The Genius Reason To Put Nail Polish on Your Window Screens

Is it nice enough where you live to open the windows yet? There’s nothing like warm, fresh spring air flowing through your previously closed-up house. Of course, then the bugs come. Because, no matter how much you enjoy those cross-breezes, insects will eventually, inevitably make their way through any teeny tiny holes in your screens, and there goes all your enjoyment out the window.

Here’s some good news! Using nail polish, you can easily repair small holes in your window screens and pesky insects will have to work a lot harder to get in the house. The technique works best on damaged areas that are 1/8 inch or smaller in diameter. Once applied, the nail polish acts as an adhesive to seal the damaged area, plugging up holes and preventing them from getting any larger. Use clear polish and you won’t even notice the repair job.

Here’s how to do it:

• Clean and dry the area as best you can before you begin.
• Use a small paintbrush to dab or paint clear nail polish over the hole, making sure to cover the area entirely. (Don’t double-dip if you don’t want to get dirt or pollen in your bottle of nail polish.)
• Allow this first coat to dry, using a hair dryer to quicken the drying time if you need to.
• Coat the damaged area with a second coat of nail polish once the first one has thoroughly dried.

If your screens have larger holes that need to be repaired, you can sew them together if they are long and thin. Repair even larger holes with patches that adhere to the existing screen (or sometimes even thread through the existing screen, as described here). You can also use this screen repair adhesive that works a lot like duct tape.