Window Washing

[Tom Bender]

Yesterday I washed all 18 windows on our house. Twice around took about an hour, no reaching, bending or wet hands. Just a mop and a squeege, a bucket and soapy water. The key to my success, a ranch house and windows that open easily. Did the whole job from the outside.

Why post this in Workshops? For anyone who builds a shop or adds a window this is a heads up. Try to arrange your windows for accessibility. You will enjoy looking out of clean windows.

[Thomas Wilson]

Except for one little window way up high, my shop meets your design criteria.
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I like clean windows too. At the moment, mine are clean. What about screens?

[Jim Becker]

Most of our home windows can be cleaned from inside, so second floor windows are not really a challenge for this. In fact, we're about to tackle that very thing as we prep our property for listing. For my future shop, the windows will all be easily reachable from the ground.

Good tip!

[Tom M King]

The Windex hose end sprayers really do work. Nothing is quite as good as hand cleaning, but they get pretty close. We have several museum houses we pressure wash almost every year. Of course, not even the lightest pressure from a pressure washer should hit on, or around a window sash. After the house is washed, the windows get hit with the Windex hose end sprayers.

On old, really dirty glass, when I can get to them by hand, I use Clorox Cleanup first to get most of the built up stuff off, and follow with regular Windex. That can make glass look like there is none there. Someone will say there are "better" glass cleaners, which I'm not going to argue about, but these cleaners can be easily found almost anywhere, and work fine.

[Mel Fulks]

I like that Rainx car stuff for house windows. It really surprised me how long that “invisible coating” lasts and keeps the glass clean.

[Jack Frederick]

This is the best window cleaner I have ever used. It does a great job on interior windshields too.

[Jerome Stanek]

I like to use ammonia and water. That was what the window cleaners used on the drugstores that I remodeled. No streaking and nice and clean.

[Brian Backner]

The problem with making windows easily reachable for cleaning, i.e., near the ground, is it makes things easier for burglars. Adding guards of some sort defeats the original purpose of siting them low in the first place. A friend that built a dedicated shop made it a two story affair--the first floor is for storage and rarely used machinery and has no windows at all, just a commercial grade garage door and a seemingly bombproof 36" man door. The second floor has windows galore and is where he does all of his work (yes, he has a heavy-duty dumbwaiter type lift to move stuff between floors). I suppose a dedicated thief could use a ladder but he has not had any problems in fifteen years (that he has signs announcing the alarm system probably doesn't hurt).

[roger wiegand]

Just got an estimate on having our windows cleaned. Over $1000. Ouch. The crazy thing is that we're considering it. Part of the problem is that we have Craftsman style windows with 12 individual panes on each side for each double hung, and we like light so there are a lot of windows, including a bunch that need ladder access. Plus window washers around here are compensated on a par with plumbers; not many people want to do it. I sure don't.

We're fortunate to live in a town where two thefts in a year would constitute a major crime wave, so at least that's something not on my worry list. Since DW hardly ever locks the doors it seems like worrying about windows is misplaced.

[Jim Becker]

I'm contemplating getting quotes for window washing prior to listing our property. Most cane be done both sides from inside, and it wouldn't be hard to do ourselves, but there may be a time consideration. Unfortunately, "any" cost for this might have to be abandoned because I just got a quote to replace the fire sprinkler pump which is toast....it was stupidly installed on the crawlspace floor and during one of the epic storms where we lost power for long periods of time before we had the whole house generator, it apparently got flooded. Cha-ching...selling a property is expensive. LOL So my daughter and I may be doing the window washing.

[Tom M King]

Jim, try the Windex brand hose end sprayers on the outside of the windows, and you may find that good enough, for the outside. They don't leave streaks, or spots on the outside, and you don't have to touch them.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, try the Windex brand hose end sprayers on the outside of the windows, and you may find that good enough, for the outside. They don't leave streaks, or spots on the outside, and you don't have to touch them.

I'll check it out, but the advantage to washing from inside is...everything is essentially ground floor and I'll not be trying to spray through screens. The sills need major attention as part of this which also favors washing from inside..

[Tom Jenson]

This thread was the motivation that I needed to finally tackle the windows in my barn. I have a 1926 dairy barn with 38 windows and from the looks of it they haven’t been cleaned in decades. The extra light was drastic after the first cleaning.

[Jim Becker]

I just started doing our windows as part of preparing for listing...I'm thankful for most of them being able to be cleaned both sides from inside. I'm not thankful for how much gunk is on the exterior sills! Yuck!