How to Remove a Window Screen From the Outside

Look along the edges of the frame before you pull on anything. Most window screens use one of these:

• Tension springs: small metal springs on one edge, usually the top or one side, that press the screen into its channel
• Pull tabs: small fabric or plastic tabs on the bottom or sides of the frame
• Clips or turn buttons: small catches on the window frame that turn to hold the screen against it

If you cannot see any of these from outside, the window screen may be made to come out from inside. More on that below.

• Work from the ground. If the window is on an upper floor, stop here and see the section below.
• Hold the window screen by its frame, never by the mesh. Mesh pulls out of its spline easily.
• Spring screens: push the screen toward the springs until the opposite edge clears its channel, tip that edge out, then lower the screen away from the springs.
• Pull tab screens: pull the tabs gently, lift the screen up into the top channel, swing the bottom out, then lower it out.
• Clip screens: turn each clip clear of the frame, then lift the screen off.
• If it will not move, stop. Paint, corrosion or a bent frame can hold a window screen in, and forcing it bends it further.

It goes back in the same way in reverse: the spring or top edge into its channel first, then the free edge pressed in until the screen sits square.

Most of the window screen damage people call us about after a removal is one of these:

• A frame bent from pulling on one corner
• A corner that split or came apart
• Tension springs that flew off and got lost
• Pull tabs torn off the frame
• Mesh pulled out of the spline along one edge

Each of these is a repair, not a new window screen. A slightly bent frame can often be straightened, and springs, tabs, corners and spline can all be replaced.

Not every window screen is meant to come out from the outside. Casement and awning windows have their screens on the inside, and many upper-floor windows are made so the window screen can be taken out from the room. If yours has no springs, tabs or clips you can reach from outside, check the inside of the window before anything else.

Taking a window screen out from a ladder means working with both hands above your head while holding something that catches the wind. It is the most common way people get hurt doing this, and the most common way window screens get dropped and bent. If the screen cannot come out from inside, it is a job for us.

Call us if:

• The window screen will not come out without forcing it
• It is on an upper floor and cannot be reached from inside
• The frame bent, a corner split or the springs came off on the way out
• It came out fine but will not go back in square
• The window screen needs repair or new mesh anyway