Why Should You Maintain Your Window Screens?

When was the last time you ever thought about your window screens, let alone cleaned them? I’m sure you’re like everyone else…they’re not high on your priority list unless bugs are getting into your home.

They’re just one of those things we all take for granted, but we all expect them to do their job, which means they’re probably neglected! Did you know that if they aren’t cleaned periodically and maintained, they will become brittle, they’ll fall apart at the slightest touch and need to be replaced. Obviously it’s more cost effective if we just take a few minutes and take care of our screens rather than having to replace them.

Maintaining your screens

Probably the best time to start thinking about them is in early Spring, just before it’s time to open up the windows and let the fresh air in. If your screens are dirty, along with the fresh air coming in, you’re also going to get all the dust that’s built up on them being blown into your home, which is an issue for your air quality.

To Maintain:

• Look your screens over, watching for corrosion on the frames, holes in the mesh, spline that is drying out or coming out of it’s track or mesh that has become shiny (meaning it’s getting old and brittle).
  • Wash the frames down.
  • Clean the window track out and keep free from dirt and water.
  • Repair small holes or openings with mesh repair.
  • Using a spline tool press the spline back into place, or if it’s dry and brittle, replace it.
  • Clean your screens

To Clean:

• If your screens aren’t too dirty, you can clean them with a with a soft brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner or even just roll a lint brush over the surface, being careful not to push too hard and tear the screen.
• If your screens are too dirty to clean the “simple way”, they will need to be removed in order to clean them.
  • Choose a nice flat place to work.
  • Have access to a garden hose.
  • Combine about 3 cups of water, a little detergent and about a cup of ammonia and put in a spray bottle.
  • Rinse your screen off with your garden hose to clean off the loose dust and dirt.
  • Simply spray your windows with the mixture in the bottle, let stand for a few minutes, then rinse off with the hose.
  • Let them air dry and then re-install.

These tasks may seem pretty simple, and really they are, but they will help lengthen the life of your screens, the cleaning process will take less time in the future and it will save you money.

When it’s time to have your windows cleaned…

Give me a Call!