Any suggestions on how to leave windows looking clean after pressure cleaning a house

[POWERMEN INC 14]

Does anyone have a trick, or add anything to the rinse to leave the windows without any smears or water stains?

I just clean with chlorine and rinse with plain city water.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

The topic of this thread: Any suggestions on how to leave windows looking clean after pressure cleaning a house

I am amazed no one mentioned a squeegee!

Rod!~

Edited November 20, 2008 by Beth n Rod
grammar

[john@AEC 37]

The topic of this thread: Any suggestions on how to leave windows looking clean after pressure cleaning a house

I am amazed no one mentioned a squeegee!

Rod!~

A squeegee, come on Rod, that's way too obvious (not to mention actual work) - we all want the "magic" way!

[James 625]

Florin, Depending on the size of the house and the amount of windows. One to two hundred dollars can be added and up to a wash job. House that are 4500 sqft and up will be more.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

A squeegee, come on Rod, that's way too obvious (not to mention actual work) - we all want the "magic" way!

Ok, we should all learn how to use our 'wand's;

Make sure you have the correct nozzle on your wand or it won't reach the higher up windows. I suggest the dark arts nozzle-red #1. Guaranteed to destroy dirt (or anything else that gets in the way). For those in the advanced class whip out your rotating nozzles as this will get you more dramatic cleaning (or destruction if you are a novice pretending to be an advanced wand artist .. take your pick)

We shall start with the flick and swish method. It ends with a snap of the wrist as you point your wand at the item being cleaned. Now speak the incantation 'Scourgify' at the point just before the flicking of the wrist.

Didn't work? Bugger dude! Sucks being a muggle doesn't it?

Rod!~

Edited November 21, 2008 by Beth n Rod
additional instructions...

[plainpainter 217]

James - I saw one of these window washer guys saying that $4/window was somewhat a national average to clean - and I assumed he meant inside and out. Didn't seem to be any money in it at those rates.

[James 625]

Dan,If your any good and have a very good rep in a highend area expect to make 40 to 50 dollars an hour. With DI 75 to 100 an hour on exterior. It takes time to get very good at window cleaning the inside an out of a house. I did it yesterday and a Foyerway light. The light had not been done for 6 years. The last time I did it.

On this house I cleaned , The house, area of roof , blew out gutters, front walkway, back walkway and patio area, exterior windows , Foyer light and some interior windows and other light fixtures. I forgot the bridge over the brook to the putting area !

[Mark Gallison 14]

We sell many house washes by advertising that we use soft water to clean and rinse with. The nice thing about soft water is that it reduces the amount of chems you need to clean as well as giving the ability to rinse windows clean. It makes the water "wetter" and cleans more efficiently. I have a bracket on the front of my rig and I mount a large tank and feed source water through it and into my holding tank, then pump through system. This should not be done with a DI tank as DI water can raise havoc with certain metals in your pump, boiler etc .

When we do a large window only job, say a commercial building with several hundred windows we use a DI bed and pump into holding tank and then pump out of that with a shurflo and out through garden hose to the water fed poles. I pay $135 for each Soft bed which usually will usually treat about 3000 gallons for a cost of about 5¢ gallon. Di will give me about 1000 gallons before reaching 50 TDS PPM and those tanks run me $155. Which isn’t much at all per window.

[FLORIN 21]

Florin, Depending on the size of the house and the amount of windows. One to two hundred dollars can be added and up to a wash job. House that are 4500 sqft and up will be more.

Yes sir. I upcharge about the same amount you mentioned. More towards the igher end. What i meant was how much more cost out of my pocket for the di setup. I think someone elsde covered it though. I am gonna look deeper into this. At least use it for the very hard to reach windows and squeegee the main windows and lower level ones. Im gettin a minimum of 3 per window pane exterior only in my area. Goes up with higher windows.

[Window Roof Cleaning pa 14]

My biased opinion is that if you are getting paid to clean the glass, it better be perfect. The exception to that rule is if you and the customer agree to a somewhat "lesser" quality due to the fact that you are not actualy scraping with a blade and/or restoring with acids. You need to be sure that there is an understanding between you and the custy. If they want clean windows, they need to hire a window cleaning expert like ME - PaneLess Window Washing. (Shameless plugs are my specialty).

Don't get too cocky with your so called "clean" windows. Ya gotta see em from the inside when the sun is blazing through them at just the right angle. You'd be amazed and probably horrified to see what your clean glass looks like from the inside of the house and at the right time of the day - ouch!

My Water Fed Pole system for cleaning (outside only) windows cost me $3800 plus the pole which was $1250. The RO cartridge is nearly $1000 to replace about once per year, the DI cartridges run $99 each (2 of them) and the carbon prefilter is also about $100. I wish that I could make water with 0 Total Dissolved Solids for $.06 per gallon.

The use of the WFP system takes a fair amount of practice and the key to getting the glass spotless is to Rinse Rinse Rinse! Again, unless you are getting up onto the window to razor blade the entire surface of the glass, then you simply can't get em perfect.

My normal charge for scraping and squeegeeing a window is at least $9 per window (in/out + sills and tracks). Even then profit margins are slim. It's a ton of work even when you know what you're doing.

I'd bet that many of you guys do a pretty nice job on glass with your wands and with far less effort than me. Sometimes I wonder if I should take up pressure washing. I'm realy on this forum so that I can be the BEST window and roof cleaner that I can be!

[gww35 14]

Use cascade dishwasher rence. It works great on glass

[Ryan Wiles 0]

I use simple cherry and add a little liquid cascade to my solution...keeps windows streak free every time!

was in your ratio for simple cherry and cascade? 

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Welcome Ryan, please add a signature. House rules.

Beth

[cleanfinish 4]

Simple Cherry works well IMO

[Guy B 70]

The problems with streaky windows comes from several variables.....#1 would be your detergent mix. We've used simple cherry & now Elemonator for 6 years with no problems.... A close #2 would be improper rinsing. Starting above the windows and working down and even double rinsing windows will help, plus wont take that much more time.....#3 would be a high mineral content to the water supply, or hard water. I have no idea how to handle that seeing we don't have that in our area. Maybe that's when you would use a dish washing additive.

[steven 37]

during a house wash the only time I have a problem with windows is when I am not paying attention to my rinsing. But I do like the idea of Mr. clean or something. The only time I have to scrub the windows is after stripping a house, and that usually means washing them real good.

[TheSidingGuy 16]

 http://www.pinalen.com/cleaning-products/pinalen-max-floral-511.html

[bobmez 14]

As a window cleaner too.. We Carry cleaning detergents for this. Super glean three is very concentrated so a little goes a long way. We usually have a five gallon bucket filled with clean water, some super glean 1 oz. a little rinsing agent. After we rinse the house thoroughly, we then have a man brush the glass with our mix and rinse with city water. However, water can be the issue as you know, so the end result can change with location. This is always explained up front. If our result doesn't look great, we up sell the window cleaning...winner

Edited April 4, 2015 by bobmez

[TheSidingGuy 16]

I use Pinallen Max and S/H. Never have a problem with windows and I never smell the S/H