? Starting From Zero - Follow Along

[rigmarole]

Hi guys,

I'm the guy who moved to North Devon from Manchester and wants to set up a new WFP business (first posted a few months ago).

I wanted to start this thread to track my progress and get a bit of guidance. I plan on updating this thread with all the ups and downs of my journey.

My current equipment:

• Gardiner backpack

• 25' Gardiner SLX carbon pole

• Super Lite medium/soft brush

• 11L DI vessel (Local TDS of 80ppm)

Current plan:

Get enough customers to replace 1 days work a week. (I work in healthcare and have childcare responsibilities, so I can cut down days individually in my job and I'll be able to work almost full time next year when the kids start school.

 

[Pjj]

Glad the move went ok , keep us updated with your progress good luck with starting out Ime sure you will do ok bit of hard graft initially but it will pay off long term . 

 

[rigmarole]

UPDATE 30/05

I've moved to North Devon and I've managed to buy all my WFP equipment. Put it all together last night and tested it and it was all working. ?

Tried it out on my own windows, just using pure water. My windows are pretty dirty, haven't been cleaned in a while & they have bird mess on them.

Pure water and scrubbing seemed to do an ok job, but didn't work on the bird mess all that well. 

It might be my lack of any technique / use of detergent. I bought some virosol and I'm going to try that next. The label says to dilute it 1:50 or 1:100 for general cleaning, so I was thinking of trying that. 

Going to keep practicing as much as I can

Any advise on getting off stubborn stains like bird mess etc?

 

[rigmarole]

Glad the move went ok , keep us updated with your progress good luck with starting out Ime sure you will do ok bit of hard graft initially but it will pay off long term . 

Thanks @Pjj the move went great. We are really loving it down here, everything is perfect apart from missing family a little. 

I'm going to work as hard as I can, I really want to do well with this.

 

[Pjj]

UPDATE 30/05

I've moved to North Devon and I've managed to buy all my WFP equipment. Put it all together last night and tested it and it was all working. ?

Tried it out on my own windows, just using pure water. My windows are pretty dirty, haven't been cleaned in a while & they have bird mess on them.

Pure water and scrubbing seemed to do an ok job, but didn't work on the bird mess all that well. 

It might be my lack of any technique / use of detergent. I bought some virosol and I'm going to try that next. The label says to dilute it 1:50 or 1:100 for general cleaning, so I was thinking of trying that. 

Going to keep practicing as much as I can

Any advise on getting off stubborn stains like bird mess etc?

For first cleans we dilute virisol 10-1 I think the dilution rates they are quoting are for things like interior cleaning of worktops etc , using cold water on first cleans try giving any bird poo a light scrub wet it up and move onto the next pain of glass let it soak  for a couple of muinits then go back to it and clean  the bird poo area then the whole pain of glass going over the area ware the bird poo was again then rinse should be ok then , if it’s seagull poo it can be oily and baked  on so can be difficult to remove again some of it is down technique and experience , that will come with time , you can sometimes get scaring with bird poo you think you have removed it all but the outline of it is still there , I always go over the area again a couple of times after Ime sure it’s all gone just to make sure .

 

[Part Timer]

UPDATE 30/05

I've moved to North Devon and I've managed to buy all my WFP equipment. Put it all together last night and tested it and it was all working. ?

Tried it out on my own windows, just using pure water. My windows are pretty dirty, haven't been cleaned in a while & they have bird mess on them.

Pure water and scrubbing seemed to do an ok job, but didn't work on the bird mess all that well. 

It might be my lack of any technique / use of detergent. I bought some virosol and I'm going to try that next. The label says to dilute it 1:50 or 1:100 for general cleaning, so I was thinking of trying that. 

Going to keep practicing as much as I can

Any advise on getting off stubborn stains like bird mess etc?

Gardiners do a scraper to fit on your pole that will help you to get stubborn bird muck off. We usually wet and agitate them and then leave them for a few minutes and do the other windows and then go back to the bad ones.

 

[Pjj]

Gardiners do a scraper to fit on your pole that will help you to get stubborn bird muck off. We usually wet and agitate them and then leave them for a few minutes and do the other windows and then go back to the bad ones.

You skinflint turn the boiler on comes off a piece of cake then ?????? that’s the beauty of hot water eates straight into it .

 

[Part Timer]

You skinflint turn the boiler on comes off a piece of cake then ?????? that’s the beauty of hot water eates straight into it .

Your technique is the same as mine and you use hot water ? Possibly have half a dozen a month where hot water might save us 30 seconds. Will stick with my tried and trusted method ?

 

[Pjj]

Your technique is the same as mine and you use hot water ? Possibly have half a dozen a month where hot water might save us 30 seconds. Will stick with my tried and trusted method ?

What I was describing is how I did it when using cold as the op uses cold with hot we just wet it up then start at the top of the pain work down the glass scrub rinse no more poo ??? there are odd occasions with oily baked on seagull poo it takes a bit more work but 95% of the time it comes straight off , for us hot saves huge amounts of time , but I di to want to turn this into a hot thread ??? 

 

[Martyn]

Sometimes Seagull poo is really challenging, if it has been on a while in hot sunny weather it may take a few goes to get it off.

Over the years I've had more than a few where I have had to repeat the soak and clean another window cycle for half a dozen times or more, you just need to be patient and persistant.

 

[Pjj]

Sometimes Seagull poo is really challenging, if it has been on a while in hot sunny weather it may take a few goes to get it off.

Over the years I've had more than a few where I have had to repeat the soak and clean another window cycle for half a dozen times or more, you just need to be patient and persistant.

I agree but since using hot water life has become so much easier with this type of thing , we do a lot of work in st ives which is renowned  for its seagull population  we used to dread working there due to the amount of poo on the windows , but since having hot it’s so much easier we save huge amounts of time on every clean . 

 

[Deleted member 7446]

Hi guys,

I'm the guy who moved to North Devon from Manchester and wants to set up a new WFP business (first posted a few months ago).

I wanted to start this thread to track my progress and get a bit of guidance. I plan on updating this thread with all the ups and downs of my journey.

My current equipment:

• Gardiner backpack

• 25' Gardiner SLX carbon pole

• Super Lite medium/soft brush

• 11L DI vessel (Local TDS of 80ppm)

Current plan:

Get enough customers to replace 1 days work a week. (I work in healthcare and have childcare responsibilities, so I can cut down days individually in my job and I'll be able to work almost full time next year when the kids start school.

Good evening. If memory serves me correctly you are now in Braunton is that correct?

If you are free later in the week and want to meet up for a socially distant coffee I'll help you with equipment techniques and any other things you are not sure on

 

[NewGuy]

I've only used virisol on first cleans a couple of cleans.  Plenty of scrubbing with cold water does the trick.  I tend to wet the **** on the window, then clean the next window and return to the original window.  Sometimes I angle the brush head and use the edge of the brush to scrape the **** off the window.  But I make sure I have no debris in the brush head first.

I've tried Gardiner's scraper to my pole but found it kept getting in the way on certain jobs so I removed it but it's in my vehicle should I need it, which I haven't needed to so over 12 months.  

 

[spruce]

Sometimes you get some birds muck that gets 'welded' to the glass @rigmarole

The plastic scraper that Gardeners sell works with most stubborn stuff.

We also on occasion have to resort to other drastic means.

https://gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/quick-loqr-taper-cone-adapter-for-traditional-tools.html

https://www.wintecs.co.uk/window-cleaning-tools/scrapers-and-blades/unger-ergotec-glass-scraper-10cm/

You always need to exercise caution when using a scraper. Make sure the glass is wet and focus on the problem. It's easy to scratch glass if you aren't careful. We also don't use a scraper on glass conservatory roofs until we are sure it's not self-cleaning.

This taper cone attachment is suitable for Unger squeegees, both fixed and pivot head and Unger applicators.

 

[Mx19]

I've only used virisol on first cleans a couple of cleans.  Plenty of scrubbing with cold water does the trick.  I tend to wet the **** on the window, then clean the next window and return to the original window.  Sometimes I angle the brush head and use the edge of the brush to scrape the **** off the window.  But I make sure I have no debris in the brush head first.

I've tried Gardiner's scraper to my pole but found it kept getting in the way on certain jobs so I removed it but it's in my vehicle should I need it, which I haven't needed to so over 12 months.  

Same as me, I bought a gardiner scraper and it lasted about 2 jobs before ending up in my van... same with the mini bronze wool holder from da components, that’s now on a quick lock incase I ever need it but sod having it on my pole day in day out, they both just get in the way and are cumbersome!!

 

[Deleted member 84]

Same as me, I bought a gardiner scraper and it lasted about 2 jobs before ending up in my van... same with the mini bronze wool holder from da components, that’s now on a quick lock incase I ever need it but sod having it on my pole day in day out, they both just get in the way and are cumbersome!!

Hey mate how did you quick lock the d and a components I would be grateful if you could send me a few pics please

 

[Deleted member 7446]

Hey mate how did you quick lock the d and a components I would be grateful if you could send me a few pics please

It's DA Components, there's no &

 

[rigmarole]

Good evening. If memory serves me correctly you are now in Braunton is that correct?

If you are free later in the week and want to meet up for a socially distant coffee I'll help you with equipment techniques and any other things you are not sure on

Yes, Braunton. That's great, very kind thanks. I'll send you a message to arrange a meet-up, I could do with some good advice

 

[Deleted member 7446]

Yes, Braunton. That's great, very kind thanks. I'll send you a message to arrange a meet-up, I could do with some good advice

I'm only 4 miles away and could happily mentor you. Info, kit, repairs whatever you need

 

[rigmarole]

UPDATE 01/06

Tried cleaning my windows again today. It was very hot, about 23°C at least. I decided to try a 1:10 dilution of Virisol.

I only had one brush and my backpack so I mixed up the solution in a bucket and dipped the brush in. 

It was hard getting the solution on, scrubbing then trying to get it rinsed off fast enough in the heat. I found it hard to get the brush clean of the solution.

The Virisol was awesome at getting the muck off, got all the bird mess off really well. 

The windows and frames are a lot cleaner, it's definitely massive step in the right direction. 

My issue now seems to be that all the scrubbing and rinsing with pure water didn't seem to be enough, white residue seems to be on some parts of the window. Which is strange because I really tried to rinse it /scrub it after the virisol.

Not sure what's happening as I tried to scrub and rinse thoroughly with pure water?

I'm only 4 miles away and could happily mentor you. Info, kit, repairs whatever you need

Thank you so much, it means a lot. ?

 

[Deleted member 7446]

UPDATE 01/06

Tried cleaning my windows again today. It was very hot, about 23°C at least. I decided to try a 1:10 dilution of Virisol.

I only had one brush and my backpack so I mixed up the solution in a bucket and dipped the brush in. 

It was hard getting the solution on, scrubbing then trying to get it rinsed off fast enough in the heat. I found it hard to get the brush clean of the solution.

The Virisol was awesome at getting the muck off, got all the bird mess off really well. 

The windows and frames are a lot cleaner, it's definitely massive step in the right direction. 

My issue now seems to be that all the scrubbing and rinsing with pure water didn't seem to be enough, white residue seems to be on some parts of the window. Which is strange because I really tried to rinse it /scrub it after the virisol.

Not sure what's happening as I tried to scrub and rinse thoroughly with pure water?

You always have to consider every window you clean as a first clean.

The seals will leach soap, environmental debris, limescale etc

It may take a few attempts to reach a closer form of perfection