Window screen cleaning and repair in Alpharetta, GA
Come April, screens do half the suffering in Alpharetta. North Fulton runs one of the heaviest pollen seasons anywhere, and screen mesh is a net hung in front of every open window, so it catches the yellow before the glass does. The pollen packs into the weave, goes gray and sticky in the humidity, chokes off the airflow you opened the window for, and washes down onto clean glass with the first spring rain. In the established subdivisions off Windward and around Crabapple, a lot of those screens are also decades old, with dry spline and stretched mesh that finally gave out. We clean the ones that just need it and rescreen the ones that are done, from $49 a screen, so an Alpharetta home gets its airflow and its view back.
Pollen-clogged screens on established North Fulton homes
The older subdivisions of Alpharetta were built when North Fulton was still filling in, and a lot of the homes off Windward Parkway, around Crabapple, and along the streets near the Big Creek Greenway are pushing a few decades now. Their screens have been through a lot of springs. Every one of those springs, the pine and oak pollen that coats the whole area settles into the mesh and stays, because a screen is essentially a filter and pollen is exactly what a filter catches. In the humidity it turns from loose yellow dust into a gray, sticky crust packed down into the weave. That does three things a homeowner notices. It cuts the airflow, so opening a window on a nice Alpharetta afternoon moves less air than it should. It dims the room, because a clogged screen scatters the daylight coming through it. And it dirties the glass, since the first rain rinses that pollen crust straight down onto the pane you just paid to have cleaned. On top of the pollen, decades of pulling screens for cleaning and opening up each spring have racked frames and dried out spline, so plenty of these older screens sag or hang loose on top of being filthy. Some only need a wash. Others are past washing and want new mesh. We separate the two before we quote a dollar.
New mesh and spline for $49 a screen
When a screen is too far gone to wash back, rescreening is the fix, and on the vast majority of frames it works out to $49 apiece. The frame stays; only the mesh and the spline get replaced. We strip the old material out of the channel, lay in new mesh drawn tight and square, and seat fresh spline to hold it, and the screen that comes back is flat and firm with no sag, no ripple, and no gap at the corners. That is a real change from a screen that had gone soft and baggy in its frame. Spline is the piece most people never think about and the one that usually fails first. It is the rubber cord wedged into the channel that keeps the mesh under tension, and North Fulton sun bakes it hard and shrinks it over the years until it can no longer grip, at which point the mesh loosens and the screen droops even if nothing ever tore it. Replacing spline alone brings a lot of tired screens back to tight. For the mesh we carry the standard fiberglass most Alpharetta homes already run, and we can move up to a finer pollen-blocking weave or a heavier pet-resistant one where it makes sense. Each screen is priced before we begin, and every one we rescreen goes back into its own opening the same day, no shop drop-off and no week-long wait.
Upgrading to a finer pollen-blocking weave
Here is the upgrade that makes the most sense in Alpharetta specifically: a finer pollen-blocking mesh. Standard fiberglass screen has a fairly open weave that stops bugs but lets a lot of the fine spring pollen drift right through into the house. A tighter pollen mesh uses a smaller opening that holds back a real share of that pollen at the window, which means less of it on your sills, on your floors, and in the air you breathe through the weeks the count runs high. For anyone in the family who reacts to spring in North Fulton, that is a difference you can feel. We can install the finer weave when we rescreen, at the same labor and close to the same price as standard mesh, so it is an easy call on the windows you actually open. A lot of Alpharetta homeowners do the bedrooms and the main living spaces in the fine pollen mesh and leave standard mesh on the windows they rarely crack. The one tradeoff to know about is airflow: a tighter weave breathes a little less than an open one, so it is a balance between keeping pollen out and letting a breeze through, and we will talk through where each belongs in your house. No pressure attached, just the option laid out plainly so you can choose.
Frames knocked out of square
Sometimes the mesh is not the trouble at all; the frame is. A screen that buzzes in the wind, sits proud of the track, or drops in crooked has usually been knocked out of square, and no amount of new mesh fixes a bent frame. Aluminum gives easily. Years of tugging a screen out to clean the glass and pushing it back, a gust catching it on a second-story window, or a knock during a wash will all pull a frame off true. After that it wears against the track each time it slides, rattles in a breeze, and leaves gaps at the corners where bugs walk right in. We bend the rails back straight, reset the corners, and swap the little plastic corner keys that hold the whole frame square, so the screen fits its opening again the way it did new. If a frame is creased, corroded, or cracked to where straightening will not hold, we tell you that up front and price a replacement rather than take your money to patch something bound to fail again. Nearly all of this we do on site at your Alpharetta home in the one visit, without hauling anything away, and we set each screen back in its window and work it to be sure it seats and slides before we move on. An old established home deserves screens that actually close, not ones you wrestle every time.
A $5 screen wash and an honest sort
Plenty of screens do not need repair at all, just a wash, and part of doing this straight is telling you which is which. When your screens come off during a visit, we lay them out and sort them: the ones a good wash brings back, the ones that need rescreening, and the few where the frame is spent and a replacement is the smarter buy. You get that read, priced, before anything happens, and looking is free. A wash by itself is $5 a screen on a window cleaning visit. We take the screen down, set it flat, and brush it on both sides with a soft brush and a gentle solution that pulls the caked pollen out of the weave instead of ramming it deeper the way a garden hose does, then rinse and dry it before it returns to the window. On an Alpharetta home in pollen season, that wash is no small thing, because the gray crust on a screen is what turns clean glass dirty at the next rain. The visit runs on a $175 minimum, and every bit of screen work, a wash or a rescreen, counts toward that minimum right along with the glass. As for the numbers: standard glass is $8 to $12 a pane, hard water spotting is $25 a window, a screen wash is $5 each, and rescreening is $49, with 5, 10, or 15 percent off the whole ticket once you are on a regular schedule. It is the same look-first way we have worked since 2009.
Screen repair and window cleaning in Alpharetta
Screen repair is part of our full window cleaning in Alpharetta. Read about our general screen repair service, or see the same service in Cumming and Johns Creek.
Screen repair questions from Alpharetta homeowners
What North Fulton families ask before booking screen service.
Why do my screens go gray and clogged every spring?
Pollen. North Fulton gets one of the heavier pollen loads in the country, and your screens are the net that catches it before it reaches the glass. In the spring humidity that yellow dust packs into the weave and turns to a gray crust that blocks airflow and dims the room. Hosing it tends to push the pollen deeper rather than lift it out. A proper flat wash with a brush on both sides releases it, and if the mesh is too clogged or brittle to come back, a rescreen starts you fresh.
What does screen repair cost in Alpharetta?
Rescreening a screen is $49, mesh and spline included, on your existing frame. If a screen is just dirty and not damaged, a wash is $5 as part of a window cleaning visit. Every visit has a $175 minimum that screen work applies to, and each screen is quoted before we start, so an Alpharetta home with a lot of them stays predictable. Recurring visits take 5, 10, or 15 percent off the whole thing.
Can a finer mesh keep more pollen out?
Yes, and in Alpharetta it is worth considering. A finer pollen-blocking mesh has a tighter weave than standard screen and holds back a good share of the spring pollen that ordinary mesh lets drift inside. We can install it when we rescreen, for about the same as standard mesh. Most people put it on the bedroom and living-area windows they open and leave regular mesh elsewhere. It breathes slightly less than an open weave, so it is a tradeoff we will walk through with you.
Can you fix a screen without a whole new frame?
Usually, yes. Most problems are worn spline or torn mesh, and we replace both on the frame you already have for $49 a screen. A new frame only makes sense when the aluminum is bent beyond straightening or the corners have let go, and we will point that out honestly instead of selling a frame you can skip. Bent frames that are still sound we straighten and re-square on site.
Can you just clean the screens, or do they all need repair?
Most just need cleaning. When we take your screens off we sort them, wash the ones that only need a wash at $5 each, rescreen the ones that are torn or sagging at $49, and flag the rare frame worth replacing. You get the breakdown with prices first. A lot of Alpharetta homeowners have us wash the whole set and rescreen only the few that pollen and age have finished off.
Clear the Pollen Off Your Alpharetta Screens
Gray, clogged, or torn screens dragging down your windows? Call (470) 333-2525 or email Alexusbestcompany@gmail.com for a free screen assessment in Alpharetta. Family-owned, insured, and rescreening from $49.