Dirty Water Streaks

[Jack123]

Hi everyone, Hope your all well.

I have had a look through the forum but struggled to find any similar pics. I went to clean a customer windows for the second time, looked all good and went on my way. I got a message around 4 hours later with the below pic attached asking if I could wipe the windows down afterwards as they have left streaks all over.

Now to me it looks like really dirty water has run down the glass and dried on but I rinsed really well and thoroughly cleaned the vents above the windows, she said that she has already wiped down all the other windows, so I'm thinking maybe she isn't leaving them long enough but the streaks look dried on. First real complaint I have had, she has asked can I just wipe them down but no point in WFP if I wiping or blading them afterwards. What do you guys think?

 

[Jack123]

Should also add I'm using the unger hydropower Di vessel with built in tds which was at 0 when I produced the water that morning.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Dont know what has caused it.

Whenever I have had sceptical customers I tell them to leave the windows till the next morning. They are always fine by then.

If you have some windows that give you grief (we all come across the odd one once in a while) put a squirt of Ubik on the brush head, give the window and frames a good deep scrub and rinse till bubbles are gone.

That should fix you up.

 

[Jack123]

Dont know what has caused it.
Whenever I have had sceptical customers I tell them to leave the windows till the next morning. They are always fine by then.

If you have some windows that give you grief (we all come across the odd one once in a while) put a squirt of Ubik on the brush head, give the window and frames a good deep scrub and rinse till bubbles are gone.

That should fix you up.

Thanks for the reply Green, when I did the first clean I did use ubik but not for this clean. I asked if it happened last time and she said that it did but she presumed it was because they was very dirty, offered to go back round and correct it but she said she is happy with the service but would like me to wipe it down after. I just can't get my head round it, guna check some other properties I did today and see if they have the same streaks.

 

[Marko067]

I find that most properties I clean can be cleaned successfully using the same method or approach on each window. However, others require an adjustment to the approach depending on the style of the windows or sometimes a problem with just one window on a property. I.e. I had a customer where one window always dried with a single drip line right down the middle of the pane. Turned out there was a join/break in the rubber seal right in the middle of the window at the top that was causing it. All I had to do was adjust the angle of the brush to avoid forcing water up it when I cleaned that window.

These are little things, I suppose you could call tricks of the trade that you pick up over time. I'm still learning ten years in with wfp.

When you figure out what's causing it, work out another approach if you can. The challenge is in getting your customer to be patient with you whilst you work it out.

 

[Skxawng]

Firstly, are you sure those marks aren't in-between the panes? Also You gave it a thorough first clean, getting water in the vents this time isn't neccesary. After the first clean avoid vents like the plague- dirty water can drip down even hours afterwards. If it's not that then as mentioned above could be rubber seals. Explain that there is no practical way to dry them without messing them up.

I've a house with one window pane I have to trad, tried everything but always leaves some spots. Never seen any thing like on the photo above though.

 

[Iron Giant]

Difficult to pin point but I would have gone back straight away to take a proper look in order to asses what the issue is.

 

[Jack123]

Thanks for the reply everyone, I really appreciate it. I thought about it being the rubber seals but she said she has gone round wiping all the windows when iv been as they started drying like in the picture , I really want to say its the customer that is causing it somehow but then again the pic is from upstairs and looks dried in. Had no other complaints from my last few days work so i don't think its my water or brush head. The customer is going on holiday this week so i think im going to pop round and re-clean then watch them dry haha.

I have been cleaning the vents every time i do a clean - Is that not the general consensus on the forum?

Thanks Again.

 

[Marko067]

I have been cleaning the vents every time I do a clean - Is that not the general consensus on the forum?

Thanks Again.

For the most part I haven't had a big problem with this once I have cleaned them thoroughly the first time. But from time to time I do come across vents that leak dirty water every time. When I learn which ones they are I avoid washing over them when I clean the windows.

 

[David K]

I would clean a few , come back and rinse , sufficient drip time can solve some trickys . I do a lot of old wodden frames in my area , No problem .

 

[noddy]

ive seen this happen when people are trying to save water and don't rince the window enough , I could easy use 100 tl on a first clean without even trying when we hit them with tfr20

 

[Tuffers]

It's hard to say what it is from the pic, but my first thought was dirty water running out of the vent. As has been said earlier, there is no need to wet the vents after the first clean, maybe give them a clean every 6/12 months.

I had a first clean with a very large lounge window, the frames and glass were minging. I gave it the Virosol treatment. I thought I'd got the window spotless. I was wrong, as when I was cleaning the patio door the sun was shining through the lounge window and there were was a ghosting effect on it. After cleaning the rear I went back and re cleaned the lounge window. The next time I went after 8 weeks the glass looked good.

How long have you been WFP? You can't master it overnight although it does look easy.

Could the marks on the glass be in between the panes at all?

I'd be tempted to go round and get the ladders off and have a close look.

 

[spruce]

I have one similar to this and in my case its cement contamination that has leached from regrouting the brickwork above. When the rain comes from a certain angle water runs down the wall and down the windows (all the windows on that side of the house are affected and there wasn't a problem with them before they were regrouted.

If you get up there with ladders I doubt you will remove it by hand.

I don't believe it has anything to do with the quality of your water or your cleaning technique.

 

[noddy]

It's hard to say what it is from the pic, but my first thought was dirty water running out of the vent. As has been said earlier, there is no need to wet the vents after the first clean, maybe give them a clean every 6/12 months.
I had a first clean with a very large lounge window, the frames and glass were minging. I gave it the Virosol treatment. I thought I'd got the window spotless. I was wrong, as when I was cleaning the patio door the sun was shining through the lounge window and there were was a ghosting effect on it. After cleaning the rear I went back and re cleaned the lounge window. The next time I went after 8 weeks the glass looked good.

How long have you been WFP? You can't master it overnight although it does look easy.

Could the marks on the glass be in between the panes at all?

I'd be tempted to go round and get the ladders off and have a close look.

same here , what I do now is hit all first cleans hard (all tops with my heavy nasty brick like xline sill brush and trf20 ) rince the life out of them , do the bottoms with again the heavy old brush , then flip back over to my extreme brush and start again , only wiping the class over quickly this way I can walk away knowing there going to be good that's why we charge double for all 1st cleans

 

[jason1965]

If i ever have this problem i always ask the customer is it the same on all the windows or just one, if its only one window it cant be the water, , i will go back and do it again, if it happens the next time i visit, i tell the customer its you glass or window frame causing this, If it was my water it would be on every window. Most of the time its the rubber seal. or the window or glass is really old, if its downstairs i do it trad, if its upstairs tough.replace the window.

 

[reliable chris]

Hi

You have to be really careful with vents.

I generally only do on a first time clean, but always do all the plastics before going back to 1st window to do the glass.

I then explain to customer vents are a nightmare and may drip dirty.

Subsequent cleans just clean under the top bar. every so often include vent

One tip u can do on ground floor I find works is at end of job go round with dry towel and wipe water away from above , on, and under the vent on the plastic.

That seems to work

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

 

[Jack123]

Thanks for all the responses, So i have asked the customers i cleaned before cleaning the house in the picture and they are all happy with no stains or marks so its not the water or brush.

I asked the customer if it happened also when i gave her the first clean where i used Ubik and she said yes but just thought that they must have been very dirty so she gave all the ground floor windows a "wipe over" instead of letting me know. So when i returned for maintenance clean 4 weeks later they didn't look too dirty so i used pure water only, as mentioned above i may have been bit stingy with my water! She said all the windows looked like the pic but they haven't all got vents. She recently had some work done to the house but im not sure what, Could it be that there is some really stuborn residue left on glass and the dirt is sticking to it instead of washing off?