How to Clean Mosquito Nets on Windows and Doors

Inland and away from busy roads, a mosquito net that is brushed down now and then and washed properly a few times a year will stay clear. The mesh collects fine dust, pollen, cobwebs and the bodies of insects that hit it at night, and over time that layer cuts the light and the breeze coming through. A clogged net is also a net people leave open, which defeats its purpose.

Near the sea, the answer changes. Salt carried on the wind dries on the mesh and the frame as a thin film you can feel more than see. It attracts moisture from the air, so a salty net stays damp longer, holds more dust and gives mould somewhere to start in the monsoon. On aluminium frames and steel fittings, salt is what starts corrosion at screw holes and cut ends. For a sea-facing window, a rinse with fresh water every few weeks in the dry season, and a full wash after the rains, keeps it in check. Our guide to salt air damage explains what salt does to metal around the house.

Kitchen windows need more frequent attention for a different reason. Cooking grease settles on the mesh, sticks dust to it, and is much easier to remove when it is fresh than after it has hardened for a season.

Most sliding window nets can be lifted out. Slide the leaf to the middle of its track, lift it up into the top channel, and swing the bottom out of the lower track. If it will not lift, look for anti-lift blocks or screws at the top of the frame, which stop the leaf jumping out in wind; these are usually loosened rather than removed. A panel taken out can be laid flat on a clean sheet or old towel and washed on both sides, which is the best way to clean it thoroughly.

Clean in place when removing the panel is awkward or risky. On an upper floor, never lean out of a window or balcony to handle a mesh leaf; clean it from inside, one face at a time, and leave the outside face to the rain or to someone working safely from outside. Pleated nets, roller screens and fixed panels held in with screws are also better cleaned where they are, and the same applies to tall door nets that are heavy and awkward to carry.

Magnetic and hook-and-loop mesh is the exception the other way: it peels off easily and can be washed by hand in a bucket, then dried flat and pressed back on.

Insect mesh comes in a few families, and they tolerate different handling. Most window nets in Goa use fibreglass mesh: a woven glass-fibre yarn coated in PVC. It does not rust, but it creases, stretches and tears if it is scrubbed hard or pushed with a hand behind the brush. Pet-resistant polyester mesh is heavier and tougher and takes a firmer brush. Stainless steel mesh is strong, but near the sea it must be kept clean of salt, and some older nets still have aluminium or galvanised mesh that is already corroding and may not survive much handling.

For stainless, the Australian Stainless Steel Development Association's guidance is to wash it regularly to remove salt deposits, ideally whenever the windows are washed, and to avoid abrasive cleaners, chloride-containing products and bleach. Never use steel wool on stainless mesh; it leaves particles that rust and stain.

A pleated mosquito net collects dust and salt in the valleys of its folds, where a cloth cannot reach when the net is packed away. Draw it about three-quarters closed, so the pleats open into shallow zigzags but are not pulled completely flat. Then work down each pleat with a soft paintbrush or the brush attachment of a vacuum on low suction, from top to bottom, letting the dust fall rather than pushing it into the next fold.

To wash it, use a sponge that is damp, not wet, with a little mild soap, and run it gently along each pleat. Do not press the pleats flat or pull on the mesh to straighten it, and keep water away from the cords that run through the pleats as much as you can. Wipe the top and bottom guides and the side post, which collect grit that makes the net stiff to pull.

Leave the net drawn out until it is completely dry before folding it back into its post. A pleated net packed away damp in the monsoon is the one most likely to come out with mould spots between its folds.

A net that sticks, judders or jumps out of its track is usually not a mesh problem but a track problem. Sand, grit, dead insects and dried salt collect in the bottom channel and grind against the rollers. Vacuum the track with a crevice tool, loosen anything stuck in the corners with an old toothbrush, and wipe it with a damp cloth. Clear the drainage slots if the track has them, so rain does not stand in it.

Do not oil the track. Oil and grease catch sand and turn into a grinding paste. If a clean net still drags, a light dry silicone spray on the track is the better choice, wiped off the mesh if any lands on it. Check the brush seals along the edges of each leaf too: if they are flattened, missing or perished, insects get in along the side even when the mesh itself is perfect.

While the panel is out, spin each roller with a finger. A roller that is flat-spotted, cracked or stiff will not get better with cleaning, and replacing it is a small job that our net repair and re-meshing visits cover.

For grease on a kitchen net, warm water with a little washing-up liquid usually lifts it if you let it soak for a few minutes before brushing gently. Rinse well, because soap residue attracts the next layer of dust. Avoid kitchen degreasers and oven cleaners, which are strongly alkaline and can damage mesh coatings and aluminium frames.

Black or grey spots on a net after the monsoon are often mould growing on the film of dust and organic matter on the mesh. Clean them off with mild detergent and water and dry the net fully in moving air. The US Environmental Protection Agency's central point about mould applies here: the key to controlling it is controlling moisture. If the same net grows mould every year, the room is too damp or the net is closed against wet glass for weeks on end; leaving a little air moving behind it helps more than any cleaner.

The India Meteorological Department notes that the south-west monsoon sets in over Goa by about the first week of June, and the wet months that follow are when mosquitoes are most active. So the cleaning you do in April or May is also the moment to inspect every net. Hold each one up to the light and look for pinholes, splits along the spline, mesh that has pulled away at a corner, and gaps where the frame no longer meets the window.

Gaps matter as much as tears. The NCVBDC's vector control compendium describes house screening as a physical barrier that should cover all openings, including windows, doors and eaves, and recommends closing holes and crevices too. A spotless net next to an unscreened ventilator protects very little. While you are going round, empty water from plant saucers, check the drip trays of air conditioners and clear the drains on sunshades, all of which the same compendium names as mosquito breeding sites; the NCVBDC's household advice is to remove water from coolers and small containers at least once a week.

Small holes can be patched, but a net with several tears, brittle mesh or a bent frame is usually worth re-meshing or replacing before the rains rather than after. If your windows are not yet screened, our mosquito nets range and the sliding window nets page explain the options, and the mosquito net chooser shows which system suits each opening.