09-24
Doing it yourself
Rescreening a window screen
- Pull the old spline with a pick and lift the cloth out; keep a piece of spline to match its diameter.
- Clean the channel; straighten a loose corner and seat it.
- Lay the new cloth over the frame with 2 in to spare all round.
- Roll the cloth into one long side with the convex wheel, then the spline over it with the concave one.
- Then the opposite long side, pulling the cloth only as tight as the roller makes it; then the ends.
- Trim the excess with a sharp blade angled away from the cloth.
- Refit the springs or plunger pins, and a pull tab if it had one.
Twelve screens are about $86 of cloth, spline and a roller and about 4.8 hours. Making frames new from 8 ft sticks and corner sets is about $350 and 9.6 hours, and it is worth it only for the screens that are bent; a service’s square, riveted frame is where the trip earns its money.
International Code Council, International Residential Code, Section R312.2, Window fall protection · checked 2026-09-24
What goes wrong
01Replacing screens that only needed cloth
A new screen is $91; rescreening the same frame is $34.
Instead — Rescreen every straight frame; replace only the bent ones.
02Stretching the cloth by hand
Tight cloth pulls the long sides of a light frame inward and the screen no longer fits its track.
Instead — Let the roller set the tension, long sides first.
03The wrong spline
Too thin falls out, too thick will not go in or bows the frame.
Instead — A piece of the old one to the store.
04Solar screens everywhere
North windows lose light for nothing; in a cold climate every window loses winter sun.
Instead — Solar cloth on hot west and south glass; fibreglass elsewhere.
05One screen at a time
One screen from a service is $125 — the trip and the minimum.
Instead — Every screen and the patio door on one visit.
06Counting on a screen upstairs
It is not fall protection and pushes out under a child's weight.
Instead — Opening limiters on low upstairs sills.
- 01Pull every screenCount them, and sort them: straight frames with torn cloth, and bent, kinked or missing frames.
- 02MeasureOutside of the frame, width by height, to the sixteenth — or the window's screen track, if the screen is missing.
- 03Choose the cloth by windowFibreglass for most, solar on hot west and south glass, fine mesh where midges bite, pet cloth on the door the dog uses.
- 04Add the doorsSliding patio screen rescreened or replaced; a hinged screen door; a retractable one for French doors.
- 05Book one visitA mobile service charges the trip once; every screen and door in the house on the same visit shares it.
- 06Or do it yourselfA roll of cloth, spline, a roller and an evening: rescreening is the easiest repair in the house.
New windows come with new screens made for them. Before rescreening a house of failing windows, the window page prices the replacement.
If the window is going- Rescreening
- Replacing the cloth and spline in an existing frame. The frame is the expensive part, so this is the cheap fix whenever the frame is straight.
- Spline
- The rubber cord pressed into the frame's channel that holds the cloth. Sized by diameter; take a piece of the old one to match.
- Roll-formed frame
- The light aluminium channel most window screens are made of, cut to length and joined with plastic or metal corners.
- 18 × 16 mesh
- Standard screen: 18 strands to the inch one way, 16 the other. Keeps out mosquitoes and flies.
- 20 × 20 mesh
- Fine or no-see-um screen. Stops biting midges; costs a little air.
- Solar screen
- A dense weave that blocks 80 to 90% of the sun's heat before it reaches the glass, and some of the light and view with it.
- Pet screen
- Heavy vinyl-coated polyester several times stronger than fibreglass, for doors a dog or cat goes through.
- Tension springs / plunger pins
- The hardware that holds a window screen in its track. Lost springs are why screens fall out.
- Retractable screen
- A screen that rolls or pleats into a housing on the jamb when not in use. For French doors and in-swing doors.
- Mobile screen service
- A van with frame stock and cloth that rescreens and makes screens on site, charging a trip and a minimum.
- Window opening control device
- A limiter that stops a window opening more than 4 in until released. What the code requires on low upstairs sills; a screen is not one.
Common questions
- How much does it cost to replace window screens?
- About $34 a screen to rescreen a straight frame with standard fibreglass, and $91 for a new screen made to size — $482 or $1,165 for twelve 30 × 54 in screens on one visit from a mobile screen service, trip included. One screen on its own is $125, because the trip and the order minimum do not shrink.
- Rescreen or replace?
- Rescreen when the frame is straight and its corners are whole: new cloth and spline in the frame you have, about $34. Replace when it is bent, kinked or missing: 14 ft of new aluminium frame, four corners and springs, about $91. A frame loose at one corner is reset, not replaced.
- How much is window screen repair?
- A small hole is a patch kit, a few dollars. A torn screen is rescreened — about $34 from a service, or about $7 of cloth and spline doing it yourself. Bent frames are replaced, not straightened.
- How much do solar screens cost?
- About $69 a screen rescreened with solar cloth — $904 for twelve. They block 80 to 90% of the sun's heat before it reaches the glass, which pays on south and west windows in a hot climate; they also take light and some view, and in a heating climate they block free winter sun unless they come down in autumn.
- How much does a screen door cost?
- About $65 to rescreen a sliding patio screen and $255 for a new one made to the opening, installed; $430 for a hinged screen door fitted with hinges, a closer and a latch; $550 for a retractable screen on a single door, about twice that on French doors. On the same visit as the window screens, the trip is shared.
- What is the best screen for dogs and cats?
- Pet-resistant cloth — heavy vinyl-coated polyester, several times stronger than fibreglass. Put it where the animal goes: the patio door and the low windows. It is about $1.4 a square foot of material against $0.35 for fibreglass, and there is no reason to put it on the upstairs windows.
- Can I rescreen windows myself?
- Yes — it is the easiest repair in the house. Twelve screens take about $86 of cloth, spline and a roller, and about 4.8 hours. Lay the cloth over the frame, roll it into one long side, then the opposite side, then the ends, and trim; never stretch it by hand, or the frame bows in. New frames from sticks and corners are about $29 a screen and twice the time.
- Which screen mesh should I choose?
- Standard fibreglass for most windows: cheap, invisible from inside, and it does not dent. Aluminium is stiffer and more visible, and oxidises near the coast. High-visibility mesh gives more view and air for less durability. Fine 20 × 20 mesh stops no-see-ums. Solar mesh stops heat. Pet mesh stops paws.
- Are window screens fall protection?
- No. A screen is held by two springs and a spline and pushes out under a child's weight. An upstairs window with its sill less than 24 in above the floor and more than 6 ft above the ground outside needs an opening limiter or a guard.
- How long do window screens last?
- Fibreglass cloth lasts 10 to 15 years in the sun before it goes brittle; aluminium longer unless it is dented or near salt; the frames last as long as nobody steps on them. Screens stored out of the sun in winter last longest.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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