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.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around what it actually is. Never seen anything like this but just replace it. Perhaps update with a wider shot of the full screen panel
I didn't bother posting a wide shot because you can't tell what it is from so far away. It just looks like it's hazy from dirt. But actually I was able to pick some small hunks off with tweezers and it has an appearance and consistency similar to dried glue. It's slightly white and semitranslucent. It is also only present on the interior surface of the screen.
But as requested, here is a wider shot comparison of the normal unaffected screens (top) with the affected, coated screens (bottom). https://imgur.com/vurLJvw
My running theory is that something was glued to the screen at some point, perhaps to deflect sunlight. Or the screen was coated in something, maybe to try to further prevent the intrusion of bugs.
It looks like some sort of padding that weathered into the screen. As many have commented you can easily remove the spline and replace with fresh screen. It’s not expensive and don’t require much too much precision. Following an online guide for measuring will be sufficient. I replace my window screens as needed and a standard house window takes about 15 minutes. The context of the wider shot does help! Thanks.
I feel like this is the answer. The amount of work to clean the screening will probably be about the same amount of effort to just replace it. Some local hardware stores will even do it for you (not the Home Despot)
Even if the OP manages to clean it the screen will probably be brittle and may break.