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cleaning my own windows

trevor peacock

Active member
Messages
264
Location
littlehampton
I've got bi folds along the back and i thought I'd treat them. Gave them a good going over, probably more so than my customers.

Looked great, then at six pm the sun got low and shone directly at them. What a mess!!!!

Spots all over them, horrified!!

Been using wfp's for over 15 years, never get complaints.

Any idea's??

 
I've got bi folds along the back and i thought I'd treat them. Gave them a good going over, probably more so than my customers.

Looked great, then at six pm the sun got low and shone directly at them. What a mess!!!!

Spots all over them, horrified!!

Been using wfp's for over 15 years, never get complaints.

Any idea's??
Inside? Also check TDs, perhaps your resin spent.

 
Hi trevor, don't suppose you've jetwashed patio or anything recently? Maybe water from plants has limescaled at some point and you never noticed it before you cleaned them? My advice would be to do them traditional so they're perfect and then in a few days try WFP again to see results.

 
Wfp isnt as good as we think

Probably leave spots quite often just no one says anything.

Certain windows, frames, seals etc are prone to it.

 
Wfp isnt as good as we think

Probably leave spots quite often just no one says anything.

Certain windows, frames, seals etc are prone to it.


I couldn't agree more Adam. Some windows WFP is great on, most windows it does a passable job. 

The debates that we see on forums on which brush to use is a load of rubbish if you ask me. Brushes will remove dust and dirty rain water but not baked on muck that we can't see from outside until you go inside and look out. We need brushes with scrubability, something like an applicator. I know @H MAN made an applicator type thing to scrub solar panels but used pure water and jets to rinse off. The reason he made this scrubber was because a brush wouldn't clean as well? How folk do a good job with a soft brush baffles me.

 
Wfp isnt as good as we think

Probably leave spots quite often just no one says anything.

Certain windows, frames, seals etc are prone to it.
Have you had those windows where they are metal framed and the seal at the top seems to have a gap in it?! ******* thing leaves horrific marks and the only way to resolve it seems to be to trad it. I still have certain windows that I know I have to trad, powder coated paint ones either metal or wood are those windows ?

 
Yep I know what you mean, I do my own every 6/8 weeks. I did them last Sunday evening, looked out later when they were dry, one streak (small & faint but I could see it) on the kitchen window, and most windows had faint little dots/marks which came off with a cloth when I lent out of the window etc

I know I’m very thorough, I do over scrub and rinse on a high pressure, and my windows have been done wfp every 6/8 weeks since I moved in in August so not my fault I don’t think. 

My old house, the French doors at the back you could never do the top frame, rinse, then scrub glass & rinse, the top frame would always drip down on to the glass 2/5/10 minutes later and those runs would leave streaks. Only thing was to proper dry the top frame with a cloth before rinsing the glass. And those French doors were cleaned so many times with a wfp. So yeh wfp will never be as good as nose to glass I guess. But It pays the bills 

 
This is the reason I dont clean top frames on maintenance cleans very often. Top frames and seals can in some cases cause a problem.

I clean them on first cleans then maybe a couple of times a year on upstairs window when they look visibly dirty.

Downstairs windows again only if they look dirty (makes no sense cleaning something that is already clean to the eye). Any cobwebs or bit of dust inwipe with a microfibre cloth.

I feel much more confident working this way.

 
That big rubber seal across the top of bi-fold doors has always concerned me I scrub and rinse the across the top of the frame then do another window before going back to bi-fold doors and sometimes wipe across the top of the frame with a cloth to be certain of a top finish. 

As for standard windows if you like I give all the frames and good thorough clean first time and every time, I clean a lot of windows on new build estates and nearby estates that are affected by construction dust and dirt. 

 
This is the reason I dont clean top frames on maintenance cleans very often. Top frames and seals can in some cases cause a problem.
 
I clean them on first cleans then maybe a couple of times a year on upstairs window when they look visibly dirty.
 
Downstairs windows again only if they look dirty (makes no sense cleaning something that is already clean to the eye). Any cobwebs or bit of dust inwipe with a microfibre cloth.
 
I feel much more confident working this way.

Half a job lol


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I couldn't agree more Adam. Some windows WFP is great on, most windows it does a passable job. 
 
The debates that we see on forums on which brush to use is a load of rubbish if you ask me. Brushes will remove dust and dirty rain water but not baked on muck that we can't see from outside until you go inside and look out. We need brushes with scrubability, something like an applicator. I know [mention=16]H MAN[/mention] made an applicator type thing to scrub solar panels but used pure water and jets to rinse off. The reason he made this scrubber was because a brush wouldn't clean as well? How folk do a good job with a soft brush baffles me.
They help but if you have **** technique then that will always result in a poor clean no mater the gear


We clean a very particular way


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This is the reason I dont clean top frames on maintenance cleans very often. Top frames and seals can in some cases cause a problem.

I clean them on first cleans then maybe a couple of times a year on upstairs window when they look visibly dirty.

Downstairs windows again only if they look dirty (makes no sense cleaning something that is already clean to the eye). Any cobwebs or bit of dust inwipe with a microfibre cloth.

I feel much more confident working this way.
I agree sometimes on certain windows it is better to leave the frames not half a job as if it makes them have no drips after then makes sense. When I took over a round from well know company a customer said u are much better don't leave spots & was all down to leaving top of frame until they needed it & then thorough rinse not just quick I think à lot do

 
Full and thorough clean every time otherwise no better than the slap and dash boys it's about mastering a technique, a lot won't bother as it's to much effort and extra time in some cases. ?

 
I have 3 houses i a row that all have external rubbers. The front of house is allways in direct sunlight. Its 100% the rubbers and not technique as I've been doing them 8 years now. If you take a mircorofibre cloth and wipe the rubber its black. At the end of the day rubber is made from oil and these old windows 25 years old have been battered by the sun so i think eventually it releases some of the oil the only way ive found is by using some tfr every time i clean them otherwise they leave drip marks regardless of technique or how much i rinse. Lucky the customers all understand but its just frustrating. 

 
Bit like Adam top of frames upstairs when they look like they need it.

On downstairs now.....new first clean gets scrub and rinse, after that have damp beer towels and wipe over top of frame with these.

Takes seconds.

 
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I have 3 houses i a row that all have external rubbers. The front of house is allways in direct sunlight. Its 100% the rubbers and not technique as I've been doing them 8 years now. If you take a mircorofibre cloth and wipe the rubber its black. At the end of the day rubber is made from oil and these old windows 25 years old have been battered by the sun so i think eventually it releases some of the oil the only way ive found is by using some tfr every time i clean them otherwise they leave drip marks regardless of technique or how much i rinse. Lucky the customers all understand but its just frustrating. 
Good point. Yeh I do a couple of bungalows where I wipe the top black rubber first. 

 
All these half a jobs on this post............ next post you'll all be moaning about cancellations. 

Assuming a window has 4 sides, top bottom left and right and let's toss in the glass do you tell the customer ''I only cleaned 80% today as the rest looked ok so your bill is £8 instead of £10' 

If you quoted to clean the windows frames and sill and you don't then that's just deceitful. 

 
All these half a jobs on this post............ next post you'll all be moaning about cancellations. 
 
Assuming a window has 4 sides, top bottom left and right and let's toss in the glass do you tell the customer ''I only cleaned 80% today as the rest looked ok so your bill is £8 instead of £10' 
 
If you quoted to clean the windows frames and sill and you don't then that's just deceitful. 
Nail on head. Must have vision like superman to see if the top's of uppers frame's are dirty.



County Durham Lad

 
The reason i don't clean top frames unless dirty is not to be lazy. It's to avoid problems such as vents and bad seals. I am more of doing a good job when I wipe downstairs windows top frames  with a microfibre than I am if I pole them.

With upstairs windows, they are not often dirty enough to be able to make out from the ground hence why they would be cleaned less often. 

If it's dirty clean it, if it's clean already then it's clean, you are only making the job longer than it needs to be.

Never had anyone tell me there top frames are dirty...because they are not, I've either cleaned the dirt off or they were clean already. Hence why no quality issues. 

Some of use don't get £15-£20 quid a semi so perhaps have to look for marginal gains to improve turnover.

It's a business, not a hobby so for me you should be going as fast as you can whilst still providing a service the customer is happy with. If you are getting compliants slow down a bit and if you are not you can probably speed up a bit.

@Teaboy

 
I’ve always thought that cleaning all frames was an essential part of wfp cleaning to ensure a perfect finish with any problem trickle vents etc being dealt with on the first clean to make life easier in the future. That being said I do agree with Adam and sometimes without the help of a jet wash some vents can’t be 100% cleaned just with a pole,especially some of the older ones so I can see where he’s coming from. I tend to stay away from the ones where you get the trickle vent on a separate piece of plastic above the actual window and that’s not joined into the fame. These seem to just run for fun. In my area there are still lots of old school traders that don’t do frames at all. They wipe the sills but the only time they touch the frames is accidentally whilst detailing and cleaning their mess up. Tbh this is how I used to operate back when I was 100% trad as that’s the way everyone did it round here. It’s not deceitful or half a job if the custy knows exactly what they are getting and paying for. It’s only since the introduction of wfp onto domestic property’s that traders have started upping their game and including frames to keep up with the competition. It’s all about expectation and if you sell your self as doing everything every time then they are gonna expect that. Some of my custys I’ve been doing for the best part of twenty years back before I included frames so when I started cleaning via wfp they were buzzing when there frames got cleaned and thought they were getting something for nothing. Really we both won because I also cut my cleaning time down in the process of converting to wfp. Nowadays all new customers are told that frames, sills and pvc/composite doors are included in the quote so they know exactly what to expect and what they are paying for.




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