Milky Residue

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

Afternoon lads,

Customer sent these photos over. Any idea what could be causing it & how I should go about remedying it? She’s had about 4 cleans now so I would have thought I would have removed all soap, etc from the windows ?

EDIT: Edit to say, windows are PVC & only 3 years old according to customer.

 

[ks789]

Afternoon lads,

Customer sent these photos over. Any idea what could be causing it & how I should go about remedying it? She’s had about 4 cleans now so I would have thought I would have removed all soap, etc from the windows ?

Are they painted wooden frames? If so they can just seem to do that forever. Not all painted frames do, it must depend on the type of paint or wood or application. My parents house certain windows did it forever. Could only suggest going over those ones with a scrim afterwards.

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

Are they painted wooden frames? If so they can just seem to do that forever. Not all painted frames do, it must depend on the type of paint or wood or application. My parents house certain windows did it forever. Could only suggest going over those ones with a scrim afterwards.

No pvc, 3 year old, strangely. Unfortunately it’s top windows also so trading them is no option ?

 

[ks789]

No pvc, 3 year old, strangely. Unfortunately it’s top windows also so trading them is no option ?

Ah what a pain. Bit of a mystery too.

 

[JohnDoeWindows]

Maybe clean the window frames of those windows first, do the rest of the house, return to first windows and clean just the glass? I have a couple like this and that's what I do but it depends how long they're dropping for I suppose

 

[Pjj]

Looks like it could have come out of the vents ???

 

[ched999uk]

Looks like it could have come out of the vents ???

That's what I was thinking, but thought I'm still too much of a noob to comment

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I've had it a few times usually on first cleans especially if the pvc windows are South facing which gets the sun all day. When cleaning the PVC top there's a sweating from the pvc like dust on it. When you give it a quick clean it looks good and you move on then it continues to seep down the glass and when it dries it leaves the white residue. You will get it between two hopper windows and it runs right down the middle of the big centre window. Another is the dust on top of vent, once cleaned it continues to fall to one side and takes all the dust with it right down the side of the glass. You either miss the top of the vent or give a good scrub and then a good rinse. I usually miss above the vent and give it a good clean once every 6 months or a day when I have plenty of time. ?

 

[Dave B]

If it’s in the sun as Scottish says the pvc tends to oxidise
You need to scrub the hell out of the top frame for the next 1 or 2 cleans until the water is running off clean then clean the glass
Regular cleans will hopefully then stop the problem

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

Thanks lads. I’m about to head over. I think I’ll rescrub all the frames then do all the glass. I’ll explain to her it may be a ongoing problem but should improve over time. No issues after first clean but I double clean on a first clean so that’s probably why.

 

[doug atkinson]

That isn’t the result of your cleaning or frames if it’s PVC and judging the the way it has run on the glass.

I’m my experience what I have found is when it is raining the water runs down the wall then underneath onto the window.

This was due to them having slate above the window and also certain types of render.

The only way to tell is run some water above the window and ideally it should not touch the window running down. If it does that is the problem.

That is what I think it may be but may be wrong.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

That isn’t the result of your cleaning or frames if it’s PVC and judging the the way it has run on the glass.

I’m my experience what I have found is when it is raining the water runs down the wall then underneath onto the window.

This was due to them having slate above the window and also certain types of render.

The only way to tell is run some water above the window and ideally it should not touch the window running down. If it does that is the problem.

That is what I think it may be but may be wrong.

If that was the case then it would happen everytime it rains. I have found its the sun on the PVC. If you look at PVC that gets alot of sun then it becomes bleached and goes a milky colour. You see it alot on black and brown PVC gutters. When you remove them the back holds the colour because the sun doesn't shine on it.

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

So it wasn't milky in person, it just seems to be how it appeared in photos. I'm not quite sure what has caused it and it was sporadic enough I couldn't confidently put my finger on one particular problem. However I'm thinking it was a combination of the vents leaking dirt and the sun drying the glass faster than the first could run off. I reclined yesterday (overcast day) and spent ages on each vent before redoing just the glass. Hopefully that sorts it for now and next clean I'll do the same, before cleaning them normally and seeing how it goes.

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

That isn’t the result of your cleaning or frames if it’s PVC and judging the the way it has run on the glass.

I’m my experience what I have found is when it is raining the water runs down the wall then underneath onto the window.

This was due to them having slate above the window and also certain types of render.

The only way to tell is run some water above the window and ideally it should not touch the window running down. If it does that is the problem.

That is what I think it may be but may be wrong.

Thanks Doug I will try this test next time. Its a older house so has sunken windows (upgraded to PVC) so it's brick surrounding the window. When I was there yesterday the windows were wet from rain but I didn't see any run offs effecting them.