Screen rooms are a great addition to any home. They are often referred to as three-season rooms because they can be an ideal living space for three seasons out of the year. Many homeowners who are considering building a screen room worry about the maintenance requirements for these unique indoor-outdoor spaces. If maintenance concerns are holding you back from adding a screen room to your home, this article is for you.

Maintaining a screen room to ensure your family can enjoy it for years to come is easy if you have the right knowledge and some basic cleaning supplies. These tips will help you keep your screen room in great condition.

Why Are Screen Rooms so Popular?

There is nothing better than having a place for your family to gather that allows you all to enjoy the evening breeze or the warmth of the sun. However, insects and the constant upkeep needed to remove leaves, dirt, and other debris from an outdoor living space can keep you from fully enjoying the experience. An easy solution for many homeowners is to install screens to protect the area.

Screen rooms allow you to fully enjoy the outdoors while keeping out bugs and debris. These lovely indoor-outdoor spaces are ideal for dining, lounging, and gathering. Installing a screen room adds a great living area to your home that is easy to maintain.

What Is Involved in Screen Room Maintenance?

Vacuum Your Screens Regularly

One of the ways to keep your screen rooms looking great is to vacuum the screens once a week in the summer and once every two weeks in the spring and fall. To do this, use the hose feature on your vacuum and the brush attachment and gently swipe it across the screen.

Vacuuming your screen will remove any spider webs, insects, or plant matter that has gotten caught in the screen. Make sure you get the corners where small insects will congregate. Vacuum both the inside and the outside of the screens for the best results. This simple maintenance routine keeps screen rooms of all sizes looking beautiful by keeping dirt and debris from building up and getting out of control.

Inspect Your Screens Often

As you are making your way around your screen room with the vacuum, get in the habit of checking for damaged screens or any areas where the screen may be pulling away from its base. Making repairs as soon as a problem is apparent is the easiest way to ensure your screen room will continue to shelter you from the environment.

Clean Your Screens With a Soft Brush

If you have kept up with the vacuuming, getting your screens perfectly clean will be easy. All you need is a bucket, a brush, a garden hose, a bottle of dish soap, and plenty of water. Washing your screens annually can help remove any gunk that builds up over time.

Environmental factors like pollution can leave your screens dirty. An annual scrubbing of the screens can keep your screen rooms looking new. First, brush the screens with a soft bristle brush to remove any loose dirt. Next, fill your bucket with water and dish soap. You can also opt to buy a cleaner specifically designed for cleaning screens. If you do so, make sure to follow the manufacturer's directions.

Dip the brush in the soapy water and start gently scrubbing from the top of the screen, working your way down. Clean your way around the room using very gentle scrubbing motions. Once you have scrubbed all the screens in the room, get the hose.

Spray off all the areas that you scrubbed. You can leave the room to dry in the sun or grab a microfiber cloth to dry it by hand. You should go back through the screen room to see if you missed any spots. It is not uncommon to miss a few spots. Once you are sure that you have thoroughly cleaned all the screens, you can simply relax and enjoy your screen room.

Use a Pressure Washer as Needed

If it has been a while since your screen room was last cleaned, you may need a little more power to get your screens clean. When a garden hose and brush don't work, you may need to use a pressure washer.

Follow the same steps above for cleaning with a brush and bucket, except before you start scrubbing, set the pressure washer to low intensity and pressure wash the whole room first. A pressure washer will make it easier to remove stubborn dirt and debris.

If using the lowest setting on the pressure washer doesn't get the job done, you can try to increase the pressure. However, you do want to be sure that you're still using low to medium pressure. Some pressure washers, when used incorrectly, can rip right through a screen. If you have any concerns about damaging your screens, you can use the pressure washer on its lowest setting to loosen the dirt, scrub gently with soap and water to clean the screens, and then use the pressure washer or a garden hose to rinse the screens thoroughly.

Remove Tough Stains With a Vinegar Solution



Mold and algae can build up on screen rooms in certain climates, causing discoloration. A vinegar mixture can kill anything growing on your screens so you can clean it off more easily, revealing the original screen color underneath. Before you start, cover sensitive plants in or around your screen room to protect them from the vinegar solution. You should also move furniture out of the splash zone. The splash zone is an area of about three feet around the screens.

A vinegar solution of four parts water and one part vinegar will remove most mold and algae growth. Apply the solution and let it sit for about 10 minutes before you start gently scrubbing the screens. Rinse off the vinegar solution and repeat the process if necessary.

Consider Hiring Professional Screen Cleaners

If this cleaning process seems daunting to you, you can hire someone to do the work for you. There are companies that specialize in maintaining and repairing window screens and screen rooms. If you choose to hire professionals for this work, you can truly spend all of your time in your screen room simply enjoying the unique indoor-outdoor space.

Replace Your Screens Every Few Years

Nothing lasts forever, including the screens in your screen rooms. You will need to replace the screens about every five years, according to Angi. Replacing screens isn't easy for the average homeowner because the screening material needs to be set perfectly in the frames and tightened to the appropriate tension. Most homeowners choose to hire a professional to manage the project to ensure they get professional results that will last.

Screens will stretch with age and experience wear and tear from being exposed to the environment. Replacement can be delayed if you maintain your screen regularly and make small repairs as necessary. With proper maintenance, instead of replacing screens every five years, you may only need to replace your screens every eight years. In some cases, there can be an even longer period between replacements.

Since your screen room provides a lot of value to your lifestyle and your property, choosing the right company to replace your screens is essential. Choose a company that has years of experience, offers a fair price, and provides a warranty for their work.

Maintaining your screen rooms is well worth the effort. It will keep your property value up and ensure your family has a great place to gather in your home for years to come. The right maintenance can extend the life of your screens as well. When you are making your cleaning rounds, don't forget to clean your screens.

Now that you know how easy it is to maintain a screen room, are you ready to get one installed on your property? At Eicher's Pro Vinyl, we offer a 5-year workmanship warranty and free estimates on our custom screen rooms. Give us a call today or fill out our online appointment request form to get started on your screen room project!