Window Cleaning News

Question:

Sue

thanks for the info. but wondering how cold it has to be for alcohol to freeze, it gets pretty damn cold up in Canada in the winter.

Answer:

Pure ethanol freezes at -114 °C …. But cleaning with it will do more harm than good.  I use windshield wiper wash.  It’s good till -20°F and you can add some dish soap to it to help clean.  Alcohol will break down the dish soap and make cleaning a mess.

When the windshield wiper fluied freezees then you know it’s time to go home.

Window cleaning when it rains

The following tips will help you deal with rain dilemma:

1.  Get the daily forecast for your area and plan your work around inclement weather.

2.  Make note of witch account can be done rain or shine.

3.  Offer a rain GUARANTEE to you customers.  If it rains and the rain leaves spots on the glass you  will come back with in 24 hours after THEY call.  The key is they must call!  I have never had anyone call and I have cleaned
and by the time I got paid and to the truck it would be raining cats and dogs.

Work with the weather and you will do fine.  Even if the day is a total wash out from the rain just pick up you business card and start soliciting for more jobs.  Don’t let the rain stop you.

Window Cleaning and Rain - how to work together
“Every time it rains I lose money” Joe, lamented one
window cleaner.  He continues, I live in a area where
it rains a lot.  I have some very good customers
but when it rains or even if it looks like it is going
to rain I stay home.  Joe is not alone, even many
seasoned professionals feel the same way.

How can you work together with the rain?

First, never let the forecast of rain stop your work.
If it starts raining when your working just pack
up and finish later.  In some cases rain is good.
If your doing a place that has not been cleaned in
a log time and has heave build up of dirt.  Try to
clean on an over cast day.  Your chemical will
not dry as fast and you will be less likely to
streak

free - How to clean window when it FREEZING OUT Side!  Seem like the question is why bother right!  Well, if you doing Low/High rise or residential window cleaning I would say your right.  But cleaning you route work accounts need to be down.  The last few post about what you can do to keep cleaning.  The windows won’t clean themselves! While all the other so called window cleaners that don’t have the know how to cleaning years round will be no where around.  It a good to to solicit for work too… But, when do you know the difference between being good business man and being total nuts for cleaning when it 25 degrees.  I always say when my chemical that won’t freeze till it gets to 20 below does freeze… well then it’s time to go home.

3.  BOOTS:  Keep your feet warm, toasty and dry. A light pair of water proof boots will do. The key here is just keep them dry. If it’s not too cold yet and boots are not the answer yet, try wearing a pair of galoshes over your sneakers to add extra warmth and keep your feet dry.

4.  CHEMICAL:  After you take care of yourself, you need to focus on your chemical. Many of you may add extra ammonia to the water or denatured alcohol or even anti-freeze but the quickest solution is just to use windshield wiper solution as your cleaner.  It’s good for -20F to -30F degrees below

zero and that’s important even if it’s only 25F outside. There could be a wind chill factor of -20F below, and none of us like trying to get frozen chemical off glass.      On very cold days, you may only have a minute to strip wash and squeegee that glass because of the temperature of the glass and the temperature outside, so
you may need to clean one window at a time.

True these four tips are simple but they are the most important things to do in order to KEEP WORKING through the winter and to
KEEP WARM.This is the main thing I’m trying to impress
on you all and whether you have a better way or this is
all new information, the key here is use it and
keep on cleaning them windows.