How To Wash Windows Outside Without Removing The Screens

If you arrived here after doing some research into how to clean the exterior of windows without removing their screens, odds are you've found others online with the same question. And, if so, odds are around 100% that you've seen window-cleaning professionals simply and stubbornly refuse to answer the question. It is good and proper for them to do that, but the fact is that you can wash windows with their screens in place, and there's no magic trick to it. The only question is how well you can wash them.

Think about it this way. If you were locked out of a house and somebody inside was having a medical emergency, locksmiths aren't the folks to ask for advice. They're not going to tell you to break down the door with a kick or an axe or your car or whatever else you have handy; crashing into doors with cars isn't in the locksmith guild's guidance on fixing a jammed door lock. And neither is it in the nature of a window-cleaning pro to tell you to wash a window with the screen on, because you're not going to do a great job, and no pro wants to tell you to do it poorly and take the heat for it afterward. But if you don't have a choice, there are some things you can do to get the best possible result without removing the screens.

Let's get the mechanics out of the way up front. You're going to clean the screens with your cleaning spray and a soft brush, rinse the window through the screen, spray a cleaner on the window through the screen, let it sit for 10 minutes or so, and rinse top to bottom until all cleaner residue is gone. 

Now, it's important to use a good cleaner to do this, and the key requirement is that the cleaner shouldn't require wiping or buffing to remove streaks because ... well, you can't. Professionals and reviewers recommend concentrated cleaners like Glass Gleam 4 and consumer cleaners like Invisible Glass, the Chemical Guys window cleaner, and Hope's Perfect Glass (though it contains alcohol and tends to dry fast, which can exacerbate streaking). For the best results, clean your windows when you're not contending with direct sunlight, which can make your cleaning solution dry so quickly that streaking is difficult to avoid.

The real star of the window-cleaning show, though, is water. At every step of this process –- diluting cleaning products, screen-cleaning, and rinsing –- you're going to want to use the purest water you can put your hands on to reduce the chances of any residue being left behind. Water tends to have dissolved minerals and other contaminants in it (this is especially true of hard water), and this causes streaking you'll find difficult to manage through a screen. Some professionals use deionized water or two-pass reverse osmosis water, though it can be difficult to find. The most readily available and cleanest is distilled water, which is very nearly pure.

The best tool for cleaning windows through screens is a pressure washer (like the Worx Hydroshot) that can pull water from a tank, rather than relying on garden hose water pressure. The idea is to be able to dispense your cleaning solution through the washer's soap tube and pull purified water from a reservoir. Cleaning windows with a pressure washer is not ideal, but sometimes it can be done if you take a few precautions. Wood-framed windows present the biggest risk for pressure washing. Before you start, make sure the window's glazing, weatherstripping, and caulk are all in good shape. Modern windows can withstand a fair amount of water pressure, but you have to remember that a window sash is, by necessity, not inviolably sealed in place. There is a point for all moving windows at which the water pressure will defeat the seal, allowing water into your house. To minimize your chances of causing a water intrusion or damaging windows or screens, use a low-pressure attachment when washing windows, and the lowest-pressure attachment when screens are still in place.

Don't let the ease of pressure washer cleaning dissuade you from brushing the screens well as you clean them. There's a case to be made that thoroughly cleaning window screens with a cursory window cleaning will do more for the appearance of your windows and the view from inside as thoroughly cleaning windows and ignoring the screens. You can get the screens almost perfectly clean and the window exteriors perhaps 80% clean, and that's not half bad.