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Incheck

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Hey all, just had my first? I think ? complaint of the year. Same as what happened last summer, bird poo baked on to the glass that hadn’t been completely removed. She also mentioned bits and bobs on other upstairs windows. 

Had a similar complaint last year from someone else during last years big heatwave. 

If you are wfp, especially cold water guys, be careful all. We haven't had any rain for a few weeks now and it has been hot so bird poos, dirt, etc is literally being baked on to the frames, sills etc and the usual style maintenance clean just wont shift it. 

All to easy to get carried away when maintenance cleaning guys, scrub longer, scrub harder, use more water, and get the ladder out to check those upstairs sills if you feel the wfp may not have done the trick. 

Its not much different to the effects heat has on getting an oven dirty and we all know they’re a nightmare to clean at the best of times. 

I’m admitting my faults in the hope it saves some of the rest of you being caught out. I’m sure we’ve all been there!

cheers

 
Incheck said:
Hey all, just had my first? I think ? complaint of the year. Same as what happened last summer, bird poo baked on to the glass that hadn’t been completely removed. She also mentioned bits and bobs on other upstairs windows. 

Had a similar complaint last year from someone else during last years big heatwave. 

If you are wfp, especially cold water guys, be careful all. We haven't had any rain for a few weeks now and it has been hot so bird poos, dirt, etc is literally being baked on to the frames, sills etc and the usual style maintenance clean just wont shift it. 

All to easy to get carried away when maintenance cleaning guys, scrub longer, scrub harder, use more water, and get the ladder out to check those upstairs sills if you feel the wfp may not have done the trick. 

Its not much different to the effects heat has on getting an oven dirty and we all know they’re a nightmare to clean at the best of times. 

I’m admitting my faults in the hope it saves some of the rest of you being caught out. I’m sure we’ve all been there!

cheers
Click to expand...
Every single pole guy will have messed up with regard to bird mess at some point, I have a few town houses and visibility on them is a nightmare for such issues

 
This is why we went over to hot water we do a lot of costal work and it’s covered with seagull  poo they are feeding on mackerel and sprats at the moment and the poo is very oily and sticks to the glass once dry like concrete, wether using hot or cold I have found it beneficial to give each bitbof poo a very light rub and spray with water before cleaning the windows then clean as normal going over the poo more times than normal this does solve the problem , hot is obviously quicker than cold but you will get there eventually ???

 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is where the gardiners universal brush is handy with those tough side bristles. I also find it helps to give a quick scrub and rinse, move on to another window or two, then return and re-do when it’s softened up a bit.

 
Yeah mate to be honest with you its catch 22, i do get the ladder out once in a while to check no algae are growing on upstairs sills or bird poo etc, check glass for encrusted pollen etc but you know how it is when your rounds are full you cant be mucking about on every upstairs sill climbing ladders all the time. Wfp is meant to cut most of that hassle out but sometimes im not so sure. I dont believe wfp is the one & only solution to good window cleaning. trad gets amazing instant results but the windows get dirty again so quick because of the soap, and also theres so many windows you cant get to trad. So you cant win either way. I just make the best of the tools ive got.

Customer is lovely she said windows are normally great but i do feel like i’ve been caught out on this occasion. 

Also its so bright half the time i can hardly see what im doing even with shades on! And yeah town houses, a nightmare full stop. I remember part timer saying a while ago the higher you go with wfp the less effective wfp cleaning is. 

 
I’ve refit the Gardiner scraper to my pole recently because of this. Even with hot water bird poo and pollen deposits are a nightmare if your not paying attention.

 
Incheck said:
Yeah mate to be honest with you its catch 22, i do get the ladder out once in a while to check no algae are growing on upstairs sills or bird poo etc, check glass for encrusted pollen etc but you know how it is when your rounds are full you cant be mucking about on every upstairs sill climbing ladders all the time. Wfp is meant to cut most of that hassle out but sometimes im not so sure. I dont believe wfp is the one & only solution to good window cleaning. trad gets amazing instant results but the windows get dirty again so quick because of the soap, and also theres so many windows you cant get to trad. So you cant win either way. I just make the best of the tools ive got.

Customer is lovely she said windows are normally great but i do feel like i’ve been caught out on this occasion. 

Also its so bright half the time i can hardly see what im doing even with shades on! And yeah town houses, a nightmare full stop. I remember part timer saying a while ago the higher you go with wfp the less effective wfp cleaning is. 
Click to expand...
You'll not be the only only one on here even today that has had that issue buddy. Direct sun is also the enemy Haha

 
Incheck said:
Hey all, just had my first? I think ? complaint of the year. Same as what happened last summer, bird poo baked on to the glass that hadn’t been completely removed. She also mentioned bits and bobs on other upstairs windows. 

Had a similar complaint last year from someone else during last years big heatwave. 

If you are wfp, especially cold water guys, be careful all. We haven't had any rain for a few weeks now and it has been hot so bird poos, dirt, etc is literally being baked on to the frames, sills etc and the usual style maintenance clean just wont shift it. 

All to easy to get carried away when maintenance cleaning guys, scrub longer, scrub harder, use more water, and get the ladder out to check those upstairs sills if you feel the wfp may not have done the trick. 

Its not much different to the effects heat has on getting an oven dirty and we all know they’re a nightmare to clean at the best of times. 

I’m admitting my faults in the hope it saves some of the rest of you being caught out. I’m sure we’ve all been there!

cheers
Click to expand...
yep we ve all had the odd complaint over the years....just go back and reclean,no worries....

this is where hot water helps......a hot water system is more beneficial in the warmer months as its very hot at brush end,hardly any heat being lost from the hose....

im 2 weeks behind due to a mexican holiday and some of my jobs ive not cleaned for 10 weeks(8 weekly jobs)and they are filthy,also of course a lot of bird muck too on glass and frames....even my 4 weekly jobs(which ive not cleaned for 6 weeks are bad)i use a gardiners scraper too (and a squirt of virosol for greasy bird strikes!)?

 
I did mine today, not done mine for about 3 months.  Not happy at all, marks on every single window, bird strikes just don't seem to shift.  It concerns me because you can't see bird strikes when you get bad glare.  I've not had any complaints but that must be because they're to polite to say anything.

 
3 months is quite a while though. If I leave mine 3 months (and I regularly do!) it never seems to be as good a job as if it is 4 weeks or even 8 weeks.

 
Chris34 said:
I did mine today, not done mine for about 3 months.  Not happy at all, marks on every single window, bird strikes just don't seem to shift.  It concerns me because you can't see bird strikes when you get bad glare.  I've not had any complaints but that must be because they're to polite to say anything.
Click to expand...
the problem with bird strikes is if the greasy residue from the birds feathers is on the windows too and you clean it with wfp,sometimes water alone wont remove it,you then need a good degreaser (like virosol) to break it down and remove it from the glass...

 
dazmond said:
the problem with bird strikes is if the greasy residue from the birds feathers is on the windows too and you clean it with wfp,sometimes water alone wont remove it,you then need a good degreaser (like virosol) to break it down and remove it from the glass...
Click to expand...


I did think this, I've not used any degreaser since starting but I think I might start using it on first cleans.

It does concern me that you can't see them though.  The only thing I can think is to watch the water on the glass when brushing, if there is a greasy bird strike then the water might behave differently compared to other areas on the glass.

Do any of you clean your brush?  I'm wondering whether to soak it in degreaser overnight.

 
Chris34 said:
I did think this, I've not used any degreaser since starting but I think I might start using it on first cleans.

It does concern me that you can't see them though.  The only thing I can think is to watch the water on the glass when brushing, if there is a greasy bird strike then the water might behave differently compared to other areas on the glass.

Do any of you clean your brush?  I'm wondering whether to soak it in degreaser overnight.
Click to expand...
I clean my brush out under a customers tap a few times a day.

I use caustic TFR and its good stuff, if a first clean is very bad then I'll TFR it and go over all the glass with an abrasive. I have a dooblebug from Gardiner plus some other devices which enable me to get all the **** off the glass, I use "0000" steel wool if need be and a 4" scraper too. 

 

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