Who am I? I am owner of Window Cleaning Sydney, a vastly experienced commercial and residential window cleaning company in Australia. So, the tips that I will give are based upon many years of experience as a window cleaner. So, let’s see how you can clean windows like a Pro!
Getting The Right Tools
To get things underway with cleaning your windows, it’s essential to have great quality gear. Whilst you may not know about all of these tools, most cleaning supply shops and hardware megamarts like Bunnings will stock most of these – an expert window cleaning supplies shop is even better.
Here is a rundown of what you would find in my window cleaning container
The All Important Bucket
The bucket should be sufficiently wide to accomodate both a squeegee and an applicator. The blue one that you see most window cleaners use is perfect for experts, yet somewhat over the top for householders.
You Can’t Clean Without A Squeegee!
There are immense contrasts in the quality of squeegees, and this is vitally important since it is the most essential instrument of all.
So I propose buying a something of good quality, don’t be tempted by ones on sale at gas stations. Unger, Ettore, Sorbo are suggested brands. Wagtail is likewise a decent brand and it’s Australian, yet the turning handle takes somewhat more becoming accustomed to.
Great squeegees will generally come gathered from three pieces. The handle, the channel and what is known as a ‘rubber’ that slides into the channel. The rubber is reversible, thereby lasting much longer than thought, and should only be discarded when both sides are dull and lacking sharp edges. (Window cleaners as a rule have their beloved brands of rubbers, yet I don’t think it has a major effect.)
I have different sizes of wiper, varying between 4 and 24 inches, yet I most often use the the 14 inch around 90% of the time.
Applicator – Sometimes Known as the ‘Washer’ or the ‘Mop’
The applicator in two pieces: the plastic bar and sleeve. At the point when the sleeve gets really grubby, you can simply remove it from the bar and put it in the clothes washer. It’s generally only attached by Velcro or fastens. 14 or 18 inches is a decent length.
The sleeves come in various renditions: Porcupine – with minimal plastic pieces all through it to assist clean with offing intense imprints, Regular, Scourer – with a scouring strip on one side. Yet, the one that I use the most often is the Water Retention one.
Using a belt can help by keeping the applicator out of the bucket, only adding enough water for each window.
The handles can either be fixed, or turn. The turn one is more straightforward on the wrist and much better when needing to use an extension pole.
The Window Scraper
This important tool for removing stuck ons comes with replaceable and very sharp blades, and is helpful to get everything that the applicator can’t remove, like paint, stain or difficult creepy crawly checks. A little one inch, pocket scrapper (as seen to one side) is typically enough for most support occupations, however bigger 3 and 6 inch ones that fit onto the finish of the shaft are useful for scratching bigger areas.Large scrubber for window cleaning
Take care when using a scraper on glass! Assuming you don’t have the foggiest idea about how to use one, you could cause irreversible and expensive harm! See out tips below
Cleaning Solution
What to use..
I would rather not be the one that spills the beans since there are a ton of window cleaners who consider this a ‘trade secret’, yet I don’t see any point in not telling. ‘Morning Fresh’ and ‘Palmolive’ the detergents of choice for most professionals.
At the cleaning supplies shop you can spend huge load of cash on a wide range of window cleaning cleansers. I’ve attempted a ton of them, and appear to consistently return to Palmolive (delicate on all fours an incredible work).
Certain individuals suggest vinegar in warm water. The most concerning issue with this is that it doesn’t sud up. The bubbles are critical to grease up the elastic as it disregards the glass, making it significantly more straightforward to turn the wiper. They assist with holding the water on the glass longer, and furthermore make it more straightforward to see any water denotes that need clearing off.
Truth be told, bubbles help to appear dirtier regions that need more cleaning in light of the fact that the example of the air pockets separate more around oily stamps and other soil.
Tools That Don’t Go In Your Bucket
lint free clothes
This could simply be an old towel (old is best as the build up and cushion would have eroded). I typically have a towel and a surgical towel. More with regards to how to utilize them later.
Extension Poles
I prefer a shorter pole that can be significantly extended. It is 1.5m shut, 2.3m opened. This can be extremely helpful for specific windows – however you really want to learn the tricks on using it. I will also carry a larger, five section pole that stretches out to 3 stories high – however it is almost difficult to clean precisely at that length. 2 stories is about the best that you can do accurately with pole squeegee work (even that is really difficult!).
A Good Ladder
I carry a five step step-ladder because it is exceptionally helpful, and also a telescopic ladder that reaches to 2.5 stories high – not recommended if you have a fear of heights.
Utility belt
This will support a window cleaning bucket and is fantastic way to have easy access to your scraper, cloths, and squeegee.
Belt Bucket
This is truly only for the experts. It is a little pail that hangs down one leg off a belt around the midriff. It is an incredible spot to effectively stash you mop and wiper, saving them from dribbling everywhere, and furthermore giving both of you free hands while strolling up the stepping stool, on the rooftop etc.
Using the Window Cleaning Tools In The Right Way..
Step by step instructions to do it
1.Fill the container to about half or somewhat less with cold water. Boiling water will cause the water to vanish excessively fast. Put a couple of spurts of cleanser into the water, or as I like, apply the cleanser straightforwardly onto the wet mop.
2. Scrub the window with a wet applicator (that has cleanser on it) onto the window. Give it a decent rub to ensure all the grime is lifted. This is an ideal opportunity to remove paint, concrete and fly waste with the scraper. The scraper must be used in a forward motion only, doing the opposite could scratch the glass – this could drag the soil, concrete and so on across the glass causing scratches.
3.Now prepare the squeegee. These instructions are based on the assumption that you are right handed. Hold it’s handle in your right hand with your thumb somewhere between the top and side. At the point when you place it on the glass, you need to have it at the right point.
To resolve this, say the point when the handle is contacting the glass is 0 degrees, and the point while taking it off the glass is 90 degrees (with the elastic still on the glass). You need the point in the middle of those two – around 45 degrees. Attempt to keep up with that ration for the duration of the motion.
We additionally need to have the perfect measure of strain on the glass. You can truly just figure out this with experience. Excessively light and you wont gather all the water, excessively hard and it will be hard to move it around.Try to keep a steady strain the entire time.
4. Once the prep work is done, you are ready to take the water off the window. Start at the upper left corner and snake you way down the window. Try to go right to the edges. With a little practice, you will actually want to deal with this with no water streaks left in the center of the window.
5.It is almost difficult to do a window without cleaning the edges. Indeed, even the masters regularly need to do this! That is the place where the surgical towel comes in. This is a fantastic way of removing any residual water or streaks that may have been missed. Use it dry. You can just place it in the clothes washer when it’s excessively wet or messy. I go through a couple for every house, except novices should be prepared by bringing a few more than that with them..
6.You may wonder what the larger towel is for? Use this to wipe ledges and slops that may have found the floor.
Hint – I for the most part don’t suggest using the surgical towel for ledges, they get wet and dirty, and then are no use on glass as they will leave smears. That is why the towel is there.
7.Assuming there are some other imprints, for example, little creepy crawly stamps or dirty finger denotes that didn’t exactly fall off, give it a rub with a perfect piece of the surgical towel, or start again with the mop.
That is it! Your windows will look incredible!
8.Simply repeat for the other side of the window, and it will be crystal clear!.
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