Window cleaners are valuable to keeping both homes and work buildings looking at their best, buildings in town centres may need more up keep than homes away from the roads because the dirt from the road gets blown up onto the windows. There are many methods of window cleaning and also certain skills the person cleaning the windows will have to possess, below the article looks into more detail of these factors;
Window Cleaner Skills
The skills that you need to have if you are planning on entering a career as a window cleaner;
- Cleaning Windows at Heights - The person cleaning the windows should be comfortable working at heights because they will be required to use ladders and other types of high access equipment. It is because of this fact that they should also be highly safety conscious at heights.
- Power Window Cleaning Equipment - When they are required to work with powerful equipment they should be fit enough to carry the equipment to the heights necessary.
- Have the Ability to Work Alone - They should be able to work as part of a team if required but also have the initiative to complete jobs on their own. This is because unless it is a major contract and a large building a majority of their work would be carried out on their own on residential properties.
Window Cleaning Methods
Until the late 90s, almost all window cleaners used a squeegee where possible to save time and avoid 'stroke marks' from 'scrims' systems have entered the industry and are in use by some firms, especially large companies seeking high access work. However, ladder, telescopic pole, and squeegee remains the principal method of the industry as a whole.
To window clean with a squeegee, first, a soapy solution or a professional cleaner is added with an applicator. It acts as a lubricant and breaks up the dirt. A hand-held window squeegee is used to remove applied cleaning fluid or water from a glass surface - the dirt is now water-borne and is removed off the glass leaving a perfectly clean surface. The "swivel method", or "fan method" as it is referred to by professionals, uses a series of strokes combined with turns that hold the water just away from the leading edge of the squeegee so that when the turn is completed and you proceed back in the opposing direction, there is no water, therefore no dirt left isolated. If one misses just a few spots, a chamois leather, towel of cloth or paper was traditionally used, but is now unpopular. Today, synthetic chamois, scrim or micro-fibre cloth works better for touch up.
Alternative Window Cleaning Solutions
WFP systems are becoming increasingly popular, especially with large cleaning firms. It is at least twice as fast as traditional window cleaning methods, which is of great interest to this often underpaid industry - though at anything between £2,000- £12,000 it does have a considerable investment cost as opposed to a ladder.
Large firms often have a large container of de-ionised or purified water in the back of their van, which pumps the water up the WFP to the window, where as small firms or those aiming for access, i.e. to backs of homes, use trolleys or backpacks to move about a small container and pump unit. Basically the window and frames are scrubbed with a wet brush and either purified or de-ionised water to loosen dirt. The dirt is then rinsed from the window; because the water is purified/de-ionised, it leaves no marks when it dries.