In early spring you probably began opening windows and doors that stayed closed during most of the winter and discovered dirty screens behind them. Here is some advice on cleaning and adjusting those screens.

For those on windows, standard cleaning procedure is to pull out the garden hose, turn the water up full blast and spend a minute or two watching most of the winter debris flow down the wall into the flower bed. To get all rather than most of the debris out, use a power washer. It's faster and more effective and the screens will brighten in color. When the screen is at a window, there's less chance of leaving streaks on the glass. You don't need soap, but adding an anti-water spotting agent to the chemical reservoir of the power washer will help to make the windows sparkle too. A power washer will clean rust off steel screens and oxidation off copper or aluminum screens a garden hose won't.

Screens at windows and sliding glass doors will operate more easily when the window or door frame is clean. The reason is simple: Generally, sliding window and door screens have a pair of small, hidden plastic rollers built into their bottom frame. Riding on the rollers makes them easier to open and close. If the base track of the window or door-frame on which the rollers ride becomes filled with debris, the screens must be forced to open.

After the cleaning of the screens, windows and frames is completed, it's a good idea to spray silicone onto the rollers. Work the screen side to side so that the silicone will work itself into all of the moving parts.

From time to time you may find that this process doesn't do the trick and that sliding screens still stick or grab a bit. If this happens the rollers may need to be adjusted. A very small Phillips-head screwdriver is all that is needed to make the adjustment. Look for a hole at each end of the frame near the lower corner. It's a small one. A turn of the screw will raise or lower the roller. Raising the rollers slightly will prevent the screen from rubbing on the track and make operation smoother. This must be done every several years as the neoprene rollers wear down or as the house shifts and settles.