When I'm Cleaning Windows?

[brucemillar]

• Or, making then streaky.
• Making then foggy.
• Looking worse than when I started.

I am referring to house windows. It seems no matter how hard I try (and I do try) they end up a mess. Now with the Sun low in sky, they look really bad, despite my best efforts.

I just want the glass to look like glass and not a smoked panel or something that has been splattered with spit.

Today in desperation I resorted to using my prized Meguiars Car Window Cleaner (I can get that to work on cars). This also failed.

We have a house, that has a lot (and I do mean a lot) of glass. Nearly all the downstairs windows are floor to ceiling height and 1.5 meters wide. One wall of the house is a complete Gable End Glass Window made out of 6 vertical panels of glass (like a church window). I mean it is not quite a greenhouse, but you could cultivate tomatoes in there or other exotic herbs perhaps.

Now I am looking for some useful tips that do not include:

Pay somebody else to do it.
Get the wife to do it.
Cover all the glass over with sheets of hardboard.

My current method is:

Wash glass with clean water, sponge and a tiny amount of white vinegar.
Dry windows with the worlds most expensive brass and neoprene squeegee.
Stand back and admire perfection, until the Sun hits the glass.
Use clean dry microfiber cloths and a small amount of glass cleaner (Meguiars) I have tried with no cleaner.

All results are the same, our house looks like slum (So Mrs Millar tells me) and I kind of agree some days.

Now as there is an entire profession out there able to earn a living at this. I am assuming that there must be a way to get better results than I can manage. It is this method that I seek from the ancient and the wise, passed down through the generations.

Please help.

 

[Deleted member 131833]

Me too, cannot wait to see how to solve this

 

[CaptainChaos]

This is my solution because I hate streaky windows too.
Window cleaner for the outside. It's worth £8 a month for me not to get the ladders out.
Karcher window vac for the inside. (They really are very good).

 

[James Copeland]

My window cleaner just uses a squirt of wash up liquid in the wash water and then sqeegees off.
A rub with scrim around corners and no marks at all.
To be fair I don't have the acreage of glass that you do.
Jim

 

[slade1]

Me too, cannot wait to see how to solve this

Snap, have same problem. Spend a longtime cleaning, get into car to drive to a car show, streaks every where!!!

 

[BTB 500]

Now I am looking for some useful tips

Most important - don't get your ukulele wet.

 

[GLK]

My nan used old newspapers ... it was painful to watch

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Branded E cloth & warm clean water. No cleaner whatsoever.

 

[Deleted96908]

Most important - don't get your ukulele wet.

I was expecting to see the YT vid when I clicked on the thread. Most disappointed

 

[Martin 1]

Hi, in this case, old is best, spray on window cleaner, then newspaper squished into a pad and polish the glass, I believe there's something in the ink and it really does work, what's better - it's cheap.

 

[ioweddie]

I'm with a squirt of fairy liquid, decent squeegee, works for me

 

[clk320x]

My nan used old newspapers ... it was painful to watch

It does the job though David

 

[James Copeland]

I always thought that it was the ink on the paper that gave the sparkle but now they print papers in a different manner which is why no one gets newsprint ink on their fingers or their nether regions if you can remember that far back.
I can remember my saturday jobs included blackleading the firegrates and tearing newspapers into squares.

Jim

 

[Crustyclam]

Used to keep a marine tank a few years ago and used to make up lots of RO water. All impurities removed.
Perfect for squirting on windows , quick brush and leave. Streak free when it dries, no need to dry it off. Good for the outside only of course.

Professional window cleaners use this method a lot now to mitigate insurance risks by using long poles so as not to climb ladders.

 

[Delderek]

Warm water a squirt of fairy liquid. Applied with microfiber cloth.Then use a Karcher window vac. Brilliant sparkly window's.

 

[190]

I've also have a lot of south facing glass and find perfection impossible to achieve. Probably shouldn't use fairy liquid as it contains salt but a little in hot water and a window vac gets closest for me and of course you have to do both inside and outside.

I wonder if using filtered water would do the trick. I have achieved good results on a headlight reflector using a mixture of alcohol and distilled water.

 

[fourwheels]

Be glad you don't live on the south coast opposite the sea.
Salt is the big problem. Windows in the Winter are always grey and streaked.
I've resorted to using a hose pipe and broom and just leaving it to dry because next time the wind blows we are back to square one.

 

[Petrol Pete]

I think when newspaper had lead in the print it worked on glass . I think they took the lead out decades ago, so its a waste of time using newspaper these days.

Could be wrong, I have known to be wrong before.

 

[Martin 1]

O.K. you're wrong

 

[optimusprime]

Bruce its hard ,but we use Astonish .I picked up a new supply of ebay few weeks ago just for the window cleaning . But thats the same,and you do need to work on it to get it clear .