It’s no secret that screened-in porches are wonderful for entertaining and excellent for grabbing some relaxation time. As with many wonderful things around our homes, they require some maintenance and occasional screen repairs to keep them looking and working their best. Whether your screen porch consists of permanent or removable screens, use this guide to learn how to clean screens on your porch so you can get back to relaxing.
Prepping to Clean Porch Screens
There’s a lot of water involved with porch screen cleaning, along with some suds. With that in mind, moving the furniture and other items out of your way will protect them from getting overly wet and allow you to move around efficiently.
With the furniture out of the way, take a few minutes to sweep the area around the perimeter to keep cleanup tasks simple when the screen-cleaning job is complete.
Take Safety Precautions
While learning how to clean porch screens doesn’t involve heavy-duty or dangerous equipment, you may need a step ladder or step stool to reach the high spots, whether or not your screens are permanent. Use caution when using a step stool or ladder outdoors. Be sure to place it on solid ground, test it for wobbles before climbing, and other ladder safety guidelines.
If you use an extension cord to operate your vacuum cleaner, unplug and remove it from the area before spraying any water nearby. Ensure that anything plugged in uses a GFCI-protected outlet to protect you and the device.
Vacuum Your Screens
To start your cleaning project, carefully place a step ladder or step stool on the exterior of your screen porch. Use a vacuum cleaner with a hose and upholstery brush to go over all the exterior screen surfaces. Start at the top edges and work your way down each screen.
Before moving to the next section, switch vacuum attachments to the crevice tool and use it to clean corners or edges that need extra attention. Continue working your way around the entire porch with both attachments. You may need an extension cord to help you reach every screen space.
Spray the Screens
Hook up your garden hose and sprayer nozzle to a nearby spigot and take the business end of the hose inside the screen porch. Thoroughly spray the entire screen area from the inside out, starting from the top of each screen and working your way down.
Scrub and Spot Clean
Photo: Aleksandr / Adobe Stock
Depending on how deep you’d like to clean your screens, you can scrub the entire surface or simply spot clean if necessary. Dunk a soft-bristled brush into a bucket of warm water, dish soap, or another non-ammonia mild cleaner, and gently scrub the areas that require cleaning. Refrain from any hard scrubbing to avoid screen damage.
Clean Around the Edges
Using the bristle brush or a cloth rag damp with your soapy solution, continue scrubbing around the screen edges and reach into any corners or creases that need cleaning. Don’t forget to target these hard-to-reach areas that likely contain the most grime build-up.
Address Mold and Mildew
If you come across any mold or mildew spots on your screens, be sure to follow mold removal best practices. Mix a one-to-one ratio of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Spray the offending areas with the mixture and use the bristle brush or rag to scrub the area gently. Inspect and attack the outside of the screens as well, if necessary.
Rinse Your Screens Clean
From inside the porch, spray all the screen surfaces from top to bottom again with the garden hose. Continue until no soapy residue remains on the screens.
Allow Drying Time
Photo: goodmanphoto / Adobe Stock
Before putting your patio furniture back into place, allow the screens and porch floor to dry for a few hours. You can use the drying time to inspect your screens to identify any repairs that may be necessary, such as screen door mesh repair. Then, get ready to kick back and enjoy your squeaky clean porch screens.
DIY Porch Screen Cleaning vs. Hiring a Pro
Although cleaning your porch screens isn’t typically a difficult task, and the cost is negligible, it does take time out of your afternoon. Climbing onto a step ladder on soft ground can pose a safety threat. When bushes or shrubs near your porch are in the way, it can be surprisingly tough to reach the high edges of the screens with a vacuum.
Professionals have access to tools designed for those purposes and can quickly perform the work for about $40 to $90 per hour. A local deck cleaning company will be happy to help if you’d rather avoid the job and get back to enjoying your screen porch as soon as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
You won’t have to thoroughly clean your porch screens more than once or twice a year to keep them looking great. To keep the rest of your porch in top shape, sweeping, dusting, and vacuuming work well. For more protection, you can install outdoor curtains around the porch’s perimeter to keep out excess dust and pollen.
You can power wash your screen porch floors on a low setting to avoid damaging the walls or screens they contact. If you’re careful, you can use a power washer on the lowest setting for your porch screens. However, using a hose with a spray attachment reduces the risk of ripping the screen mesh and works as well as a power washer.
A screened-in porch requires maintenance to keep the screens clean and in good shape, and you may have to do some screen repair or replacement from time to time. A screen porch isn’t an all-season porch, so the weather can get in, including wind and rain.
Deane has spent 30+ years in residential construction, contracting, remodeling, maintenance, and home repair, and now contributes DIY and educational articles for publications like Forbes Home and U.S. News. Throughout his career, he has strived to help homeowners find the potential hidden within the walls of every home and empower them to take control of their household repair and remodeling endeavors.
Deane has spent 30+ years in residential construction, contracting, remodeling, maintenance, and home repair, and now contributes DIY and educational articles for publications like Forbes Home and U.S. News. Throughout his career, he has strived to help homeowners find the potential hidden within the walls of every home and empower them to take control of their household repair and remodeling endeavors.
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