How to Clean Window Screens, With or Without Taking Them Out

A dirty screen makes a clean window look dirty. It’s the first thing the light passes through, and on the Front Range it collects a lot: dust off dry ground, a yellow coat of pollen under the pines in late spring, and ash after a smoky stretch of fire season. Then the first rain runs through the mesh and carries all of it onto the glass you just cleaned.

There are two ways to deal with it. Taking the screens out and washing them properly is the one to do at least once a year. Cleaning them in place is for knocking off the dust in between.

The full wash, screens out

You’ll need a bucket of warm water with a few drops of dish soap, a soft brush (a car wash brush or a soft dish brush both work), a garden hose with a gentle spray setting, some old towels or a tarp, and painter’s tape.

1. Label each screen before you pull it. Screens that look identical often aren’t, and a strip of tape reading “kitchen left” saves a frustrating half hour when they go back in.
2. Remove them. Most have small tabs or pull tabs along one edge: lift, then swing the bottom out toward you. Pull on the frame, never the mesh. Upstairs screens are usually easier to take out from inside.
3. Vacuum both sides with a brush attachment before anything gets wet. Loose dust turns to mud in the mesh once water hits it.
4. Lay the screen flat on a clean tarp, sheet or patch of driveway. Scrubbing a screen that’s leaning against a wall is how mesh gets pushed out of its frame.
5. Dip the brush in the soapy water and scrub both sides with light, overlapping strokes.
6. Rinse top to bottom with a gentle spray from the hose, both sides.
7. Shake off the water, stand the screens on edge in the sun, and let them dry all the way. A damp screen puts water marks right back on the glass.

While the screens are out, wipe down the window tracks and the part of the frame where the screen sits. That’s where most of the grit comes from that ends up back on a clean screen.

The quick clean, screens in place

When all you want is the dust gone, run a vacuum with the soft brush attachment over the screen from inside, top to bottom. Follow it with a microfiber cloth barely damp with soapy water, then a dry one. A lint roller works well on smaller screens and picks up pollen better than you’d expect.

This won’t lift grime that’s worked into the mesh, and from indoors you can’t reach the outside face of the screen, which is the dirtier side. It keeps a screen presentable until the next proper wash.

What to skip

Pressure washers can stretch fiberglass mesh or blow it right out of the spline, even on a low setting. A garden hose is plenty.

Stiff brushes and abrasive pads snag and fray mesh, fiberglass especially, and that’s what most home screens are made of.

You’ll find tips online suggesting you spray screens with WD-40 or a similar lubricant to repel dust. It leaves an oily film that holds dust instead, and some of it ends up on the glass and the sill.

Bleach and strong cleaners can discolor aluminum frames and damage coated or pet-resistant mesh. Stick to mild soap unless the manufacturer says otherwise.

Check for damage while they’re out

Look for small tears, mesh pulling loose at a corner, and frames that are bent or won’t sit square. A small hole can be patched with a repair kit from the hardware store. Bigger tears mean re-screening the frame, which is a manageable DIY job or something most hardware stores will do for you. A bent frame won’t seat properly in the window and lets bugs in all summer.

Or let them come with the windows

Screens are included with every window cleaning we do, along with the sills, so they aren’t a separate line on the quote. If you’d rather spend the afternoon somewhere other than the driveway, send the quote form with roughly how many windows you have. What goes into the price is written up here if you’re comparing quotes.