Window Cleaning – Do It Yourself!
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Many people clean their windows themselves and end up unsatisfied with the end result. If you can afford it, hiring a professional is your best bet, but if not doing it yourself isn’t too difficult, it’s the way to go. Some basic equipment is required which you can easily find at most home improvement centers. First of all you will need a window cleaning squeegee. A 12 inch one should be fine. Go for a better quality one that you can easily put new rubber into, a strip washer and maybe a replacement rubber for the next time you clean your windows. A few cotton clothes, dish soap and a bucket will also be needed. If you have second story windows a ladder is useful but an extension pole also does the trick. Ladder work is at your own risk! These are the basic tools, with these you’ll be able to clean pretty much any window.
First you should fill your bucket with 2 gallons of cold water. Next add a squirt of dish soap. Experiment with the amount you don’t want too much or too little just enough to provide a little slip for your squeegee. Dunk your stripwasher in the water and slosh it around to create some foam. Wring it out a little to remove excess water. Next apply the stripwasher to the window and scrub in a circular motion avoiding the top seal. You don’t want drips! Scrub until you think the dirt is loosened and then prepare to squeegee the glass. There are many squeegeeing techniques but we’ll stick to the basic straight pull. If the window is long and vertical you will place the squeegee at the top of the glass and pull straight down.
Avoid putting too much pressure on the the squeegee do the work. Wipe the rubber dry with your cloth and then pull down again if needed. Make sure your squeegee is overlapping the clean glass no less than half an inch. Next detail the edges with a dry cloth. Make sure you do the bottom last since it will be the wettest. If you have a wider window to clean then do the same but pull across instead of down. Make sure the top end of your squeegee is tilted in the direction you’re pulling. This will insure that all the water flows down the window. With a little practice you will be on your way to perfect windows! If you want to save some time and frustration, or you’re afraid of heights then by all means hire a professional window cleaner.
Hope this helps