this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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Home Improvement

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I moved into a place with one very hazy window screen that is difficult to see through.

I have tried scrubbing it with a brush with soapy water and blasting it with the hose. But I cannot get rid of the hard material buildup. I even tried dipping a brush in CLR and scrubbing the screen.

When I Google how to clean a window screen, I just run across people telling me to do what I already tried. But I think the people touting these methods simply have screens with dirt in them.

This doesn't seem like simple dirt buildup. I enclosed a close up photo of what it looks like.

I bet if I poked all of the holes individually with a toothpick I could clean it, but that would take eons. Any advice? Thanks.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So you can't take it out? Soaking would probably do it. Not knowing what it is, I'd first try soaking in dish soap. If that doesn't work, soak in vinegar which dissolves a lot of stuff (works the same as CLR, but not as strong).

But like the other guy says you can replace it. Might be worth that just to save the labor of cleaning it. You can get large rolls of the stuff, shouldn't be hard to find.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can remove the screen, but I can't pop out the frame itself. Idk if that would be tricky to replace it if I can't lay it flat? It's also huge.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't understand. The screens I see are in a frame. You can't separate the screen from its frame, basically without tearing it apart.

If you can remove the screen, then what's the issue?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Idk, directions I read online generally say to pop out the frame first so you can lay it flat and work with it easier. I was wondering if the inability to do so would make it difficult for a dumbass like me to not mess it up? Will it be tricky with such a large screen to do it without removing the frame? Forgive me I'm new to screen maintenance lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This still makes no sense to me. Screens I see are held in a little metal frame. Removing the screen really means taking the whole little metal frame (which the screen in is) out of the windowsill. It should be somewhat easy to do that, the metal frame (which the screen is in) is held in with little tabs or something.

*Screen in frame https://duckduckgo.com/?q=screen+in+frame&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ebayimg.com%2F00%2Fs%2FNzYyWDExNDA%3D%2Fz%2FMJ8AAOSwHYBgPozM%2F%24_57.JPG%3Fset_id%3D8800005007