There is no house or building that has no windows or does not use glass and unless cleaned regularly, glass catches dust and become about as useful as a pair of dirty spectacle lenses. Even windows that are cleaned everyday can quickly develop smudges due to children touching them or leaning against them.
As professional window cleaners, we get a lot of questions from housewives on how to keep home windows clean. So here are a few home window cleaning tips.
Home window cleaning tips
Tip # 1: If you do not already possess one, buy yourself a good quality squeegee – we recommend the brass or stainless steel squeegees. It lasts longer and is well engineered for the job. The quality of rubber matters. It needs to be engineered just right – not too hard, not too soft. Squeegees can be purchased at any janitorial supply stores.
Tip # 2: You can either use a commercial window cleaning solution or make your own. An ideal window cleaning solution should contain a mild detergent and a small percentage of ammonia. You can make your own window cleaning liquid using water, vinegar (or a mild detergent), and ammonia in the approximate ratio of 90:05:05 i.e. 90% water and the rest split between vinegar (or a mild detergent), and ammonia. If you increase the detergent quantity it could cause streaks on the window.
Detergent or Ammonia gets rid of heavy greasy soils and stains whereas vinegar removes hard water spots.
Tip # 3: The secret to really clean windows is not the cleaning solution we use (although that helps), it’s the technique used. So here’s the technique that will result in absolutely clean windows:
Start off with wiping dirty windows with a damp cloth.
Hold the squeegee firmly against the window and pull downwards. Lift the squeegee away and repeat the process at the adjacent spot. Don’t drag the squeegee around. Remember, from top of the window pull downwards firmly and then lift the squeegee away before you start at another spot.
Instead of the vertical movement mentioned above, you may also do it horizontally.
Tip # 4: If the window had not been cleaned for many weeks, use more water on the squeegee. The extra water removes the hard dirt particles cleanly. In comparison, a drier squeegee might cause dirt particles to scratch the glass.
Tip # 5: Do not use a vacuum cleaner on your windows – we’ve noticed that windows that have been regularly vacuum cleaner tend to have scratch marks. These were probably caused by the hard bristles at the vacuum head.
Tip # 6: Tilt the squeegee at an angle to the glass pressing about an inch of the rubber blade against the top of the window glass. Move the squeegee horizontally or vertically but stick to any one type of motion and wipe the blade of the squeegee with a damp cloth each time.
We hope these home window cleaning tips prove useful to you. Please feel free to write in to us at info@vision-cleaning.co.uk your suggestions and experiences are most welcome.