Been thinking about a solution to a recurring problem. Removing silicone at height where ladders or lifts are impractical or too dangerous.
When working with my nose to glass, it is easy enough to use magic erase pads to get rid of this, but what does one do at 30 plus feet?
Rigging a magic erase pad to a pole is flimsy, and there is no way to get good pressure. Goo Gone is a bit better applied to a white pad affixed to an Unger swivel pad holder, but not ideal.
I was thinking about Bar Keeper’s Friend and Goo Gone and mixing the two and making a thick liquid that will adhere to the pad. This would seem to give two benefits of soft abrasive with a citrus solvent.
I think bar keeper’s friend is safe on glass - it is made with oxalic acid.
Well do new construction. Use everything. What type of silicone smear? Did they caulk and get a smear on the glass or a manufacturing type debris? A scraper usually works for me even on the film type. There always seem to be a spot or smear remaining. Eraser works but have you tried a wool pad and have you tested an area first to see if the powder works on the glass? I have Bon Ami. I always test first. If you can find the old style red can Bon Ami it works well. Use the heck out of Goo Gone or try their adhesive remover on a pad. As you know, what you use will need to come off so be able to flush or scrub rinse the residue off. Not much fun when residue dries.
after the glass is cleaned and there’s still tell tale silicone residue left try some #0000 steel wool (dry) with barkeeps on it (also dry), either wrapped around the tip of a pole or a 6" squeegee on a pole. It does leave some barkeeps dust that can be easily removed with a towel.
try the “dry wash/touchup method” on lowers to make sure it’s working with the type of silicone your dealing with.
I also use a little barkeeps(dry) on my fingertip to ‘touch up’ silicone residue at eye level and finish with a towel.
It is silicone smears and hand prints from having to seal the glass in place while 35’ up.
Several considerations:
Need to have a solution that adheres to pad
Solution won’t plug the pad and render the padd ineffective
Can give good feel on the glass
Able to rinse off and clean with WFP
I am thinking that BKF or Bon Ami will help cut the Goo Gone and help it rinse away. I dunno, just a thought.
This stuff is high, with no possibility of using a ladder or a lift - so all pole work to be cleaned with WFP. I have two houses I have to address. Anyone encounter this situation, and what did you do?
Thank you everyone for starting this thread. My subforum hasn’t got too much activity since it was birthed. First I am wondering how to work with a 35 foot pole. I bought Sorbos 40 foot but have only been able to use five sections. The other two just sit in my car. I would suggest a very small square flat applicator for scrubbing. Then I would suggest a custom product I developed based on a very powerful water soluble organic solvent blended with an optical grade silica powder to create a paste/compound. You can also add a 100 to 300 micron urea plastee gritt for some real course but safe grinding. Or even mix the two abrasives with the solvent. Chris should have these ingredients. I wrote a newsletter on this type of custom product. Can’t figure out how to send a PDF attachment over this forum. But if anyone contributing to this thread wants to send me their email address I will send you an attachment of all four pages. I do believe this might work but only because you are scrubbing with soapy water after the scrub and then rinsing with pure water. Actually the pure water would show if all the silicone shmears had been removed. I REALLY have to start doing videos. Thanks so much guys. Lets keep this one going.
I am using a Reach iT Mini with a 10’ extension and an Unger swivel pad holder. The equipment is perfect, just need the right stuff to use it with - thank for the info.
The Bar Keeper’s Friend and Goo Gone was a success!
I made the mix thick enough so it adhered to the pad (1 12 oz can of BKP, and about 6 oz of Goo Gone - the liquid, not the thicker stuff in the spray bottle), and it removed the silicone with minimal pressure. The mix also removed other scofflaws easily. Best of all, it is water soluble!! I don’t know the chemistry, but it solved the problem, and left me with perfect glass - all done with a pole!
Feeling pretty good about meeting challenge like this in the future.
That is awesome. Goo Gone has helped me out on my new constructions, paint caulk, mortar, plaster, stickers, grease pencil.Helps get stoff on the ext frames. Might be better products but it is easy to get and not too expensive. Water will remove the residue. Safer than lacquer thinner on the plastic frames and paint and better on hands. I dont do gloves. Like to “feel” whats going on. You use a regular pad or the eraser I sometimes use an old microfiber mop head and trimmed down to 6 and 8" added a srtip of the thick HD velcro which helps hold not so fuzzy backings. In fact one of these “indoor” window kits using velcro microfiber heads uses the exact pad as Cedar mop pad, white with green strip.For higher settings I need to get american thread adapters to screw the mop head on the pole. Hey, will be part of a group I want to make showing all the odd tools folks came up with over the years.
Hey, now you have something that works for you to add to your kit
That’s awesome. What kind of pad did you end up using? Did it pull off thick gobs, as well? How much scrub time did it add? (Per square foot, lets say?)
Silicone is the bane of my existence. New Marvins are the worst. I really want to try this method.
edit: one more question- I take it that you were just using the one pole; were you able to do all your scrubbing, and then go back with the brush to rinse? Or did you have to rinse it off while the solution was still wet?
Thanks very much Steve! And Blue Sky congrats! I will have to do a side by side of your formula against mine. Of course the greatest advantage to yours is the ingredients could be picked up at the local store and it worked VERY well. That is what it is all about. Creating something that didn’t exist before to solve a problem and get paid. This is the innovative spirit.
Everyone else’s response here is tremendous also. I will pickup some of these products as mentioned and do some experiments. Conditions and timing are very important.
This is a real good thread. I’ve often thought of using a microfiber pad on a holder for certain window applications. I use 18" and 24" in my office cleaning. I agree smaller than 18 would be better for considerable heights.
Kind of off subject here but I always wanted to do a window cleaning with a pole video using that old eighties hair metal song “Stick It”. If I do I’ll post it to the WCR Forum. I think you might like it.
On subject. I have found that square works best for a flat tool applicator. It won’t lift up. Also I have had good success with a 4 inch. Have found a good repositionable that works good. I just wipe it on the plastic surface and I can exchange any soft cloth a hundred times. I can see Velcro working much better however. We really have to get into the compositional abrasives!
An update on this mix and practical considerations.
I think it is good to mention that if silicone or other gums, glues, gloms or smears can be accessed without difficulty or danger, then magic erase pads or spot applications of Goo Gone are both effective and easy to work with. The slurry made with Bar Keepers Friend (BKF) and Goo Gone (GG) very effective, almost miraculously so, but it does have some problems that other methods won’t invite.
[U]The Good[/U]:
The slurry is extremely effective - put a smear on the applicator and wipe on to the silicone and it lifts off instantly. If it is a thick glob, you will do well to trim it down with a razor, as it won’t take the glob off, but it will remove the residue left after trimming.
It also provides adhesion between the pad and the glass. This is important if you are working at a height or angle where your end of the pole is close to the fulcrum point, or the terrain under you is such that you can’t gain confident purchase and you can’t apply very much pressure to the head of the pole.
The slurry is water soluble.
The ingredients are easily obtained and cheap. For $5.00 you can clean every window in a small to mid-sized house.
The slurry is surface safe and non-toxic. BKF will rinse away in the rain, and GG will degrade after a short time. While messy, it won’t chemically cauterize your nose, or make your skin raw. It washes out of clothing well enough, too.
It won’t scratch glass. But don’t use it on a tinted surface… ever!
[U]The Bad[/U]:
You have to keep mixing it up. After a bit, the GG and BKF will separate and the BKF will begin to start to cement up in your container. It can be remixed, but it takes some effort and you might splash the GG when you start to loosen the BKF. I did, anyway.
It isn’t neat. Magic erase pads are neat, this slurry is decidedly messy. It might help to have some sort of squeeze bottle, but then that will make it difficult to keep it mixed. [B]It would be interesting to know if there were an inert ingredient that would keep it mixed up.[/B] So, an open bucket on the ground is likely to be upended. I tried a lid on the bucket, but it just seems like that made it even more messy for some reason. That is probably just me and my pig-pen tendencies expressing themselves.
Don’t let water drip into the bucket, it will render the slurry useless. Not sure why, but I had my bucket where it was rained in by the water from cleaning the glass. Had to make a new batch.
[U]The Ugly[/U]:
The run off from the slurry when you rinse it off will show on painted surfaces underneath. This is a problem. Because of the oil in the GG, it makes it damn near impossible to remove from the porous surface. I mitigated this by using an Unger cleaning pad (the thick nappy one) saturated with my window cleaning solution which is made with 11.5ph water. This emulsifies the GG almost on contact, and with some wiping, cleaned it off the surface. I know that most won’t have access to high alkaline water, so I am curious what might work in it’s place. I was thinking about a solution with Dawn or maybe Oil Flow, but I don’t have experience. Also, the surface I rinsed the slurry onto was a black surface in the direct sun, which amplified the problem. I know my window cleaning solution rinses clean in direct sun (11.5ph water, about 1/2 ounce of Biokleen dish soap per gallon, and a shot of isopropyl alcohol), but I don’t know if Dawn will behave so agreeably. I am going to experiment on my house on brick surfaces, I’ll write an update with results.
The run off will settle into the sills. Another thing to clean.
[U]Step By Step Usage[/U]:
[B]*** Clean Glass Before Treatment!! ***[/B]
Buy a couple of cans of BKF powder - not the liquid, along with Goo Gone. Don’t purchase the thick spray, the liquid is what you want. I bought the big bottle (a quart, me thinks) and five cans. I didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of the job with no back up supply.
Find a cheap bucket or container, about a 2 qt sized will do nicely - that will give a nice wide base so it won’t tip easily.
Mix about 1 can of BKP per six oz of GG. This isn’t precise, just need to make it thick enough to where all of it won’t drip off while getting the slurry laden applicator to the glass. If you use a plastic bucket, when the slurry starts to lift off the sides as you mix is a good indication.
**A note on equipment: I used my WF pole with the Unger aluminum pad holder, with the thin Unger white 8" scrubber pad. I think this is key - a thick (sorry, WCR!) pad might get heavy with the slurry, and fall off the holder while lifting it to the glass. Also, the thick pad will absorb energy when applying force to the glass, this energy is already at a premium so any reduction I think will be detrimental to the cause.
I also use a fan jet that can be attached to a Whack Adapter, I don’t see it in the WCR store right now, but it is a handy little thing that helps with this a lot.
Apply the slurry generously to the pad. Make sure to get the edges and corners, especially if the silicone is on the edges of the glass.
Lift pad to glass and apply directly to spot of silicone if doing a local application, or apply in a patch you want to work in and use the thicker area of slurry like a painter’s pallet and spread from there. I did complete panes, as the glass I was working on was a mess.
Apply evenly across the area you are working with. It won’t dry out quickly so you will have time.
Re-apply as necessary. So, if you lower your pad to put more slurry on the pad, you will notice that it has plugged up the pad. This is ok, keep using - this I found to be helpful.
Once finished, rinse thoroughly. This is where having a fan jet on the Whack very useful: I profusely rinsed the top of the glass and the frames. I then used a similar pattern scrubbing with the pad and water as I do for with a brush on the glass.
Once the glass is rinsed, lower the pad, and put a sloppy amount of dish soap on the same white srubber pad and then wash glass. I am not sure if this is totally necessary, but a couple of factors to note: Once water has been applied to the slurry, it will dry. So, a haze will be left on the glass, especially if you have to work in the direct sunlight. The soap will help suspend the abrasive left on the frames so a brush can take it off with ease. It will also ensure a good clean obviating a possible need to re-wash later.
Change to the thick cleaning pad, soak with a cleaning solution that will cut oil, and wash the painted surfaces below the glass.
Wash glass as you normally would, taking extra care to wash the frames and the surfaces below the panes - rinse rinse rinse!!!
At this time, your pad will be clean from washing with soap - re-apply slurry and clean your next window!!
In closing, I have to say that this is kind of a pain in the butt. It is pretty intense labor with additional steps necessary to clean up. But it solves a BIG problem that has vexed me for almost a year: I am able to get these panes that were a mess, 35’ high with terrain that was loose and sloping away from the house amazingly clean. It isn’t every situation that I will need to do this process, but I have it in my arsenal now. The homeowners, by the way, were happy as pigs in sh, er - slop. That makes me happy, too - as happy as a pig in… you know.
That is an incredible write up! I was wondering if you could help me out? I have been playing with some plastic compositional abrasives of different particle sizes. Then attempting to glue them to cloth. The cloth can be put on a flat plastic applicator with a repositional glue. Then the solvent such as a DLimonene can be applied to the glass first and the pad can be used like a sandpaper to “sand” off the silicone after. If I sent you some stuff would you be willing to play around with it?
