How to remove a window screen like a pro!
If you don’t know how to remove a window screen the right way, you risk breaking or tearing your screens. With window screens, it’s important to approach their removal with care to avoid tearing the screen or bending the frame. In fact, we receive calls regularly inquiring about our window screen repair services after they tried to remove them the wrong way and ended up bending or ripping their screens – whoops!
There are different types of window screens that require different methods of removal, but today we will help you remove the most common home window screen.
Let us quickly explain how window screens work
Most window screens utilize a tension spring to help keep them tight and remain in place. These may or may not be visible depending on the window frame and whether or not the window screen is the correct size.
These tension springs will be on the opposite side of the pull tabs, so be sure to take note of this before removing the window screen. This is where most people have trouble removing a window screen, so it’s important to understand how they’re both installed and removed before forcing them out and possibly tearing the screen or bending the frame.
Now that you have a basic understanding as to how they’re built and function, let’s quickly learn how to remove a window screen the right way!
Follow these steps to easily learn how to remove a window screen with pull tabs:
- Fully open the window to allow access to the window screen you’re trying to remove.
- Identify what side of the screen the tension springs are installed.
- Gently press the corners of the window screen to compress the hidden tension springs.
- While holding the tension springs fully compressed, gently push the opposite side of the frame out of the window frame. If necessary, grab the pull tabs as you push outward, and the screen should now pop out.
As an important note, you should never push or pry on a window screen frame from the center as it is the weakest point! Anytime you push or pull on a window frame, it should be as close to the corners as possible – the strongest part of the window screen.
You should now have a clear understanding of the proper way to remove a window screen from the inside
If the screen was built properly, this should have been very straight forward and you have now removed your screen. Unfortunately it’s very common to have screens that were either built too tight, or it has been so long that they feel stuck and don’t want to budge. Here at Clearvu Window Cleaning, we deal with this on a daily basis and our window cleaning professionals have some additional tips to help.
Sometimes it’s easier to remove a window screen from the outside
Unless the window screens require being removed from the outside, we typically remove the upstairs from the inside, but remove the lower level screens from the outside. This requires the same basic method of removal as we have explained above, but with some added approach.
Locate the tension springs once again, compressing them into the window frame. You will now need to use a tool to leverage the other side of the window screen out of the channel in the window screen. Try using a tool that will provide leverage like a flat head screwdriver or a putty knife to help with this.
Depending on how tight the window screen is, you may need to help pry it out. Again, the strongest point of the window screen to help pry from is about an inch or so inward from the corner of the screen. You should now easily be able to pull the screen out from the window frame!
Bonus tip
We all know not everything goes to plan, even with the right tools and methods. The best tip we can give to help you successfully learn how to remove a window screen from outside or inside is to hunt for the clearance. In fact, this is the first step we teach our technicians, find where the clearance is before attempting to remove a screen. This will help you tackle even the most stubborn screens.
That’s it! As with everything, this becomes easier each and every window screen you remove. If you need any additional help, please feel free to reach out to us at 951-265-6957 – we are happy to help!