Home Improvement : Screen Repair Service Takes to The Streets
With summer coming up, it’s time to take a look at your window and door insect screens and replace any that have been damaged. If you have dogs or cats that claw at the screens to get your attention, you know what I’m talking about.
For many homeowners, this is a simple do-it-yourself job, especially if you use fiberglass screen material. For others, however, a screen service makes more sense. This is a problem, because many screen services want you to bring the screens to them for repair.
Samuel C. (Chuck) Fromberg of Action Screen, 6665 Sunnyslope Ave., Van Nuys, believes in taking the service to the customer. He drives a 1977 Volkswagen minibus packed with materials and tools to repair virtually every kind of screen right on the job.
“Customers appreciate an exact fit right on the spot, with no waiting,” Fromberg said as he replaced the screen material on a security screen door for a customer in the San Fernando Valley. He also installs security screen doors, at an average cost of $250 or so for each door.
Fromberg, 53, owned and operated a property repair and maintenance business that he sold during a divorce seven years ago. He decided to go mobile because he wanted to set his own hours and didn’t want to work in a shop. He can be reached at 1-818-786-8078. His customers from Glendale to Thousand Oaks and from Mulholland Drive to Sylmar include individuals, businesses and apartment owners, he said.
There’s a simple solution to the problem of pets prematurely destroying your screen doors, Fromberg said. Buy a guard designed for that purpose at a building supply outlet and install it. In our house, it might be necessary to install one on the inside of the door as well, because our cats attack the door from both sides! The guard can be spray-painted to match your door if it can’t be obtained in the proper color.
A new product for repairing old, worn or corroded plumbing connector nuts under sinks, tubs or lavatories: The Split Threaded Coupling Nut by A. L. Carter Manufacturing Co. Inc., P. O. Box 8135, Corpus Christi, Tex. 78412. According to Alton L. Carter, president of the firm, the inexpensive coupling nut eliminates disassembly of the pipes. Just remove the old nut, place each half of the coupling nut around the pipe, snap the unit together and tighten. Continuous thread alignment eliminates cross-threading problems and the non-corrosive nut can be used on metal or plastic pipe. The nut and split threaded washer combination is available in 1- and 1 1/2-inch sizes for about $2 by mail from the firm. Carter is working on getting retail outlets in California to stock this product.
The Owner Builder Center is offering a free kit homes seminar from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the downtown Burbank Holiday Inn, 150 E. Angeleno Ave., Burbank.
