Thad,
You want to come do our route?I hate doing windows.....the only plus is fast, easy money.Average bi-weekly route makes us a couple hundred bucks for a couple hours work.
Order J. Racenstein's catalog if you don't have it.
It has lots of really good information in there in addition to all the products you would ever need.
Do you do straight strokes and wipe after each stroke?
You really need to learn to squeegee windows without lifting your squeegee.
And like Scott said- get some commercial window cleaning concentrate.
Leave the Palmolive to Madge.
Ditch the dish soap and get an actual window washing product.Ettore's Squeege Off works great and can be purchases at the big box stores.1 bottle will make about 20 gallons of usable cleaner.
Etorre is good, or Sorbo, but keep the dawn. If its streaking, it might be you went to heavy on the soap. Try a few tablespoons of soap with 3 gallons of cold water.
Thad,
I'm not sure you could handle the pace here in the land of peanuts and cotton.Rush hour is a real bear...can you imagine actually riding behind a 6 row cotton picker for over a mile before you can pass.
I grew up in small town MS and can handle the cotton pickers and combines.
I'm sick of riding behind an overloaded debris truck with crap flying off and busting my windows while psychos soccer moms tailgate me and try to run me off the road.
If you contact your local janitorial supply house, most good ones will occasionaly have seminars including window cleaning as well as vidios on many many cleaning topics. Your salesman should be able to teach you how to use a squeege correctly.
Randy
There is a lot of good information to be read on window washing if you go to http://www.iwca.org/.
The Ettores Squeege Off is the best money that you will ever spend.
Where I am you need soap, ladders, and most importantly a scraper for initial cleanings. There is generally a lot of tree sap and bits of junk that have to be scraped the first time.
After that, if the homeowner will agree to maintenance cleaning then a waterfed pole is great.
No, no soap...just gentle jets of pure water...first through an RO...then through a DI, for the final polish and to get the TDS reading down to zero. I use a variety of poles...depending on the height I'm working at...but it's mainly a fibre glass 18 footer...mostly domestic 2 story work. I rarely need a scraper...soak any crap for long enough with pure water...it'll come clean. Anyway, it's twice as fast as conventional methods (like with a squeegee and applicator)...loads safer too...since I converted to WFP...it's doubled my income. Now I can make a good day's wage in 5 hours or less. Much as I love the job, there's other things I want to do with my time as well...like ride my bike...go diving...or just chill out at my local bar...it's the best job in the world.
I take it you don't do interior windows.
WFPs tend to make a little bit of a mess inside.
I did a 50 window construction clean today.
DI ain't gonna get all those stickers and silicone off.
And it won't get off pine tree sap.
:no:
I use water fed poles for some commercial accounts. They work great for regular exterior maintenance cleaning. I heard that people in the UK tend to get their windows done a lot more often than people do around here. I people that I do once a year, so you're basically doing an initial clean each time.
PS: I may not make any further replies for the next 2 weeks...I'm off to Gozo on my hols (vacation)...catch a plane tonight...see you all soon.(it's next to Malta..off the north coast of Africa)
Hi Guys
Just joined today,and am a professional window cleaner here in the UK, and still useing the traditional methods, at the moment, but sometime in the future, I will be changing over to the water fed pole system.
I would just like to say that when you buy your product from your local suppliers, they are not always clued up to your type of work.
the sales guy, may be able to show you how to hold your squegee, and he may be able to show you how to use it. but it takes months to master it, if your new to the squeegie, then I would suggest to you that you use the straight down method, and after each stroke, wipe your blade (squegee) this will stop the line's you can get, I don't know if you guy's use scrims for the final deatailing, but if you do try to keep down the amount you put it on the window. you will end up with bits all over the windows and a white cloudy residue, the only way to get rid of it, is to wash the window again. I hope this little bit of info helps.
no, most of my round is domestic...and over here it get's done every month, month in, month out, all weather's. I don't do 'inside's'...too much hassle...and we don't have the problems of tree sap...well, at least not like you seem to....I'll bet it's a pain to get off.
here's link to a WFP company over here...
Hello everyone I am brand spankin new to this site, but seen a question of what soap to use that does not leave streaks- well here is my idea, first of all get rid of the dish soap, (some contain a film-like substance which is suppose to be good for your hands while washing dishes) the only dish soap I reccommened is Joy, and not too many people use that anymore either, the best solution that I have found is Sparco glass cleaner, comes in either aerosol can or a liquid form - I use the liquid form diluted in water (2oz. glass cleaner/ 21oz.+water). Well another thing is does anyone know how to find residential work on the internet, such as bidding on jobs etc.? I have heard of Demandstar but that is government jobs, anything like that for residential? Thanks for everyone help!!
Hello everyone I am brand spankin new to this site, but seen a question of what soap to use that does not leave streaks- well here is my idea, first of all get rid of the dish soap, (some contain a film-like substance which is suppose to be good for your hands while washing dishes) the only dish soap I reccommened is Joy, and not too many people use that anymore either, the best solution that I have found is Sparco glass cleaner, comes in either aerosol can or a liquid form - I use the liquid form diluted in water (2oz. glass cleaner/ 21oz.+water). Well another thing is does anyone know how to find residential work on the internet, such as bidding on jobs etc.? I have heard of Demandstar but that is government jobs, anything like that for residential? Thanks for everyone help!!
There are really lots of techniques you can apply in window cleaning/washing. But I think the best way is to prevent cleaning by providing window shade... This will give you less hassle...
For smaller windows, and other small area glass, a foaming glass cleaner works really well. Doesn't leave streaks. Use the finest microfiber cloths to wipe clean.
Ettore Squeegee off is ok. Unger "the pill" is also pretty decent. Seems like, pro window cleaners like Glass Gleam 3 the best though. My opinion: you need to have plenty of glide. Regular dish soap doesn't seem to have enough glide unless you also want a bunch of suds to clean up. You could just use less dishsoap in the bucket and add a litlle "super slip" by winsol. "Super Slip" is a wetting agent - makes it glide better... also helps it not evaporate when it's sunny. You also need to be using high quality rubber, like ettore. Cheap rubber won't give you good results. Another thing to consider if you are serious about cleaning windows is to replace the rubber blades often. Old, worn out or nicked rubber will give you terrible results. Are you using a window cleaning scraper? If you are not getting all the debris off the windows, your squeegee blades will get all nicked up. You've gotta scrape the windows properly.
From my own personal experience,I don't know that using the pressure washer would be such a good idea for those windows.using a pressure washer on windows is just a waste of time and water.
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