“I don’t do windows” is one statement my good natured wife will not accept from me. As a result I am the designated outside window washer in our home. This is a job no one relishes and most, if they can, avoid. I have not been so lucky and as a result I have worked to develop a formula and a technique which works best for me.
The single most common problem most of us face when washing windows is not the act itself, but the after effects. I have often spent the better part of a day washing all of my outside windows only to find that as the sun sets exposing the windows to the most revealing beams nasty residue streaks appearing on what I had considered sparkling clean windows.
Nothing is more discouraging!….38 windows and 19 ladder climbs after the fact I see that most of my work has been in vain. I have succeeded in removing the surface dirt which has accumulated over the winter months, but the majority of film and residue has simply been moved to another spot on the window and has been transformed into a filmy glaze which is most apparent once the sun shines through the window glass.
How could this happen? I had used the most advertised window cleaner, the one which claims to provide spotless windows every time, the one in which crows sit on the power line mocking people who walk into the closed sliding glass door because it is so clean the glass can’t be seen….How could it happen?
Inspecting my work my wife commented that the residue remaining on the glass reminded her of the film which at one time remained on glassware and sometimes on dishes when used an inexpensive dish washing detergent.
A lightbulb turned on in my head!
I decided to test her theory and found as is always the case she was exactly right.
After several trials I found one combination of cleaners which I now use to wash windows and which yields a streak-free result.
My method is as follows:
Step 1: In one gallon of water I mix:
* 1/4 cup of any name brand liquid dish washing detergent (Ivory, Dawn, etc.),
* 1 cup of white vinegar
* 1 cup of ammonia.
Step 2: Stir mixture in a 1 gallon jug. (this may be stored for future use if not consumed at once).
Step 3: Pour one quarter of the mixture into an open faced plastic bucket.
Step 4: Dip and saturate a small cloth squeegee or sponge into the solution. ( my preference is a cloth squeegee, but for windows with small panes a sponge may be best ). If you do not have a small cloth squeegee you can easily improvise by wrapping several layers of an old dish towels, secured by twist ties or heavy rubber bands, around a paint roller handle.
Step 5: Wash windows using continuous straight line motions where possible. Do one window at a time. Do not allow the wash to dry on the glass.
Step 6: Use small 4 inch squeegee to remove washing mixture. ( I have not found an effective substitute for a squeegee in this step, as the wash mixture must be removed with minimum of wiping strokes and resulting seams).
Step 7: Clean edges and/or any drips with a soft cloth, not paper towels (old cloth dish towels or bath towels are perfect for this)
Step 8: Repeat for remaining windows.
The secret ingredient which serves as a streak preventer in this formula is the liquid detergent. Most commercial window cleaners provide ingredients similar to the ammonia and vinegar, but the detergent is what cuts the grease which causes the film after washing. The 3 formula ingredients work in harmony with the two acidics cutting the dirt and with the detergent cutting the grease.
I have found that the above method leaves my windows sparkling clean without the need to polish the glass after washing.
As a note of interest, I use the remainder of the one gallon mixture to fill an empty 8 oz. spray bottle and use this to spot clean window smudges and storm door glass between washings.
Hope this works as well for you.
