Okay well I am hardly the only guy to ever have a problem with this, but I am getting streaks and drip marks on the edges of the glass. Only thing is, I am hearing of multiple approaches to dealing with this. So far, I am generally letting them dry, and then wiping them off with a towel. By “towel”, I mean one of those “super absorbent!” Quickie brand ones that seems like it’s made of felt (it’s not though). This seems to be effective yet time consuming, so I guess it’s not really effective in that case. I wait until the drips are dry because that way, the towel doesn’t get wet and quickly need to be replaced with a dry one, and there are no streaks. Wiping a wet streak with a towel just tends to leave a different-shaped streak.
The two approaches I have heard of for dealing with this both have their disadvantages. One is to wipe the edge(s) of the glass with a towel before you squeegee. Great, but you’re possibly creating just another streak when you do that. The other is to just not apply soap to the very edge of the glass or otherwise get it wet. Okaaaay, but that amounts to not cleaning it. And besides, how are you going to get such a thin margin with a scrubber. A scrubber is really just a mop, and mops aren’t all that precise.
Yet one more way I have been told to deal with this is to “cut in” with the squeegee. About all I know of this method so far is that doing it this way allows you to apply water to all edges of the glass, and I mean right to the edge of the pane. Then by “cutting in”, which seems to involve applying the squeegee at an angle, you supposedly don’t get drip marks. I’ve been doing that when I start my fanning-as do most of us-and I’m still getting drip marks. Just what is “cutting in”? Oft talked about, rarely really explained. There may be different ways of dealing with this, but I need to know the most expedient one, and preferably one which doesn’t involve me having to get on a step ladder to wipe the edges when the rest of the glass has been done with a scrubber and squeegee employed from a pole. That would kind of defeat the purpose.
Thanks!
If the edges are wet… Well you that’s just called detailing, which you should be doing anyway on residential windows. Use a blue surgical towel or scrim and you’ll get those nice and proper, make sure you use a dry edge each time you touch the glass.
Mike Radzik
Pro Window Cleaning
Central Massachusetts
Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Resource
So you’re cleaning the glass but not detailing the edges until they dry. Then trying to get that off with a microfiber cloth.
Get a bunch of hucks or a couple scrims and detail the edges before they dry. You’re just making it harder on yourself by trying to keep your towel dry.
So, by cutting in, they mean, instead of starting your “fanning” (I call it snaking) with your squeegee flat against the frame, start the process by having your squeegee at a 45 degree angle against the frame, so only the edge of your squeegee is actually making contact with the frame, then slide it up to the corner and continue the fanning (snaking) process. By doing this you aren’t dragging the suds onto the window when you start squeegeeing. I’m pretty sure if you looked on YouTube, you’d be able to find a demonstration of this. If you do that and get the hang of it, you can squeegee the window and then quickly wipe the top (and side frames if necessary) with a towel. I use the white terry cloth towels, but a lot of people use the blue huck towels. Don’t be the guy that cleans the window in 10 seconds and then spends 2 minutes toweling.
Also, the pre drying the edges with a towel does work.
Good answers all around. I guess I got the idea that there was a way to not have to detail the edges since so few YT videos do not show that being done. But I am concerned with gettging the edges looking good, which is why I was detailing them anyway. I’ve taken business away from a lot of bucket bobs who fail to do this. I mastered my squeegee technique, now I’ll do the same with my detailing the edges.
I call those "little pearls "
Use as naked as a solution as you can
Slow down
One can’t get anyone’s suggested technics to work if you aren’t going slow enough to SEE what is happening.
Once you settle on a technic, the speed will come
Believe me I HATE carting around a bunch of towels/ hucks
I think the towel on the shoulder looks stupid and I hate a damp shoulder
I use 1 scrim per day
There are a lot of peeps who over years have perfected thier technic
I didn’t have years .
So I got a wagtail and put a 45 on it alla pole n blades
Cut my detailing by 80 percent.
I too demand a clean sill
But I never wipe em nor do I do the pull and sweep with the squeegee.
I will put up how I do it by I gotta get back to work 300 more windows to clean !!!
Peace
*** I’m no expert,
just been cleaning windows for a while.
" I don’t hate the way YOU clean windows,
I just like the way I do it better…"
~ Pompous Basterd
