I have been cleaning the houses on this property for years, but somehow it was unimportant to clean the windows at this particular house, and the sprinklers have been hitting the windows for 13-14 years. I tried my Glass-Renu on one of the sashes but it took forever with marginal results on a few of the panes
. Has anyone tried anything like One Restore? I’m to the point of just telling them to replace the windows, as it would take hours to grind the individual panes down and with the Glass-Renu system you can’t get into the corners anyway.
CC550 or One Restore could be options. But if GlassRenu took that long to clear the pane then you will probably only have marginal results with the harsh acids. It may be worth trying though if it achieves an acceptable result for the client (which it seems like the cost aspect enters the picture as well). You will know very quickly how deep they will go (You can hit it maybe 2-3x and thats as deep as you will get). In my experience, I worked my way up trying most of the commercial hard water removers from the mild acid &/or abrasives like Titan A1, then BioClean, etc, to 1Restore & CC550. But after even those didn’t fully restore several windows I looked into glass polishing. Mr. Hard Water or JFlint kit has taken care of everything Ive encountered so far except for a burnished spot 1 time that I bought the newer GlassRenu pro kit for and it took it out no problem. Im in a very hard water area so there have been some tough cases. But can’t really tell from the pics how deep the deposits/layers might be. Any close-ups?
Although you could try acid 1st then finish up with polishing too.
The glass renu kit should handle that. Maybe you need to start with the most aggressive pad first and work you way up to final polish. One restore will most likely work but the will most likely make the glass textured like an orange peel.
I’ve never personally used one restore. I usually use Sodium Hydroxide (lye) purchased in the form of drain cleaner. I dilute it quite a bit in a bucket and gradually up the concentration until it is effective at removing the hard water or oxidation. And I always use it with the WFP so I can presoak surrounding areas and rinse away the lye fully.
Please be careful with it. It’s some serious stuff.
Depending on how bad the hard water staining…
For something this bad i use cerium oxcide with a polisher or by hand, just completed this 40 pane job yesterday.
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How long did each pane take you?
Approximately 10-12 mins per pane of glass. All panes of glass were ladder work.
That came out great ditch you apply sealer after you polished
Is there a decent resource for learning how to use Cerium Oxide with a polisher, or do you just get some old windows and practice until you get the hang of it? I’m not ready to do this yet, but down the road would like to add this service.
Yes, Envicoat.
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My focus has always been lighter stains. I do agree with the general opinion here though. First grind then polish. I have seen the orange peal effect. And banding. I would never suggest acids. I do believe because of the time factor being high and cost of replacement being low, there are jobs out there that warrant replacement.
Henry
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I ended up having mixed results with OneRestore. It removed the build-up on the glass and made a very smooth surface, but the stains are pretty much etched into the glass, even on the ones that weren’t as bad. I then did a reverse procedure with my GlassRenu on the worst window (starting with the polishing pad and cerium oxide) and it didn’t do much. At that point I just decided it wasn’t worth my time or the owners money to go any further with the mixed results I already had with the GlassRenu. If the water stains were caught early on I think the OneRestore would probably work very well, I didn’t see any negative effects on the glass. At least they can see through the windows now.
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