How do I get rid of the hard particulate matter embedded within my window screen

I moved into a place with one very hazy window screen that is difficult to see through.

I have tried scrubbing it with a brush with soapy water and blasting it with the hose. But I cannot get rid of the hard material buildup. I even tried dipping a brush in CLR and scrubbing the screen.

When I Google how to clean a window screen, I just run across people telling me to do what I already tried. But I think the people touting these methods simply have screens with dirt in them.

This doesn’t seem like simple dirt buildup. I enclosed a close up photo of what it looks like.

I bet if I poked all of the holes individually with a toothpick I could clean it, but that would take eons. Any advice? Thanks.

dingus,

So I was playing around with some tweezers and it actually seems like I can peel it off with some difficulty, although it comes up in pieces. Considering none of my other screens look like this, I’m wondering if it is actually some sort of purposeful hazy coating that got destroyed over the years??? Is that a thing??? It only seems to be present on the inner surface of the screen, not the outer side. Scrubbing does nothing to it put it can be peeled off it seems. Just gonna take me forever to do.

hexachrome,

test a few cells on the inner surface with q tip of rubbing alcohol? might outright melt both the screen and the crud but could maybe help wipe it away

athos77,

This is a weird question, but I don't suppose this is near Baltimore, or a previous owner was from near Baltimore? They have (or had, not sure how popular it is anymore) a thing there, where they paint their screens with various scenes. It reduces visibility, so people can't see in as well, but still lets air in. So I'm wondering if this is a very dirty old painted screen, with maybe the pores clogged up.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_painting

Painted screen society of Baltimore, with images:
http://paintedscreens.org/

jiji,
jiji avatar

This is so niche I love it. Thank you for sharing this little fact.

Edit: and there seems to be different colors on the screen, making me think your theory is quite possible.

dingus,

The different colors seem to just be image compression artifact. The screen is diffusely coated by a white and semitranslucent material that seems to have a similar consistency and appearance to dried glue (I was able to pick some small hunks off after viciously rending it with tweezers lol)

Jaywarbs,

Damn, I only lived in Baltimore for a year but I loved it there. I’d forgotten about these!

dingus,

This is very interesting. No, I do not live near Baltimore and the coating is just diffusely white and semitranslucent, without different colors.

But I do think a coating must have been put over the screen at some point, be it paint or not for whatever reason.

These look pretty interesting and if it was a picture I would just keep it lol

superb,
@superb@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I would try a brush a sparse and tough bristle. Like a whole bunch of toothpicks at once

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