this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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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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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's an interesting thought, is it a screen that faces a sun side? Might have been a coating that helped reduce sun intensity. Could be the outside peeled off and the inside hasn't yet.

Like others have said, replacement is probably your easiest solution. As long as you can see the screen cord it shouldn't be too difficult to do in place, but would definitely be easier if you can remove. Start at the top corner, work your way across then work your way down. Let gravity help.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes, it does seem to be a side facing the sun.

Interesting to note, but the previous tenants seemed to have a thing for blocking out all sunlight for some reason (which quite frankly was pretty minimal to begin with due to the adjacent forest). Perhaps they were vampires.

The upper panes had black plastic films glued to them to reduce sunlight, but the panes were not glued to the screens themselves so they were easily removed. There is no such plastic film present on the lower pane, but perhaps there was at some point and this is the leftover glue.