Screen Room + Lawn mower-I boo booed

[noelectricplease]

I need suggestions how to repair a screen room - the actual screening. It's an Ozark trail 6 sided, one. I mowed too close and got the wheel of the mower blade deck caught on the bottom of the pole. Pole ended up in my lap crossways, so I did not see this happen, it was sudden. But the cloth screening is torn. About 3 inches out from the seam, for about a 4 foot straight tear up and down, then out from that off to the left in the middle about 2 plus feet. Have no clue how to repair. I sew, but I would think sewing this up would encourage more tearing, and ot withstand pressure. I love this well used screen room because I can take the grandboys outside and they love the screen room, and I have feral cats that love it too. I put the swing-metal frame two-seater, inside, and everyone loves it. Even the cats swing. (better than TV to watch) I had thought about a strip of duct tape on both sides of the one side of tear, doing that to both sides then taping the two strips of duct tape together, ??? any suggestions? OH - dumb question too - if I seam seal tent or rain fly with seam sealer, do I seal from outside or on inside, or both?? thanx, noelectric

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Screen Room + Lawn mower-I boo booed

I can't help you fix it, but your title made me snort laugh.

[Denni2]

Re: Screen Room + Lawn mower-I boo booed

You can purchase screen material an patch it in. That would relieve the stress of pulling it too tight. I mosquito screening material at Joann Fabrics tonight that woul work.

[a65hoosier]

Re: Screen Room + Lawn mower-I boo booed

I need suggestions how to repair a screen room - the actual screening. It's an Ozark trail 6 sided, one. I mowed too close and got the wheel of the mower blade deck caught on the bottom of the pole. Pole ended up in my lap crossways, so I did not see this happen, it was sudden. But the cloth screening is torn. About 3 inches out from the seam, for about a 4 foot straight tear up and down, then out from that off to the left in the middle about 2 plus feet. Have no clue how to repair. I sew, but I would think sewing this up would encourage more tearing, and ot withstand pressure. I love this well used screen room because I can take the grandboys outside and they love the screen room, and I have feral cats that love it too. I put the swing-metal frame two-seater, inside, and everyone loves it. Even the cats swing. (better than TV to watch) I had thought about a strip of duct tape on both sides of the one side of tear, doing that to both sides then taping the two strips of duct tape together, ??? any suggestions? OH - dumb question too - if I seam seal tent or rain fly with seam sealer, do I seal from outside or on inside, or both?? thanx, noelectric

Instead of duct tape, I would use Gear Aid Tenacious Tape. You can get it in Clear so your repair will be more "invisible". Remove any loose strands of screening. Carefully line up the two sides of the torn area and hold it temporarily in place with some scotch tape or other tape that is easy to remove. Flip it over, and on the other side of the tear, use the Tenacious Tape on the tear. When done on that side, flip it back over, remove the scotch tape and do that side of the tear with Tenacious Tape. It will fix the tear, be almost invisible (depending on how well you line up the two sides of the tear) and fairly strong.

I have always sealed seams from the inside of the tent/fly. For additional waterproofing, I use a spray on the outside of those areas where I seam sealed.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Screen Room + Lawn mower-I boo booed

As for no see um netting....are you sure your local Joanne's carries it? The one closest to me sells bridal and novelty netting/veiling but nothing else so I opted to purchase from:

www.seattlefabrics.com

Great selection of mesh, tent fabric.

As far as making a repair by hand sewing? It's doable,a tad onerous but lasts forever. You need a flat surface (a low flex piece of cardboard works nicely) a 9 or 10 sharp, good quality (not the fuzzy looking stuff; means it's not as strong) polyester thread and a piece of mesh bigger than the rip/hole on all sides. Stitch your longest ripped sides first and then do your smaller sides. Oh and stich about 1/4-1/2" past the original tear. Be sure and try to line up the mesh holes so it looks much the same as the existing fabrics holes. Otherwise A) you could be sewing on the mesh's bias thus providing unwanted stretch B) it'll annoy the perfectionist in ya everytime ya look at it. Don't ask me how I know this....

Use embroidery scissors or the smallest sharpest scissors you have to cut away excess mesh.

I think I've a pic of a mesh repair I made. Gonna see if I can find it.

Oh and I'm pretty sure you can make a machine repair since hey that's how it was made at the factory.

[noelectricplease]

Re: Screen Room + Lawn mower-I boo booed

Thank you thank you !! Now I have some options. Can work on it tomorrow. If I take it down and move it to new spot, I might as well sew it with machine. Putting it up by myself is almost impossible. What kind of stitch by machine? Straight or zigzag? I might go ahead and get the special tape. Did not know of its existence and might be a very very good thing to have. My old (ancient) tent has one tiny hole in noseeum screen at doorway. Discovered a JoAnns fabric store in Charlottesville only 2 weeks ago but might not be able to get there for awhile.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Screen Room + Lawn mower-I boo booed

Thank you thank you !! Now I have some options. Can work on it tomorrow. If I take it down and move it to new spot, I might as well sew it with machine. Putting it up by myself is almost impossible. What kind of stitch by machine? Straight or zigzag? I might go ahead and get the special tape. Did not know of its existence and might be a very very good thing to have. My old (ancient) tent has one tiny hole in noseeum screen at doorway. Discovered a JoAnns fabric store in Charlottesville only 2 weeks ago but might not be able to get there for awhile.

Used to do a lot of machine stitching of netting and veiling for bridal wear. Back then my favorite method was to first do a straight stay stitch of about...7-8 stitch length along the fabric's edges followed by a narrow zigzag with a stitch length of about 12-15. Not sure if I'd do the same thing on a tent. Esthetically it would look better but not sure about the overall strength. I've seen some tent mesh repairs made by tent manufacturers and they use a totally different method. Not sure if it's for labour costs or not. Here's a pic of one I found online:

Before



AFTER



To me it looks like they cut a replacement piece about a one inch bigger on all sides then straight stay stitched about 1/4" away from the cut out, doubled over the remaining 3/4" and stitched with mitered corners. Whenever it sounds like I'm not speaking English.........lemme know and I'll elaborate:D.

For sure I'd get more mesh than needed to practice on and save for future repairs.

Honestly for a teeny tiny mesh tear I'd just hand sew it.

[gr8brew]

Re: Screen Room + Lawn mower-I boo booed

You can get mesh here http://ripstopbytheroll.com/collections/noseeum-mesh

I would sew gross gain around the perimeter of the patch. Then sew the patch to the screen room.