Hawaii door & window repair
Window Screen Repair
In a house that is always open, the screen is the wall
Torn mesh, corroded frames, screens that fall out when touched and sun-rotted mesh that splits at a fingertip. All of it is repairable, and most of it while we are there.
The only barrier between the room and outside
In most of the country a screen is a convenience. In Hawaii it is the building envelope for most of the year.
A screen is three things: a frame, a spline that grips the mesh into a channel around it, and the mesh itself. All three are consumable and all three are replaceable, which is why a torn screen is one of the cheapest repairs in the building.
It matters more here than almost anywhere because of how Hawaii houses are used. Homes designed around trade-wind ventilation keep their windows and lanai doors open year-round, which means the screen — not the glass — is what actually separates the room from outside for most of the year. A torn screen is not a cosmetic problem; it is an open window.
Mesh choice follows from that. Standard fibreglass handles mosquitoes. Finer mesh stops the smaller insects that standard screening lets straight through. Pet-resistant mesh is several times stronger and is the only sensible option where a dog or cat leans on it. And in salt air, the frame and spline matter as much as the mesh, because corroded frames fail long before the screening does.
If nothing off the shelf fits your openings, that is normal. Hawaii housing is full of non-standard sizes, particularly in plantation-era and single-wall homes, and building a screen to the opening you actually have costs very little more.
Nobody should be replacing a window over a screen
Screen mesh is a consumable. It is meant to be replaced, and replacing it costs a tiny fraction of anything else on a window. Frames can be squared up, corners rebuilt, and where a frame really is finished, a new one can be made to the exact size of your opening.
Screens get neglected because they feel trivial. In a house that lives with its windows open they are not trivial at all, and the repair usually takes under an hour.
It is also the one repair where the upgrade genuinely earns its keep. If the mesh is coming out anyway, finer or solar mesh costs marginally more and changes how the room feels.
In a house that lives with its windows open, a torn screen is not cosmetic. It is an open window.
Screen work we do
Window screens, sliding screen doors, jalousie screens and lanai panels.
Rescreening
New mesh in your existing frames, tensioned properly so it does not bow or pull away from the spline.
Frame repair and squaring
Bent corners, split spline channels and corroded frames straightened, rebuilt or replaced.
Fine and pet-resistant mesh
Finer mesh for the insects standard screening lets through, and heavy mesh that stands up to dogs and cats.
Solar screen mesh
Denser mesh that cuts solar heat and glare before it reaches the glass, on west and south-facing rooms.
Sliding screen doors
Rollers, latches and frames on lanai screen doors that jump the track or will not stay in the opening.
Jalousie and lanai screens
The screens behind louvered windows and across lanai openings, which take the brunt of the weather.
The problems Hawaii screens have
Salt on the frames, sun on the mesh, and no off-season.
Frames corrode before mesh wears out
In salt air it is frequently the aluminium frame and its corner keys that fail first, not the screening. A frame that has corroded at the corners will not hold tension however new the mesh is, which is why rescreening alone sometimes does not solve it.
Tropical UV destroys mesh
Hawaii takes a heavy ultraviolet load year-round, and it makes fibreglass mesh brittle until it splits at a touch rather than stretching. On a sun-facing elevation, screening reaches the end of its usable life well before its rated span.
Screens work every day of the year
There is no season here when the windows get shut and the screens get a rest. They are in continuous service, catching salt spray, rain, dust and insects, which is simply more duty than screening elsewhere ever sees.
Why have KaiFix do it
A small job, done properly, by people who will actually turn up for it.
Usually done on the spot
We carry mesh and spline, so most rescreening is finished during the visit.
Built to your opening
Custom frames where the standard sizes do not fit, which in plantation-era and single-wall homes is most of the time.
Happy to do small jobs
Plenty of companies will not come out for screens. We will.
Corrosion-aware frames
We will tell you when the frame is the real problem rather than quietly rescreening something that will sag again.
Three steps, no runaround
Send a photo
A picture of the screen and the opening usually tells us everything.
We measure and quote
A firm price, including custom frame work if that is what it needs.
We fix or build it
Rescreening is normally same-visit; custom frames follow once made.
We are a mobile service covering the islands. Pick your city below, or call and we will come to you.
Window Screen Repair Across Hawaii
Screen questions
Can you rescreen my existing frames?
Yes, and it is usually the best option — provided the frame itself is still sound. In salt air that is worth checking first, and we will tell you honestly.
Insects still get in even though my screens look fine.
They may well be fine. Standard fibreglass mesh does not stop the smallest insects, and the fix is finer mesh rather than a repair.
Nothing off the shelf fits my windows.
Very common in Hawaii housing, especially plantation-era and single-wall homes. We build screens to the opening you actually have.
Do you make screens for jalousie windows?
Yes. Jalousie screens sit behind the louvers and take a great deal of weather, so they are among the most frequently replaced screens in the islands.
How long does rescreening take?
Usually well under an hour per screen, done while we are there.
Other repairs we handle
Doors and windows are all we do, so whatever has failed, it is probably on this list.
Get your screens sorted
Free estimates across the islands, and we are glad to take the small jobs.
(808) 207-8780