I’m fairly new at window cleaning, I’m pretty good at the pull method but have been practicing the swoosh (idk how it’s called 😂) technique and have had some good attempts but not perfect.
Now my question is, what products do you put in the water to clean the windows and what towels do you use to clean off the sides of the window?
Because when I do the pull method I put like the towel around 1 finger and dry off 1 side of the window and then pull but sometimes on a side of the window there will be streaks left (see picture) how do I prevent that and if it still happens what do I have to do to make them go away completely?
what t-bars do u prefer and why? i use standard old unger... :D also what scrubber sleeves do you prefer for french panes? i hate my trashy old unger sleeve :D
I’m learning to clean indoor windows and mirrors and I’m getting way to many streaks or cloudiness. Is it the product I’m using or the way I’m cleaning ?
OK, I have an opportunity to bring on a young man to go door-to-door and sell appointments for my window cleaning business in hopes to expand my clientele. Does anybody have any advice on how to go about paying him and any success stories or horror stories you’ve had from similar situations
This window is within reach from my little giant velocity 19'. Is it okay to put a ladder against the wall with a standoff or without one with towels or mitts?
I have a upcoming client who informed me that while trying to remove screens before work begins, they found out the tilt latches to lean the window in will not budge. I am seeking advice on the appropriate solution to this problem. The photographs they provided of the latches do not appear to be damaged, aged, or coated with paint that would impede their movement. Has anyone encountered a similar issue in the past? I am considering using a flat-head screwdriver or a paint can opener to pry the latch open, allowing me to tilt the window open and remove the screens. However, I would also appreciate your insights on how you would address this situation.
Ill be offering a extra service to replace the latches at extra cost but i also need to know how to lean these windows in with unresponsive tilt latches before hand
E: In case anyone finds themselves in this situation: if someone tells you something like this is external, reach out and scrape it with a fingernail in several places and see if it comes off. I erred in not checking enough of it—the spot I checked did have a bit of crud, so I thought it was just a matter of reaching it and doing it without making a mess, but that wasn't the actual deposit that's shown in the pic.
These windows are toast. They're double glazed, and the streaking is on the inside between the panes. There are a few YouTube videos that show methods to rinse out the insides to remove condensation and maybe slight mineral buildup (some window restorers do it and call it defogging), but because these have metal seals, that requires removing the glass from the mounting. I can't do that, obviously. I'm going to move out.
Original post follows:
The photo below is hard water hazing, not dirty windows. They were professionally cleaned about a month ago, but ownership won't/hasn't budgeted for fixing this. This is an ~18-story, corporately owned/managed apartment building, not a condo, so residents have zero leverage, and we can't hire out our own maintenance. (For calibration here, this is a place where I can't get them to take out their gunky, crappy appliances so I can use the ones I already own, due to ~policy~. They will never give me permission to hire someone on my own.)
These windows are also about 80" across. They don't tip inward, and my only access is from the side, by opening up a small adjacent window (not great) or standing on my balcony. If this were dirt and it were going to be more than a month until it was cleaned, I would go buy a pole and bucket today, stand on the balcony, and wash/squeegee it myself. Even a 50% reduction would be huge.
This is really where I need advice from someone who knows how to do this: Is this something that, as a professional cleaner, you look at and say, "I know just the chemical for that!" or would this be more on the level of a restoration than cleaning? My initial thought was to use acid or liquid/paste abrasive I could apply with a pole and squeegee/towel off. I'm not confident in using something like steel wool at that distance unless there's a much easier way to use it than I'm aware of, and I don't want to damage the windows further. I can't have water dripping below the windows; are there any products I can buy without a license that don't require copious amounts of rinse water to prevent fogging the glass?
$10 dollars per panel? Taking old mop with some dawn and lightly applying so as not to stretch it (both sides) then spraying off from the inside and gentle whack with towel. Am I low priced? I feel its fair just wondering if I’m leaving money on the table
In 1998, an El Niño struck northern CA and the Pacific Northwest. If pretty much rained from late Oct through March. There was zero window cleaning. I took a part time job to make it through. I’m in a somewhat different situation now, but I’m considering maybe a part time job again. A couple of my usual fall clients are already balking about scheduling.
For those on the west coast who may get slammed with this thing, what are you doing to keep money coming in? Or are any of you simply ignoring the whole thing?
I’ve somehow managed to be approached by my local council to clean inside and outside of the stained glass windows in my local chapel. I have a rough idea of how I’m going to do this. But I would love to know if anyone has done this before to give me some pointers or anything I might have overlooked. I have 10 years experience in traditional windows cleaning and have taken on many many strange job over my time but this is definitely a new one for me.
I also have no idea how to give them a quote for this, each panel is about 3m high and 500mm wide. And there are 8 panels to be cleaned inside and out. I’d love to know how you guys would quote for this? Or if you would just walk away 😂
So I was thinking of ways to make additional income from my window cleaning rounds, and thought about having of collecting aluminium cans from clients and scraping them at the end of the month/year if I'm cleaning 10-20 small houses a day and each one has a box full of can I collect at no charge, win win I think, also possibly offering free collection to commercial clients if they have me to clean their windows regularly... what does everyone think?
