Caring for your windows and screens in Korea can greatly increase your quality of life. Maintaining your window systems throughout the year may limit many common areas of discomfort experienced by new international residents. A little extra housework such as this goes a long way to improve your mental health while living abroad.
- Listen to the BlogCast
- Fostering a Safe and Healthy Home
- Importance of Local Cleaning Customs
- Possible Impacts of Ignoring Home and Self Care
- The Importance of Windows and Screens
- Removing Windows and Screens from Tracks
- Keeping Windows Clean
- Adding Insulated Blackout Curtains
- Keep in Mind, This List Doesn’t Include Everything
- Want More Korean Housekeeping Tips?
Listen to the BlogCast
Don’t want to read? Listen to the South of Seoul BlogCast which provides accessible content through the use of AI technology. We don’t have time to read each article but we do our best to make more of our content accessible. If you would like to join our Accessibility Team apply to volunteer with South of Seoul.
Fostering a Safe and Healthy Home
When moving to another country, caring for our mental health may mean having a home that feels like a retreat. Our homes become our escape from the stress and exhaustion we feel from the culture shock at work and on the streets. Therefore, when our home doesn’t feel comfortable, clean, and healthy it can impact how we feel about the country we live in.
Importance of Local Cleaning Customs
Cleaning the house doesn’t mean the same thing around the world. Different climates, resources, and cultural standards mean each part of the world has different problems and solutions. We all need to take the time to learn about the unique needs of our new homes. We will need to budget money, time, and emotional energy to keep our environment a retreat.
Getting caught up on local cleaning customs can go far to improve your feeling of safety at home. We need to pay attention to the details of how we live in our homes. This may include learning how our new home should be maintained according to local standards and modifying our homes to accommodate our specific needs.
The reality is that learning how to care for a new home in a new country that’s built using different building standards, in a new climate, according to a new cultural standard may feel hard. Due to this, we all may struggle to eat first. I certainly struggled through this pain and I want to help shorten the adjustment period for other new arrivals which is why I am writing this post about Window care.
Possible Impacts of Ignoring Home and Self Care
As a new arrival, if you choose NOT to maintain your home according to local standards or avoid spending money modifying your environment to meet your needs, you may increase your stress levels and feel heightened culture shock. Additionally, such heightened culture shock often manifests as anger toward Korean culture and society. When we feel uncomfortable we want someone to blame and we rarely feel personally at fault. That’s human nature.
Examples of how we may internalize our lack of actions or personal budgeting choices as the failure of society at large:
- Not investing in dark-out curtains and feeling angry about light pollution in a city.
- Having a bug problem but not wanting to fix screens or remembering to use screens when windows are open, and being angry about ‘the bug problem in Korea.”
- Feeling cold in the winter because of proximity to windows and being angry about it without searching for solutions.
Of course, if you are only in Korea for a year you may not want to invest in caring for your home. Simply keep in mind, such a choice may impact your mental health, physical health, and perceptions of your time in Korea. It’s ok to make that choice but work to stay present with your choices and understand the difference between a personal decision and social persecution.
The Importance of Windows and Screens
A big part of having a comfortable home in Korea revolves around caring for your windows. I had no idea how important my windows would become in my life when I moved here. It also took me many years to learn how I needed to manage my windows throughout the year to maximize my comfort.
For example, I learned how to limit issues in my home related to:
- Dampness and mold
- Bugs, especially mosquitoes
- Fine dust and air quality in the home
- Cold and heat
- Light pollution
In fact, after learning how to care for and use my windows efficiently in Korea, I realized that most of the overwhelming mold, bug, and heat issues I had faced were related to not understanding how to maintain my home. Thankfully, I found a housekeeper who taught me how to run a Korean home and now life is easy. Here are some of the things I learned.
Removing Windows and Screens from Tracks
Most Korean windows have “easily” removable window panes and screens. You grab each side of the window pane firmly, lift it up and the bottom will slide out toward you allowing you to easily remove the pane for cleaning. It’s important to note that you should not do this alone. If you have large windows, make sure you have assistance with removing them or have your landlord help with removing them for cleaning.
The following YouTube video shows how to remove window panes and window screens from their tracks. Keep in mind, the video was not created in Korea, instead, we chose it for language accessibility. This means it shows removing panes from single-tracked windows instead of multi-tracked windows like in Korea. However, the logic and processes are similar.
The system for removing windows also works for removing most doors on tracks. Remember, glass doors may be even heavier than windows so don’t do this alone.
Also, keep in mind that window pains and window screens have specific orientations. They have a top and bottom, they also have a back and front, and they have a left and right. You will need to remember the correct orientation of the window pains and window screens when putting them back on the tracks. If you don’t, you may find they do not fit or work correctly. You can use tape or a sticky note to mark the top-inside part of the window pains and window screens so that putting them back is easy.
Patching Screens
Once you have your window screens removed, it’s time to patch the holes in the screens. You will need a screen patch kit from Daiso or another home good store.

Before going to Daiso, fully inspect all of the screens in your home. Mark how large the holes are and how many holes exist. You can even take pencil etchings on paper if you need to and compare patches to your etchings. Make sure to do something like this because you don’t want to run back and forth from the story because you don’t have enough patches or the patches aren’t large enough.
The following English language video shows how to use screen patches to fix your screens. Please note, the video was not created in Korea, instead we chose it for language accessibility.
Ad Screens Windosill Holes
Many new residents may check their window screens but fail to screen the drainage and air circulation holes in the windowsills. This means bugs can still fly inside when you have the windows open. Not as many bugs get in, but plenty still do.
Solve the problem by picking up the small screens sold at Daiso, especially for these drainage holes. They are called 방충망스이커 at and very affordable:

Before you install these you need to make sure that the windowsill is clean and dry. Wash out the dirt and then dry everything with a cloth. Any dampness or dirt will mean your screen stickers many not stay attached and bugs will start coming inside during the summer. You do not want that! Clean well.
When everything is clean, prioritize the outside windowsill holes first. You will need to slide all the windows AND screens out of the way to see all the holes. The following graphic shows the order of importance.

Add Air Filtering to Window Screens
If you have a hard time with the smog, make sure to add air filters to one of your screens so that you can keep that window open. Using screen air filters may help a great deal with mold since it allows you to leave the window open more often.

You can find screen filters at Daiso or online on Coupang. The ones featured in this blog came from Coupang and cost around 5,000 KRW.

Keeping Windows Clean
Cleaning Window Panes
You have two options for getting your windows super clean. First, you can remove your windows like me mentioned above. Or you can get a magnetic window cleaner. I haven’t tried this option yet but I might try it soon because I’m interested. I’m going to leave a video about magnetic window washers in case anyone wants to try it.

Cleaning Tracks
Cleaning the tracks of your windows should happen often. A lot of mold, moisture, and dirt buildup here. Maybe once a month, get into your window tracks and give them a good wipe-down. The following YouTube video provides an example of how to get your window tracks clean. The creator walks through the hacks that did and didn’t work for him:
Cleaning the Caulking
Humidiy means even the caulking in your windows may get mold sometimes. Such mold will not come out with just a regular cleaner or a sponge and soap. The discoloration gets deep into the caulking as you see below. This window had already been washed but it doesn’t look like it.

This doesn’t work for me so I get the caulking and grout cleaner from Daiso. Once you apply thin layers of the cleaner along the caulking it takes about 2-3 hours to slowly remove the discoloration.
Cleaning the Top of the Window Panes
Don’t remove the window panes if you don’t have help! Caring for your windows also means caring for yourself in Korea, so make sure you stay safe. If you can safely manage it, pulling out the window panes and cleaning the tops might be a good idea. I’m a little picky so I like to clean the window panes in the bathroom a few times a year because they get quite dirty and moldy in spots I can’t easily see.

Don’t Use Clorox on Window Trim
You may find that mold often grows in the window tracks but we don’t recommend using bleach. Bleach will react with the sun and discolor the trim. Stick with vinegar and other natural mold killers.
Adding Insulated Blackout Curtains
We highly recommend adding blackout, thermal insulated curtains to the windows of your home. You can get affordable rods and rings for these curtains at Ikea and other discount home goods stores like Panda Mart. We then purchase the curtains from Amazon.com or Coupang. Insulated blackout curtains help to:
- Reduce or eliminate light pollution
- Cool the house in the summer (keep them closed when you are at work)
- Keep the heat inside in the winter

Keep in Mind, This List Doesn’t Include Everything
In this post about caring for windows in Korea, I’ve touched on what I’ve dealt with most often in my homes. Your home may also require looking into using bubble wrap for winter windows and cleaning slatted blinds. Every home may be a little bit different. You need to stay emotionally available to observe the unique needs of your home and search for solutions.
Want More Korean Housekeeping Tips?
South of Seoul has a varity of Korean housekeeping posts to help you keep a happy and healthy home! Make sure to read all of these:
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Lanae Rivers-Woods moved to Korea in 2011 where she lives in the countryside with her family, friends, and puppies. She holds a BSSW (Bachelor’s of Science in Social Work), a MAIT (Master’s of Arts in International Teaching), and registered by the Pyeongtaek Korean Times with the Korean government as a Cultural Expert.
Ms. Rivers-Woods used her 15 years experience as a social architect, UX/UI designer, and technology consultant to found South of Seoul in 2015. South of Seoul is a volunteer organization that leverages technological tools to mitigate cultural dissonance in multi-cultural communities.
Through South of Seoul, Ms. Rivers-Woods works with independent volunteers, non-profit organizations, businesses, local & federal government, universities, and US military organizations to develop solutions to support English speaking international residents in rural South Korea.
Additionally, Ms. Rivers-Woods founded the South of Seoul smart phone app available for Google Play and iPhone. The app provides information a resources for those living and traveling in South Korea.
When she isn’t in South of Seoul development meetings or working her day job, Ms. Rivers-Woods loves to be outside at skate parks, the beach, or playing in the mountains.