Cleaning of your window and door screens explained.
As I mentioned in the previous section, we often see screens loaded with dried dirt or chalky mud residue layered all over the screening material. This dusty coating is either a result of poor cleaning or from living in an area where blown dust and dirt is a problem. These filthy screens hang in your windows and begin releasing the dust and dirt as soon as you open the windows and allow air to flow through them. You should clean your window screens once a year, preferably during the season prior to the period of time you’re most likely going to have your windows open. Part of spring cleaning?
When you remove the screens, prepare a mixture of diluted soap and warm water. A soft brush of some kind will work best to do the cleaning. Wet the brush and gently scrub the screen material, being extra gentle with older fiberglass screens that may be brittle.
Thoroughly clean both sides of each screen and then rinse with a hose or with a fresh batch of water without soap in it. Hang or stand the screen up to dry completely for about 24 hours. Turn the screen upside down for another 24 hours to allow any water that may have seeped into the frame to run out or spread in the frame and dry.
The drying stage is the most neglected, and this is what can cause the gathering of dust, dirt, and pollen on the screen. The wet screen will attract these fine particles and hold onto them. Screens that attract dirt and remain wet for a period of time can also breed unwanted bacteria. Allow your window screens to dry thoroughly before putting them back in place.
If you have screens that are getting wet when it rains anyhow, don’t worry too much about the collection of dirt and bacteria on them because there’s nothing much you can do about it, and they wash themselves. You may use Lysol or another sanitizing spray on them to kill the potential breeding bacteria from time to time, but we only recommend this for aluminum wire screening because we don’t know if these chemicals will break down nylon or fiberglass screening materials.
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