Advice on high interior windows

Hi Everyone, this is my first post so a quick intro.  I am Christel and we have a window cleaning company called Home Genie.  We operate in the coastal town of Hermanus in the Western part of South Africa. We use the traditional washing method.  Attached is a photo of the problem we are currently faced with... We wash this building's glass on a regular basis on the outside with a 12m ladder and safety gear. 

We have been asked to now wash the interior,  which seems easy enough as we have  been doing the exterior.  Not so.  The problems we face:

1.  We cannot get the ladder into this space due to it's length and the constricted area.

2.  We have been in touch with an equipment hire company in our town as we were thinking of putting up scaffolding.  The owner says 'no, under no circumstances'.

We obviously can't use the waterpole fed system, so help!

Any ideas?

Firstly, welcome to the forum.

The only other way to do it is to use a trad pole and a swivel squeegee.

I'm not sure what items are available in South Africa, but you'll need either a wagtail or moerman exelerator. It takes a lot of practice to get right, and the higher you go the harder it is. Only other option is to say you can't do it I'm afraid.

Gardiner internal kit I use this a quite a lot of barn conversions.

https://gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/all-products/indoor-specialized/indoor-glass-cleaning/indoor-cleaning-system.html

Clisty1989 said:

Firstly, welcome to the forum.

The only other way to do it is to use a trad pole and a swivel squeegee.

I'm not sure what items are available in South Africa, but you'll need either a wagtail or moerman exelerator. It takes a lot of practice to get right, and the higher you go the harder it is. Only other option is to say you can't do it I'm afraid.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome Clisty198,  I will definitely contact our supplier.   And yes, the higher one works with a pole like system the more difficult it is.  Thanks for your feedback!

Den said:

Gardiner internal kit I use this a quite a lot of barn conversions.

https://gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/all-products/indoor-specialized/indoor-glass-cleaning/indoor-cleaning-system.html

Click to expand...

Hi Den, sounds interesting... Thanks for the link, will have a look. Thanks for the feedback.

Need a picture from the inside to give proper advice.

If there are balconies or gangways close to the windows you can trad pole them quite easily. I use the moerman fliq for situations like this, and since the angle of the handle can be changed you can work with the pole horizontal.

I would advice against interior cleaning kits if the windows are dirty and facing the sun. You will get visible smears.

I had a similar job where I couldn't get a lift in due to worries I might damaged the floor. Ended up using the unger stingray (shudders) first, then trad pole at 6-8m and from various balconies. The results were ok, but not great.

If the floor is tiled you can use wfp and a wet vacuum.

Hi from NZ

I have a similar looking building which I do and I use a 3M doodle bug with a microfibre pad and window cleaning solution.  Have to do it when the glass is NOT hot and it needs several goes the first couple of cleans, after that, assuming the cleans are regular, it is fairly easy.

Customer did not want us using water inside!

Doodle bug https://www.3mnz.co.nz/3M/en_NZ/company-nz/all-3m-products/~/3M-Doodlebug-Pad-Holder-6472-With-Pads-Kit-4-case/?N=5002385+3294777078&rt=rud

fits on Ettore poles

Microfibre pads https://www.advanceclean.co.nz/product/microfibre-flat-mop-head-wet/

You will no doubt be able to buy similar in SA.

Good luck

Nudel said:

Need a picture from the inside to give proper advice.

If there are balconies or gangways close to the windows you can trad pole them quite easily. I use the moerman fliq for situations like this, and since the angle of the handle can be changed you can work with the pole horizontal.

I would advice against interior cleaning kits if the windows are dirty and facing the sun. You will get visible smears.

I had a similar job where I couldn't get a lift in due to worries I might damaged the floor. Ended up using the unger stingray (shudders) first, then trad pole at 6-8m and from various balconies. The results were ok, but not great.

If the floor is tiled you can use wfp and a wet vacuum.

Click to expand...

Hi Nudel, Thanks for your feedback.  From the inside it's a shaft and the closest platform on every level is 2.2m away.  We are going to try and use our pole.  I guess anything is better than the dirty state they are in at the moment. These windows get full sun from early morning till evening. Will give you an update when the job is done!

KiwiNeil said:

Hi from NZ

I have a similar looking building which I do and I use a 3M doodle bug with a microfibre pad and window cleaning solution.  Have to do it when the glass is NOT hot and it needs several goes the first couple of cleans, after that, assuming the cleans are regular, it is fairly easy.

Customer did not want us using water inside!

Doodle bug https://www.3mnz.co.nz/3M/en_NZ/company-nz/all-3m-products/~/3M-Doodlebug-Pad-Holder-6472-With-Pads-Kit-4-case/?N=5002385+3294777078&rt=rud

fits on Ettore poles

Microfibre pads https://www.advanceclean.co.nz/product/microfibre-flat-mop-head-wet/

You will no doubt be able to buy similar in SA.

Good luck

Click to expand...

Thanks KiwiNeil, this glass gets sun from morning till evening. We are going to try and use our pole system and try and get the best finish we can.  I'm a perfectionist so this is going to be fun for my son and our workers... not