How to clean the residential and commercial windows, Ideally, windows should be washed twice a year, but it’s a task most people don’t look forward to. Part of what makes window cleaning such a chore is that homeowners insist on doing it with wadded-up paper towels or newspaper, spray cleaner, and a ton of elbow grease.
Clean your windows the fastest way with crystal clear, streak-free results. Try washing windows with a squeegee, and I bet you’ll never go back to a spray bottle and paper towels. Squeegees get your glass clear and streak-free in a fraction of the time it takes with paper towels. In this article, we’ll show you the equipment you need and simple steps to follow for fast, precise results.
It’s easier and more efficient to clean glass as the pros do: with a squeegee and a few other readily available tools. The techniques aren’t complicated, and the results may surprise you.
How to clean the residential and commercial windows
How Often?
It’s really up to the consumers themselves. Some people like to clean their windows every week on their own, and others are OK with having a professional come in and clean their windows inside and out, from top to bottom, twice a year. It’s one of those things that can fall into spring and fall cleaning.
Most of my customers opt for cleaning two or three times each year. Definitely in the spring after the long winter, and then in summer or late fall before the holiday.
There are two ways to do this Do it for yourself or contract a window cleaning service
Benefits of Hiring Window Cleaning Service Providers for Effective Cleaning
Safety: A window cleaning service team has all the safety measures in place. They are experienced in handling all types of windows and are skilled in overcoming problems that can occur during the cleaning process.
Cost-Effective: Yes, you heard it right. Hiring the service of a professional window cleaning company can be profitable in the long run. When you clean your windows yourself, the chances of damage caused to glasses and frames is more. Again, due to the lack of safety measures, you may be injured during the process. All this can be avoided by hiring a professional cleaner. You save the money that you may have to spend on medical bills or buying new glass windows.
Protection: Dirt and dust particles are not only bad for the windows but can also cause serious health issues. An experienced window cleaning service provider will ensure that good quality detergent is used to remove the dirt and dust particles without causing any scratches to the glass. For the safety of your glass, it is always better to wash your windows every 4 – 6 months with the help of a professional.
Skill: Professional window cleaning service providers have employees who are skilled in cleaning windows. They can properly clean your windows, remove dust particles and give your window a sparkling new look.
Less Time: A professional company will have all the necessary equipment and materials along with trained competent staff to complete the work quickly. Most of the time, the company provides an estimate within which they will complete the work.
How to clean the residential and commercial windows.
DIY
Cleaning windows is a job that most people hate because you have to battle with dirt, dripping water, wads of paper towels or newspapers, and annoying streaks. There are many techniques and methods that you can use to clean windows, and it can be difficult to know which one is the most effective. However, when in doubt, it’s always a good idea to look at how the professionals do it. After all, it’s their job to clean windows, and the quick and efficient method they use involves a bucket of cleaning solution, a scrubber or sponge, and a squeegee.
Start with a good squeegee
The keys to success are buying a good squeegee and keeping it fitted with a sharp, new rubber blade. The same high-quality window washing tools the pros use are readily available at home centers and full-service hardware stores. The whole setup is inexpensive and will last many years. In addition to a 10- or 12-in. Squeegee you’ll need a scrubber, a bucket (a 5-gallon plastic bucket will work), hand dishwashing liquid, and a few lint-free rags or small towels.
Buy a good squeegee and replace the blade frequently. Look for replacement blades, also called rubbers, where you purchase the squeegee and pick up two or three to have on hand. The pros we talked to changed their squeegee blades as often as once a day. That’s because you just can’t do a good job if the edge of the blade becomes nicked, sliced, or rounded over with use. If your squeegee leaves streaks or just isn’t performing like new, don’t hesitate to replace the blade (Photos 9 and 10). You can get a little more mileage out of blades that aren’t nicked or sliced by just reversing them to expose a fresh edge. When you store the squeegee, make sure nothing touches the edge.
You don’t need fancy buckets or special soap. Any large bucket will do. Just add a couple of gallons of water and about a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid, and you’re ready to go. In warm weather, you’ll get a little more working time by using cool water. If you’ve procrastinated so long that you’re washing windows in below-freezing temps (I learned this the hard way), add windshield washing solution until the water doesn’t freeze on the glass. Scrubber or sponge? It’s up to you. A scrubber works great and is worth buying if you have a lot of medium to large panes of glass. But a good-quality sponge is all you need, especially if most of your windowpanes are small.
A good homemade window cleaner
You can make a good window cleaner for your home, using this:
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon dish of detergent
Pre-Cleaning Windows
Step 1: Clean stubborn stains
Outside windows are especially prone to stubborn stains because they are exposed to hard water runoff, minerals, bird droppings, and elements that can cake on dirt and grime.
There are a few methods you can try to remove marks on inside or outside windows: Use a mineral deposit removing cleaner, such as CLR.
Dampen a sponge with cleaner and rub at the stains on the windows. Rinse the area with water and proceed with regular cleaning.
Spray the affected area with pure vinegar and let it sit for at least five minutes.
Use a sponge or cloth to rub the stain, and proceed with regular cleaning.
Make a paste with water and a cleaner that contains oxalic acid, such as Zud or Bar Keepers Friend.
Apply the paste to the affected area with a clean cloth and give it a good rub. Rinse away the paste and clean it usually.
Step 2: Remove stickers and decals
Whether you have children who love to decorate with stickers or applied decals to your windows to prevent birds from flying into them, removing sticky substances from windows can be difficult.
However, all you need is a spray bottle filled with water and a plastic scraper with a good edge. Spray the stickers with water and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
Hold the scraper against the window at a 45-degree angle and apply gentle pressure.
Start below the stickers and scrape upwards to get underneath the stickers.
Use a towel to wipe away the water.
Step 3: Remove and clean the screens
For inside and outside windows, clean the screens every time you clean the windows, which should be twice a year.
Eliminate the screens and vacuum them to remove dust and dirt. With a clean cloth or sponge, wipe them down with warm water mixed with a splash of vinegar or dish soap.
Allow the screens to air dry fully before replacing them.
Step 4: Rinse away dirt and grime from outside windows
Outside windows are exposed to all manner of grease, dirt, pollutants, and other materials.
For filthy windows, start the cleaning process by using a garden hose to rinse away the top layer of grime from the windows and panes.
If you don’t have a hose, use a lint-free cloth and water to wipe away some of the dirt.
Step 5: Vacuum or dust inside windows
Make sure you get all the windows, frames, and corners.
This will prevent you from just spreading dirt around when you are cleaning. Before you start cleaning inside windows, lay a large towel down in front of the window to catch spills.
Gather your supplies and tools.
There are a few things you will need to perform a basic cleaning job on your windows, including a:
- Sponge or brush (or a squeegee).
- Rubber squeegee for drying.
- Absorbent microfiber or lint-free cloth.
- clean cloth or rag.
- Bucket filled with cleaning solution.
- Large towel to protect inside floors.
Make your cleaning solution.
There are a few different cleaners you can try for your windows, but most experts recommend a basic water and dish soap mixture.
Using a spray bottle and paper towel or newspaper will just move dirt and cleaning solution around, leaving windows streaky and murky.
To make your window cleaner, you can mix:
Two gallons (7.6 liters) of water with one teaspoon (6 ml) of dishwashing liquid.
Equal parts water and white vinegar.¼ cup (60 ml) each of isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and vinegar, plus 1 tablespoon (15 g) cornstarch (to prevent streaks), and 2 cups (480 ml) water.
Clean the windows
You can use a sponge for windows that have multiple small panes, and a squeegee for larger picture windows.
Dip your sponge into the bucket of cleaner.
Wring out the excess water and wipe down the entire window, being sure to get into all the corners. To clean high outside windows without a ladder, attach a squeegee or brush to an extension pole or broom handle. Once you clean a window, make sure you dry it before moving on to the next. If the squeegee squeaks a lot when you are washing or drying the windows, add a little more soap to the water.
Wipe the windows dry.
For small-paned windows, use the rubber blade on the squeegee to wipe away the water vertically, working from top to bottom.
For a picture window, use horizontal strokes.
Start at the top and work down the window. Overlap each stroke by a couple of inches (a few centimeters), and wipe the blade dry with a lint-free cloth between each stroke.
Make sure the rubber blade is always in contact with the window.
One of the easiest ways to get streak-free windows is to buy a good quality squeegee and to make sure the rubber blade on it is sharp.
Replace the rubber blade when it gets dull because it will stop sealing properly and start leaving streaks.
Wipe up the excess water.
Anywhere that water spilled, dripped, or ran down the window, wipe the area dry with an absorbent, lint-free cloth. This will prevent streaks on the window. To prevent damage to the frame, use a separate cloth or rag to dry water from the window sill.
Final Tips
Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to clean inside a double-paned window without ruining the airtight seal between the panes. However, dirt build-up or cobwebs in between the windows indicate the seal has already been breached, so you may want to consider replacing the windows.
Use the right tools.
Most people’s window-cleaning arsenal consists of some Windex, an old newspaper, and maybe some paper towels. These materials, however, might not be your best option. Squeegees and microfibre cleaning cloths actually get the job done much better than the aforementioned products.
Squeegees.
Many people don’t realize just how effectively squeegees clean glass compared to paper towels and old newspapers. The suction that a squeegee creates means that you leave less liquid and grime behind and are able to cover more surface area with every stroke.
Rub around.
The main flaw with cleaning your windows with paper products is that as you rub the cleaning solution around, what you really inevitably end up doing is spreading more dirt around. If you insist on your paper to clean your windows, make sure you are running through a fresh, clean surface with every pass you make. It can mean the difference between actually cleaning a window or redistributing dirt.
Get your technique down.
It might seem simple enough, but cleaning your windows without using the proper technique is not really cleaning them at all. Make sure whatever cleaning motion you decide to go with you keeps consistent throughout the cleaning process. Starting horizontally and moving to vertical swipes and strokes is a great way to end up with streaky windows when it is all said and done.
Stick to a regular cleaning schedule.
The longer you leave your windows, the more dirt and grime build-up, the more the sun bakes it on, and the harder it is to remove. If you keep to a set schedule for window cleaning, the task will be much easier every time you do it.
Cleaning the windows, like cleaning anything, is not very high on people’s lists of “fun things to do,” but it says a lot about your home and the people inside it. Your windows, because of their reflective nature, are one of the first and most glaring things that people notice about your home and even if the inside is a monument to cleanliness, dirty windows make it hard to believe. Follow the above 5 tips and keep your windows crystal clear all year long.
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