I did exactly that a couple of years ago — took the living room-patio window screens off. I wanted a clearer view of my plants, backyard, etc. I like it so much better with them off and haven’t noticed the windows getting dirtier faster. In fact, they look much cleaner without the screens. I did this at our last house, too. :)

My only advice is to remember where you put them! When it came time to sell the last house, years later, I’d forgotten where I stored the screens. After much panicking, found them in the attic behind a lot of stuff. 😄

My only advice is to remember where you put them!

LOL! I had already been thinking about that! I thought about stashing them in the attic, but that's probably the last place we'd remember to look! Garage? Nope ... too likely to get squished by something unintentionally. Hmmm ... I'll have to figure out something.

I'm glad to know you've done this, Jinx! My mom recently mentioned how pretty she thought houses in a certain area of Colorado are, and one day she realized that they didn't have screens on the windows, so the glass positively sparkled.

I agree with her! Our house now has a huge solid glass picture window in the library (say it with a stuffy accent ... even though it’s actually just the very small formal dining room we use as a sitting room) 😄 .... and it’s by far my favorite window in the house! Just all this pretty glass.

We do open windows in other rooms when weather permits, or I’d rip ‘em all off.

I have screens on all my operable windows. I don't have A/C so open windows are my lifeline. Even in the winter, I like to open the house and let fresh air blow through. Also, I have indoor-only cats, so I can't have windows they could get through.

It's a pain to remove and reinsert the screens to clean the window that sits behind it.

Yes -- not having A/C would be a major deciding factor. I'll bet you get some lovely cross-breezes where you are though, Bunny!

Our house in IL had all operable double hung windows and every window was screened. We would have windows open whenever possible, year round. Fast forward to the house we built in NC with all operable casement windows, all with screens. After the first year we soon realized we would not be opening windows as we did in IL due to pollen, a gravel drive and the house being set in a hay meadow, all of which create their own dust versions of hell. We keep screens on 1 window in the kitchen, 1 in the DR & 2 in the LR so that for that rare moment of nirvana, we can get a cross breeze. All other screens are stored in the attic.

I've been in my house 20 years and the screens are still in the basement and have never been used. However, I have french doors that open to a screened in porch off the living room and those are frequently open.

That said, my windows usually need cleaning :-(

I don’t like the look of screens...I don’t have them on the front of the house at all, and only on windows we actually open on the back and sides.

No screens in windows that are not opened regularly. They impede the view. We have a corner of the loft space of our garage for screens. Some of them are still in the boxes.

No screens on any of our windows. It wasn't my decision (house came that way), but it works fine. We keep windows open quite a bit and don't have much trouble with insects.

Most of my windows don't have screens. I put screens on three just so I could get air flow through the house without birds and bugs flying into the house.

Really interesting responses, and not at all what I expected! Seems like I've long viewed screens as just a given; something to be left on the windows because they're there. I'm glad to have some new perspective.

We have screens on all our operative windows. That's every room in this house except the living & dining rooms that have more than 30' of floor to ceiling glass - and none of it opens. DH does a nice job on windows, and cleans them somewhat often, inside and out. Three of the doors are storm doors that have sliding glass and screens.

He washes the screens too. With a soft brush, soapy water, garden hose. The screens in the doors are a little more cumbersome to remove so he shop vacs those with a furniture brush attachment in between washing.

We're open window people, sleeping with bedroom window open year around. And I hate, hate bugs in the house so screens are a must.

Label them when you stash them away. :)

We do have screens but we have windows open often. Right now, though, I'm sitting in an open doorway, screenless, with my chair propping the door open. It's so nice out, and I burned something.

(I do have a retractable screen for this door in the garage, never installed. I might want to rethink that!)

Funny you mention this. I have been thinking of doing the same thing with some of ours. It’s not like we couldn’t put them back on easily enough. I wouldn’t take off all of ours either because I do occasionally open a few for fresh air in spring or fall. And I cannot stand the thoughts of something flying or crawling in the open window. All our windows tilt in to clean but it would be so much easier on some of them to just clean them and the sills outside.

We do not use screens on our windows. I really do not like the look. Our sunroom Has sliding windows. The mr. always washes the windows. Just did them after the pollen. 🤗

In MN you must have screens on any windows you want to open - lots of mosquitoes and other flying insects. We have screens on all the windows at our lake cabin - lots of windows. We open most but not all of them. At our primary home we also have a lot of windows but when we moved in not all of the windows had the screens in place. We have all the screens but they are stored in the basement. So we may have a set of four operational casement windows but probably only open two of the four so only those have the screens in. The windows I've decided have the best view are the ones without screens and the others are the ones I open. I absolutely LOVE having my windows open. That and more daylight are what I most look forward to in the spring.

If you never open your windows I see no reason to have screens.

I love opening windows and if i dont have screens I’ll have a houseful of bugs. I leave the storm doors on the the front and back doors so i can let the light in and not let the AC out.

i guess if i didnT ever open the windows there would be no purpose to the screens.

Sigh, this is why I miss the two houses I grew up in, with casement windows and roll-a-screens on the inside. Never got dusty in-between, easy to manage. And btw, 50 years later, the screens and windows are doing just fine.

I should mention that I once lived in a newly built house with vinyl windows that leaked unless the screens were installed. You might want to do a water test, @User, on one window without the screen before you remove them all.

I selectively remove screens based on views and usage, so I don't see any downside to removing some of them.

Take them down, mark them, store them.....unless there is something in your HOA about removing them?

We open our windows as much as possible, so we do have screens on all operable windows. Most of our main floor windows are like this - only about the bottom quarter of the window opens, so the screened area is very small, and the majority of the window is unobstructed by a screen.

If you are viewing this on a phone the picture might be distorted (thanks Houzz!), so click/tap on it for proper proportions.

Only on the windows that I open. Which is all but in the dining room. We live in Oklahoma... opening windows in the summer is would be crazy due to the heat. But in the Spring & Fall, I do enjoy airing out the house.

I will say I love having an unobstructed view from the dining room!

Well... when the windows are clean anyway.

I have screens on all our windows in the good weather as we use them often. We rarely put on the a/c unless it's in the 90s with high humidity...otherwise we prefer the fresh air. I do take the screens off in the winter though as they block a lot of light and in the winter, we try to maximize the solar gain, which on sunny days can be as much as 4 degrees in temp.

We don't have screens on any of our windows. It was an "extra" when we bought our house and we rarely open windows due to allergies. When we want fresh air we open the door/windows to the screen porch and side porch (no screen). This year, due to work from home my husband bought after market screens that fit into the window opening for his office so he can get fresh air in there. They work fine. I also like the unimpeded view of screen free windows.

We only have screens on the windows we open - and we do have them open on every nice day we can! We only close them when pollen is flying around or when too hot/humid. I take all the screens off in the winter so that all available daylight can come through the windows. We label windows in storage using paint tape so it peels off easily when we use them again, and keep them covered with a canvas drop cloth to keep them dust free over winter.

In my last home that we built we never installed the screens. I live in Texas and there are few times I needed or wanted to open the windows. AC is a must, so that was not a problem. I think I just preferred the look of no screens. Silly.... I chose form over function.

We have screens on every window, french doors and sliding doors here in PA. We live on a lake; bugs are crazy here. We keep windows open all summer. We have central AC.. that's only for the hottest most humid days. In our last house in the northeast I did take most of the screens off for the winter months. It's definitely nicer with no screens.

During the winter in southern CA, there are very few bugs. We have screens on all the windows. It feels very strange to me to have doors and windows open with no screens.

I honestly don't think I could live in a place where I never opened the windows.

I am so often enlightened by this group. I never realized so many people never open their windows. Even when I lived in TX I opened the windows during the time of year that wasn't blazing hot and humid. Our friends who moved to FL keep the windows shut all the time even when it's not hot. They don't want the humidity to damage their new house. When they told me that I made note that I would not want to live in FL if that's the case.

Thanks for sharing!

I don't even think about opening a window. It's something that has never even crossed my mind except for the time I lived in southeast Asia and had no AC, and of course there it was a must. This just shows how differently people live in different parts of the country. I'm probably going to remove those few screens I mentioned and enjoy the clean views.

We had new windows and doors installed a couple of years ago. Screens were included at no extra cost. We had them leave all screens off except our bedroom and 2 bathrooms. Even though we’re in FL there are times I like to open some windows, especially in the winter and spring. We have all the screens stored on the rafters in the shed.

Yes, we have screens and we open windows a lot when it's not too hot or too cold. The kitties always enjoy it. We have pet-resistant screens. We also have a ceiling fan in the LR.

gsciencechick, I could have written this. I love the perch you installed for your kitties!

Maybe it's just where I live, but all the houses seem to have screens. The climate has plenty of mild weather just begging for fresh air to enliven the house. My bathroom windows are open to some degree 365 days a year.

The year I adopted my cats, then very naughty kittens, I had to replace a lot of the screens with pet-resistant screens which have stood up very well.

p.s. Every time I read the title of this thread, I think it has something to do with multiple tabs open on our browsers.

The NM mountain cabin we rent has a retractable screen at the French doors leading to one end of the deck. It's so nice to open that and the slider on the other side and let the cool breeze waft through (there's little better than mountain air IMO), but I have forgotten that the retractable screen was employed on more than one occasion and walked right into it, knocking it off its track! Duh.

aktillery - sometimes form over function just works!! We are in the south and have had AC on for months. We have sliding windows in our sunroom and can open and basically turn it into a screened room, so we are able to open up those windows and air out the house while limiting the pollen, etc. I have a mold allergy and even though I spend alot of time outdoors, I do not want the spores in the house, especially in our bedroom.

Me too, Tina. Allergies big time, so like to keep a tightly sealed house even though I spend time outdoors daily.

We have all the screens, but tend not to use them. We also like to have the windows open over using the A/C. In our bedroom we use screens, but in most of our living areas they have been removed.

We sometimes come to regret having left an unscreened window open, for sure!

I have no screens on any windows in either house. In PA, we do not open our windows because I like it COLD in the house so we air condition down to 68. In FL, we open the back windows and doors but have a screened in lanai they open to.

I really dislike the look of window screens. I would not hesitate to remove them.

I’ve got the best of all possible worlds, similar to bpath’s childhood home. The operable windows on my home are all awning windows, so traditional screens won’t work. Instead, I have the built-in ca. 1954 metal roller screens. Open the window, pull down the screen and click it in place. Voila. Such a good solution. There when you need them, invisible when you don’t.

Now, for some reason, they weren’t installed on the windows in the two guest rooms (originally the rooms for the daughters of the family that built the house). I’m not sure why those were skipped, but it’s not a big enough deal to me to worry about.

Yes, screens for all windows and storm doors. Love to hear the outside and feel a breeze when weather permits.

Well, I guess our screens are staying put. Can't get the darn things off and I'm afraid of damaging them by continuing to mess with them. Oh well. Who needs clean windows anyway. 😾

Ida, are they the push up and bottom out kinds? Had those for the first time at our last house and I pretty much broke all ten fingernails fighting them. 😄

ETA: Because of you and this thread, I’ve been washing windows today!

They have two tabs at the bottom, and DH and I both tried to budge them, but they're in there so tightly! I yucked up my fingernails trying as well. It'll probably take a prying tool of some sort, but we're too lazy to keep exploring options today. Plus, he brought up the matter of where to store them... I hate it when men go all practical on you. 😸

We store all of the unused screens over a rafter in the garage. Completely out of the way, but there in case we move & a new owner wants them someday.

In my last home, we put so much into building up the lot that I could not bring myself to use screens. These are stationary (whatever you call them) windows anyway.

I sometimes miss it, but not all that went with it.

Edited to add... not missing the ex-husband! lol

Another quarantine project -I actually just had new screens made at our local hardware store. Ours were thirty years old, some frames were a bit bent, some screening was torn, etc. They were a bargain and look amazing now!

IdaClaire, I don't think you need a special tool. This took us a while to learn, but now we are fast at removing our screens. Heres's what you do: Using the two tabs along the bottom edge of the screen, pull STRAIGHT up vertically. Visualize sliding the top edge of the screen into the recess of the frame above it. There are small springs in the top edge of the screen frame that keep them wedged into the frame, and when you lift straight up, those springs compress and you gain a half-inch or so of space at the bottom of the screen. Then lift the bottom edge of the screen out and over the tiny metal lip that holds the screen in. Now you can angle the bottom out and slide the screen down and out. Hope that helps.

Bestyears, that's a great description of how the screens come out. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. I only wish they went back in as easily.