Spring starts on 1 September, and in Adelaide the first genuinely warm week after that is when every window in the house goes up at once. It is also the week the flyscreens stop being decoration and start doing a job. Most of them have been sitting behind closed glass since about April, quietly collecting a winter of dust, pollen and cobweb.
Doing the screens and tracks now, in the last week of August, is the difference between opening the window and enjoying it, and opening the window and immediately regretting it. It is a couple of hours of work, most of it outdoors, and it sits neatly alongside the window clean you were probably going to do anyway.
Do This First: screens out, then the glass, then the tracks, and the screens go back last. Any other order means cleaning the same surface twice.
Why the Last Week of August
Insects do not wait for a date on the calendar, they wait for warmth. Spider activity around Australian homes picks up from early spring and builds through to late summer, and the spiders are simply following the moths, flies and mosquitoes that get moving first. By the time you notice the first web across a doorway, the season is already underway. Getting in front of it is far easier than catching up with it.
What Changes in September
- Spring officially starts on 1 September, and the windows start opening within the fortnight
- Warmer evenings bring out the flying insects, and the webs follow them within weeks
- The Royal Adelaide Show runs 5 to 13 September, so the first half of the month disappears quickly
Why It Has to Be Dry
- Screens need hours of open air before they go back in, not minutes
- Adelaide still throws showers around in early September, so pick your morning
- Starting early buys you a second attempt if the weather turns on the day
Pro Tip: if you have hay fever, do the screens before the pollen peaks rather than during. A screen thick with winter dust holds pollen against the opening and releases it every time the window moves.
Flyscreens: Take Them Out to Clean Them
The single most common mistake is cleaning a screen while it is still sitting in the window. All that does is drive the dust off the mesh and straight down into the track below, where it turns into grit the moment it gets wet. Screens come out first. Most residential screens lift up and pull out from the inside, and it takes about ten seconds each once you have done one.
Doing It Properly
- Mark each screen with masking tape as it comes out, they are cut to their own opening
- Lay them flat on a towel or lean them on a fence, never scrub them upright and unsupported
- Warm soapy water and a soft brush, both sides, then rinse on low hose pressure
- Stand them in the sun until completely dry before they go back in
What Wrecks a Screen
- A pressure washer, every time. The mesh sits in a channel held by thin rubber spline
- Stiff wire brushes, which snag fibreglass mesh and open up a run
- Refitting while damp, which traps moisture against the frame corners
- Ignoring a small tear, because a torn screen is simply an open window
Pro Tip: photograph the screens in place before you start. When you are refitting eight of them three hours later, the photo settles which one belongs to the back bedroom.
Window & Sliding Door Tracks
With the screens out, the tracks are finally reachable, and this is the part almost everyone skips. The rule is dry first, wet second. Vacuum the track with a crevice tool and a brush head before any water goes near it, because wet grit turns into a paste that sets hard in the corners and is then a genuine chore to shift.
The Working Order
- Vacuum dry, crevice tool along the run and a brush head into the corners
- Then damp: a cloth folded over a butter knife reaches the square corners properly
- An old toothbrush does the fiddly bit around the rollers and the stops
- Dry the track out afterwards rather than leaving it damp under the screen
Why It Actually Matters
- Grit in a sliding door track is what chews out the rollers, and rollers are not a cheap afternoon
- A door that drags never gets closed properly, which is how the insects get a standing invitation
- Leave the weep holes at the bottom of the track clear, they drain rain rather than collect it
Worth Knowing: if a sliding door still drags after a proper track clean, the problem is the rollers or the alignment, not the dirt. That is a job for a glazier rather than more scrubbing.
Seals, Gaps & Screen Doors
The draught excluders and door seals you fitted to keep the cold out over winter are the same barrier that keeps insects out over summer. While the screens are off and you are already at the openings, it is worth ten minutes to check them rather than discovering the gap in November.
The Ten Minute Check
- Stand inside with the door shut and look for daylight around the frame
- Check the brush strip or seal along the bottom of every external door
- Make sure the screen door closer still pulls the door fully shut instead of leaving it ajar
- Look at where the screen meets the frame, a bowed corner leaves a gap you cannot see head on
While You Are There
- Wipe the door frames down, they collect a surprising amount over a closed-up winter
- Vacuum the entry mat properly or take it outside and beat it
- Check the laundry and garage doors too, they are the ones everyone forgets
Eaves, Webs & Outdoor Lights
Webs are a symptom. Spiders set up where the food is, so a web across a doorway or under an eave is telling you that is where the insects gather. Knocking the webs down works, but only if you keep doing it: run a broom along the eaves, the pergola and the window frames now, then again every few weeks through spring, so returning spiders never get established.
The more effective change is the lighting. An outdoor light beside the back door pulls in moths and flies all evening, and the spiders follow them. Moving that light away from the door, switching it to a warmer globe, or simply using it less does more for the doorway than anything you can spray on the frame. The same logic applies to the porch light left on all night out of habit.
The Outside Round
- Eaves, pergola, window frames and the meter box, with a soft broom on an extension pole
- Repeat every few weeks rather than once, that is the whole trick
- Clear the boxes and stacked pots sitting against the house wall
The Lighting Fix
- Lights draw the insects, and the insects draw the spiders
- A warmer globe attracts noticeably fewer flying insects than a cool white one
- Light the path rather than the doorway where you can, it keeps the gathering away from the opening
In the older suburbs around Norwood and Prospect, deep eaves and verandahs give webs somewhere sheltered to sit all year, so those homes need the round done more often than a newer place out north. Either way it is ten minutes with a broom, not an afternoon, and it is worth pairing with a regular clean so the inside keeps pace with the outside.
Book Your Spring Window Clean
Screens out, glass done both sides, tracks detailed rather than wiped over, screens back in dry. It is a satisfying job when you have the morning for it and a tedious one when you do not. Our Adelaide team covers the city and inner east, the Hills, the western beaches and the northern suburbs, with the same trusted, fully insured and police-checked cleaner each visit.
Glass, Inside & Out
Both sides done in the same visit, so the light actually changes when spring arrives
Screens Removed & Washed
Taken out, washed flat, dried and refitted to the opening they came from
Sills, Tracks & Cobwebs
The parts that get skipped, including the eaves and window frames outside
Frequently Asked Questions
Q.When does spider season start in Adelaide?
Spider activity picks up from early spring, so September in Adelaide, and builds through to late summer. The spiders are following the food rather than the weather: warmer days bring out the moths, flies and mosquitoes they feed on, and the webs appear wherever those insects gather. That is why outdoor lighting near a door or window is such a reliable place to find webs, and why the fix is usually about insects and lighting rather than the spiders themselves.
Q.How do I clean flyscreens without damaging the mesh?
Take the screen out of the window and lay it flat rather than scrubbing it in place. Use warm soapy water and a soft brush on both sides, then rinse with a garden hose on low pressure and let it dry completely before refitting. Avoid a pressure washer entirely, because the mesh is held in a channel by a thin rubber spline and the pressure either stretches it out of shape or blows it out of the frame. Mark each screen as you remove it, since they are cut to individual openings and rarely swap between windows.
Q.Should I clean the windows or the flyscreens first?
Screens come out first, then the glass, then the tracks, and the screens go back last. Doing it in that order means the dust from the mesh and the frame lands outside rather than on glass you have just finished, and it gives the screens the drying time they need while you work on everything else. Refitting a screen that is still damp traps moisture against the frame, which is how the corners start to corrode.
Q.Can MyHomeCleaning clean my windows, screens and tracks?
Yes. Our window cleaning covers the glass inside and out, the flyscreens taken out and washed properly, and the sills and sliding door tracks detailed rather than wiped over. It pairs naturally with a once-off spring clean if the rest of the house is due at the same time. Our Adelaide team covers the city and inner east, the Hills, the western beaches and the northern suburbs, with the same trusted, fully insured and police-checked cleaner each visit. Tell us about your home and we'll put together a personalised quote.
