Self-cleaning tinted glass

[RickyG]

I know there's a clue in the name but are there any tips or big ol no no's?
I've got my first full exterior clean booked for tomorrow that I picked up this morning, the conny has got a blue tinted glass roof I've never done one before is there anything to be aware of with this stuff?
I don't have hot water and the fascia/gutter above looks a bit grimy I fancied using a bit of TFR (non-caustic) to shift the grime up there on the plastics but I don't fancy paying out for new glass if it goes wonky where it dripped on some sci-fi glass coating and ruined it, I've got a really soft unger brush that il use if scratching the coating could be an issue.
Might be a daft question but I thought it's a better question than asking "where can I get blue-tinted units made for sensible money" tomorrow.

 

[spruce]

Just pure water and a soft brush. Don't use a scraper and don't use the edge of your brush to clean a bird strike off.

My advice is to keep away from tfr, caustic or non caustic. Tfr was used by the motor trade to strip the protective wax coat off new cars. They knew what they were doing.

If you get it wrong, you have big issues. I know from my own experience. I still have a 25 litre container of the stuff in my garage from 15 years back.

If there are any blobs of concrete from a repair above that have landed on the glass, leave them. We have this and those boobs of concrete have been on that roof panel for over 10 years.

 

[RickyG]

Just pure water and a soft brush. Don't use a scraper and don't use the edge of your brush to clean a bird strike off.

My advice is to keep away from tfr, caustic or non caustic. Tfr was used by the motor trade to strip the protective wax coat off new cars. They knew what they were doing.

If you get it wrong, you have big issues. I know from my own experience. I still have a 25 litre container of the stuff in my garage from 15 years back.

If there are any blobs of concrete from a repair above that have landed on the glass, leave them. We have this and those boobs of concrete have been on that roof panel for over 10 years.

I

 

[RickyG]

I

I took the long route of just water to be safe, bit of an **** ache as the roof had a ledge running across the back full of leaves n moss & cobwebs ended up using a squeegee on the end of my pole to pick it out, can’t believe how much water I got through rinsing the roof and it still never came up perfect I can see why they quote £10 a panel, I missed a couple of little bits when I quoted there was bits of sellotape and sellotape glue stuck all round the frames that held Xmas lights back that I spent about an hour getting off in total? but the whole house came up lovely and bright all over took 6 hours though customer was well impressed gotta go quote his sister and mother in law now ??

 

[spruce]

I took the long route of just water to be safe, bit of an **** ache as the roof had a ledge running across the back full of leaves n moss & cobwebs ended up using a squeegee on the end of my pole to pick it out, can’t believe how much water I got through rinsing the roof and it still never came up perfect I can see why they quote £10 a panel, I missed a couple of little bits when I quoted there was bits of sellotape and sellotape glue stuck all round the frames that held Xmas lights back that I spent about an hour getting off in total? but the whole house came up lovely and bright all over took 6 hours though customer was well impressed gotta go quote his sister and mother in law now ??

It's all part of your learning curve.

I hate cleaning conservatory roofs. Glass is even worse than polycarbonate. At least with polycarbonate roof sheets, the roof always looks clean from underneath even if you haven't managed to rinse all those little bits of grit away. With glass, you have nowhere to hide.

 

[RickyG]

It's all part of your learning curve.

I hate cleaning conservatory roofs. Glass is even worse than polycarbonate. At least with polycarbonate roof sheets, the roof always looks clean from underneath even if you haven't managed to rinse all those little bits of grit away. With glass, you have nowhere to hide.

Definitely a learning curve ? told the fella there was a couple of tiny specks that looked liked lichen that I couldn’t scrape as there was a good chance of causing damage to the self cleaning coating ??

 

[ched999uk]

Is there a way to test if the glass has a self cleaning coating?

I've been asked to quote for a conny roof from an existing customer. It's about 5 years old and has black frames. There doesn't seem to be any tint to the glass it at all but the customer doesn't know if it's self cleaning glass or not.
She says it hasn't been cleaned since it was built - house about 5 years old on a little development of 5 bungalows and this 1 house (more dorma bungalow). The edges of the trims that are parallel to the gutters are quite green but the rest seems not too bad.

The real question is are there any chemicals that might help shift the green algae but wouldn't cause any harm to any self cleaning coating that might be there?

Cheers

 

[Pjj]

Is there a way to test if the glass has a self cleaning coating?

I've been asked to quote for a conny roof from an existing customer. It's about 5 years old and has black frames. There doesn't seem to be any tint to the glass it at all but the customer doesn't know if it's self cleaning glass or not.
She says it hasn't been cleaned since it was built - house about 5 years old on a little development of 5 bungalows and this 1 house (more dorma bungalow). The edges of the trims that are parallel to the gutters are quite green but the rest seems not too bad.

The real question is are there any chemicals that might help shift the green algae but wouldn't cause any harm to any self cleaning coating that might be there?

Cheers

Usually you can see the film it’s almost Matt in a lot of cases or if it’s got a blue or green tint just have a close up look it’s normally quite apparent if it has got it .we use Virosol on them diluted 10-1 and never had a problem but if you are worry about it try a test patch out of sight between the gutter and the inside plastic frame if that makes sense ,when they look up there is a section of glass they cannot see from inside

 

[Conservatory Valet]

Definitely a learning curve ? told the fella there was a couple of tiny specks that looked liked lichen that I couldn’t scrape as there was a good chance of causing damage to the self cleaning coating ??

If the lichen is stubborn then it has already damaged the self cleaning coating. We always soak these areas first and keep them soaked while emptying gutters and cleaning finials etc then it should fall away when cleaning with a brush.

 

[Dave B]

Bleach works for me on self cleaning glass

 

[Pjj]

Bleach works for me on self cleaning glass

Yes I have used the same but didn’t like to recommend it just in case of user error

 

[Yogi1872]

There's a extention I do on a house where the squeegee sticks to a few panes of glass on the window but the others are fine. There's no tint whatsoever on it and the customer says they should all be normal windows as I asked if they were self cleaning or something.

 

[dazmond]

6 hours to clean a house and roof??even as a newbie I've never spent anywhere near as long as that....maybe 3 hours at a push....big learning curve for you mate!?

 

[kevinc250]

tfr is for driveways, for any conny roof whether its polycarbonate or self cleaning glass i have always opted for the bottled bleach the supermarkets sell,
its easy to clean up,will not stain and is just about strong enough to remove alghi and lichen.
its one of the most gentle ways to clean self cleaning glass and won't damage the coating.

 

[ched999uk]

tfr is for driveways, for any conny roof whether its polycarbonate or self cleaning glass i have always opted for the bottled bleach the supermarkets sell,
its easy to clean up,will not stain and is just about strong enough to remove alghi and lichen.
its one of the most gentle ways to clean self cleaning glass and won't damage the coating.

Sounds good. Do you mix 1 litre of bleach with say 20 litres of water? Would it be ok with black frames - I guess anodised?
Cheers

 

[kevinc250]

Sounds good. Do you mix 1 litre of bleach with say 20 litres of water? Would it be ok with black frames - I guess anodised?
Cheers

i use the old tried and tested method of the bucket ched, i do have a back pack and trolly but the bucket is the better method for me, raise the pole to the desired height then, lay the pole to the ground thats where the bucket should be placed, fill it will around 5-7 litres of water and half a bottle of bleach and stir then just dip the brush in the mix and apply and agitate and repeat,get to the end of the guttering and go back and rinse, it would be fine with black frames if you use a lower dose, its great on glass aswell.
just try it on a lower dose until you can gain confidence-its well worth the wait
regards kevin

 

[ched999uk]

i use the old tried and tested method of the bucket ched, i do have a back pack and trolly but the bucket is the better method for me, raise the pole to the desired height then, lay the pole to the ground thats where the bucket should be placed, fill it will around 5-7 litres of water and half a bottle of bleach and stir then just dip the brush in the mix and apply and agitate and repeat,get to the end of the guttering and go back and rinse, it would be fine with black frames if you use a lower dose, its great on glass aswell.
just try it on a lower dose until you can gain confidence-its well worth the wait
regards kevin

Sounds good, thanks.

 

[RickyG]

6 hours to clean a house and roof??even as a newbie I've never spent anywhere near as long as that....maybe 3 hours at a push....big learning curve for you mate!?

In that 6 hours I also done 4 dual secure espag locks that had to have the sealed units took out then pin holed & picked from the backs as they got a window company in to do it and they swerved it as it wasn’t a usual hook the cams back with an Allen key job

 

[kevinc250]

In that 6 hours I also done 4 dual secure espag locks that had to have the sealed units took out then pin holed & picked from the backs as they got a window company in to do it and they swerved it as it wasn’t a usual hook the cams back with an Allen key job

aubi dead bolt by any chance? had to do a fair few of them in the past.

 

[RickyG]

aubi dead bolt by any chance? had to do a fair few of them in the past.

No mate mila prolinea’s proper ball ache one set of cams go upwards the other goes down, it was a rubbish install the keeps were just touching the mushrooms when the windows are open and closed so over time the box mechanism must have been grinding away at the start of every handle turn

 

[dazmond]

In that 6 hours I also done 4 dual secure espag locks that had to have the sealed units took out then pin holed & picked from the backs as they got a window company in to do it and they swerved it as it wasn’t a usual hook the cams back with an Allen key job

You never mentioned that though did you?I thought you were just a cleaner!?