water leaking from bottom of top windows

[harry123]

Is there a way to solve this problem on certain houses where there is two small windows above if the main big one on a downstairs or upstairs the water will drip in between the two small windows and leave a run down mark, I’ve tried leaving it and going back to it and tried wiping it but it just seems to continuously drip I re rinsed it again earlier carefully making sure I didn’t touch the top two windows and only rinsed the glass, carried on with my round and it was still dripping i did it again but didn’t have chance to check it i imagine it would be fine now but is there an easier way of solving this as if I was to go to another job half an hour away or something or this was my last job of the day then I wouldn’t really want to drive back down an hour later.

 

[spruce]

Is there a way to solve this problem on certain houses where there is two small windows above if the main big one on a downstairs or upstairs the water will drip in between the two small windows and leave a run down mark, I’ve tried leaving it and going back to it and tried wiping it but it just seems to continuously drip I re rinsed it again earlier carefully making sure I didn’t touch the top two windows and only rinsed the glass, carried on with my round and it was still dripping i did it again but didn’t have chance to check it i imagine it would be fine now but is there an easier way of solving this as if I was to go to another job half an hour away or something or this was my last job of the day then I wouldn’t really want to drive back down an hour later.

We have a lot of windows like this on our round. Some are fine and others just leave a streak down the center of the glass.

We have a couple which are really bad.

The house we clean behind us is one of them. To begin with we clean all the top vent windows top and bottom. We then clean the large panes under the top openers and then go off and do the other cleans in the area. We then come back in the afternoon and do the larges panes on the ground floor.

The windies before just left the streak. His answer; you want these windows so you have to put up with streaks. Good luck finding a trad windie if you aren't happy with wfp.

We have another with three openers above a large pane of glass. Those windows were fitted two years ago and are also bad as they drip for hours. We have a good three days work in that area, so I go back the next day and removed any streaks by hand.

About 10 years ago one of our local windies dumped all his customers who had these windows. He also dumped all those you had locked side gates or ones with difficult access. He was short of work for a while but it didn't take long before he replaced those dumped jobs. Unfortunately, we picked up a lot of them. ?

If we get asked to do a new customer and they have these windows, we automatically ask a premium for them. But we have a full round and any new cleans we do are recommendations from our existing customer base. I pass any new enquiries onto another windie who is looking for work.

.

 

[Part Timer]

I think the only way to prevent this is to cloth them. This is easily done on ground floor, not so easy on anything above. I'm wanting to try putting a sponge on a stock, applying  unger rub out and then rinsing off. Don't know if it will work so anyone that's tried something like this, any feedback would be appreciated 

 

[Chris34]

I've got a couple like that, have to go back to clean the larger pane but I know that it's highly likely that there will be further streaks after I've gone.  I've tried drying them but the drips just keep coming. 

Why do they dry up with streaks though?  We leave the windows wet full of water and they dry up clear.  We clean all the frames every month and we know that they are clean.  So why does the water that drips down from the top frames on these type of windows dry streaky?  I don't get it.

 

[Part Timer]

It's oil based, I've tried TFR and that doesn't touch it. 

 

[Marko067]

There is more than one cause for these marks, but the main culprit for me has been dirt/dust behind the frames of the openers at the top. 

The way I tackle this is this, on the first clean, I start by ignoring the windows and focussing on the frames. I give all the frames a real good going over (with screwfix no-nonsense degreaser if necessary) then rinse them all off till I'm reasonably certain there's no dirt still coming off the frames. Only then then do I start on the windows. I then clean all the top openers upstairs first trying not to spray any more water over or between the openers. (this is crucial on future cleans as often this is where most of the water gets behind the opener frames) 
After I've done all the openers, I follow up with the larger windows beneath. Then I repeat the process for the downstairs.

Other causes I've found are natural oils in the rubber seals that leach out, old corroding seals and even joins in the seals that have opened up and let water in that can drip back out after you've left. If you can work out what the cause is you can develop a strategy to combat it.

I usually explain to new customers that there is a possibility on first cleans that there may be some marks for the above reasons. But I play it down and draw their attention to the other benefits such as nice clean frames etc.

 

[dazmond]

Is there a way to solve this problem on certain houses where there is two small windows above if the main big one on a downstairs or upstairs the water will drip in between the two small windows and leave a run down mark, I’ve tried leaving it and going back to it and tried wiping it but it just seems to continuously drip I re rinsed it again earlier carefully making sure I didn’t touch the top two windows and only rinsed the glass, carried on with my round and it was still dripping i did it again but didn’t have chance to check it i imagine it would be fine now but is there an easier way of solving this as if I was to go to another job half an hour away or something or this was my last job of the day then I wouldn’t really want to drive back down an hour later.

when i first changed over i left runs down the middle of the glass on virtually all houses on one part of my round!?

the way to avoid this issue is dont clean the top frames on the openers and dont rinse or get any water in between the 2 openers...problem solved!

on the odd occasion they do need cleaning then i clean all the top opener frames thoroughly(and in the middle of the openers),clean a few more windows and come back and just clean the main pane below.....

on some i can clean the top opener frames every time but stop just short of getting any water down the middle of the openers so i dont get a run down the middle....on ground floors its easy as you can use a cloth to prevent runs....

 

[Doddy111]

I’m similar to @dazmond I turn the water off and give the top of the openers a wipe (going from just before the middle outwards) then I clean the glass of the openers & rinse off go across to to the next window and do the same before finally going back and cleaning the large pane underneath again avoiding getting water anywhere near the middle section of the openers 

Aslong as you avoid getting water in that middle section you should be fine