So one of my dealerships has spots all over the glass. Like a big rain storm with wind hit it We all know if that’s what it was it will wash right off , maybe it might need a little more scrubbing ,but it would come offf. Not the case here.
I noticed it a month ago something was getting On the glass that didn’t come off. Now today it’s all over the freaking place. Noting on the top plate. Just the middle plate down.
White pad , bronze wiool , an noting comes off
So I brought it to the attention of the owner ( really nice guy ). Not that - that has anything to do with it , but always good when your dealing with something like this $$$
So I hit a plate with diamond magic an it came offf.
My question is when I do this I could use a stick an white pad , I’m looking for other ways , when using diamond magic should I wet the window in first , then scrub with the white pad ?hiw do you guys use this stuff , or is there some better way, or better product ?
Oh ya what’s it from. He told me instead of spikes he used this sticky stuff ,so the Pigeons wouldn’t inhabit the area. So it must be getting loose ,an when it rains this stiff is getting on the windows.
Never used the diamond magic, but following for the info prospect.
However, the spots… Is there someone powerwashing the brick and the water splashing up on the glass? I ask because it sounds like hardwater staining or something from the brick.
No , no brick here. I thought maybe he had something power washed that’s what it looks like.
I asked him that also. Only thing he said he had done 3 months ago was for the pigeons
He said he would find out what the stuff is,or give me the website where he got it. He said he just hired a contractor to spray it up there for him.
This dealership is brand new just rebuilt 4 years ago. The GC called me to do the construction clean, but it was in th the spring an I was crazy busy. He didn’t like my price, so he said he would just have his guy s do it.
I said ok , my first week doing the maintenance cleaning I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’m serous when I say this scratches like I’ve never seen before. Every which way up down sideways all over.
First thing I did was calll the GM over pointed it out , an said “ This is unreal look at it. The guys who did the construction clean went to town ”.
He said, Ok I’ll show Jimmmy. So I get. Phone call 2 weeks later “. Mike can you come down we need to talk “. I was a little uneasy, but new I didn’t do it so …
I went there, an he ask how I’m cleaning it . I went through everything with him , an he says “ok I just wanted to make sure your not going to do anything that adds to it.” . I was like whaaaaast Jim take these guys to court … He never did. They scratched his 170 thousand dollar doors too. Amazing … Like I said nice guy !!!
So scratches ya id hate to add more , but I don’t think he cares . Well he does , but you know what I mean .
I bet one restore would do it too , but then if I hit the tin side I don’t wan to have to deal with that
I think what I’ll do is , wet it in with the water fed , use a pole with a white pad scrub … Scrub it out , then rinse
I think that’s the fastest way to do it. Unless I hear differently from someone in here.
@Majestic66, I don’t get it, GC hire guys all the time here that beat the glass to death like you said on new builds and nobody cares! Resi and commercial. I have even seen pitting and what looks like welding slag (my guess).
Yup I had another dealership rebuilt. An I know who did the construction clean there. He is a pro … Well supposedly he is a pro. I worked for him for like a week 20 or so years ago. I saw him doing the constuctin clean. He had an in with the the GC. Scratches but nit as bad.
Microcrystalline “particles” work in two different ways. They either scratch or rub. I have been told silicon carbide rubs and diamond scratches. Cerium oxide also rubs.
Never use an etchant on glass. It will magnify any scratches no matter how slight they may be fifty times over bringing them into plain view. Manufacturers of liquid “restoration” products will NOT tell you what the chemistry of their product actually is.
Aside from using a wfp the quickest way I have found to clean heavy dirt build up off of commerical glass is to cover your washer with steel wool. It makes quicl work of dirty glass amd allows you to still use a pole and not a ladder. As long as there is no paint etc that needs to be removed with a razor.
Another option is to use a boars hair brush on a pole. It will scrub better than a strip washer but not as good as wool but there is no risk of scratching at all. If you get an electric garden sprayer and attach a wfp hose to the brush you can feed a little bit of soap and water solution to the brush om each window and tou never have to bring the pole down. Clearly a wfp would be ideal but it can absolutely be done efficiently with traditiinal methods.
The whote pads on a pole tend to not distribute even pressure from the pad to the glass and it reduces its scrubbing power om second floor windows.
Henry thanks for sharing your insights. When you say ecthant are you referring to One restore and products like it? I was a bit confused because in your description you detailed abrasives not chemicals and then spoke about ecthants. Maybe I missunderstood your comment but I am definately interested in understanding your insights.
I am always ears on when talk of restoration comes up.
FYI and fornwhat its worth I do appreciate your work and information shared. I inow it may seem there is small intrest as some of your posts get only a small response but I thinonmore guus appreciate it than comment. I think most of us are not as technically minded as you and so don’t comment but are still paying attention. Keep up the good work. It will pay off in the long run.
Thank you for your compliments. I have been testing products on glass for many years. Most of what I know I didn’t get from books. But rather by wasting brand new glass samples that I bought from the glass shop. This is the opposite of what most guys do.
Here is a link to the MSDS for One Restore. https://www.eacochem.com/2014%20MSDS/Effortless%20-%20non-haz%20MSDS.pdf You will not find listed the ingredients. They are “proprietary”. The company outlines a test to determine if the product is safe for your glass or aluminum. Exactly what IS the chemistry here? So much has been said about the tin side of glass. What about glass?
Both acids and crude abrasives can do damage to glass surfaces. When abrasives are used first and then acids that etch are used afterward any scratch will be magnified. Scratches can be covered by new stains. Then if an acid is used to remove the new stains those scratches will be magnified fifty times. Now the building owner sees scratches in the sun of the next day and claims those scratches were never there before. This is just one reason why every restoration job is different. Glass coatings are another reason. And there are many more.
I never wanted to develop products. But am probably going to have to come up with different formulas and sell the ingredients which could be used in a variety of different formulas/products. Very few people really care about the technology as we do. All they want to do is buy a bottle of something and rub it on. That is usually ok if we are just cleaning windows. But if we are restoring glass surfaces the technology is very important.
Here is an MSDS for Diamond Magic that lists between .1 to 1 percent diamond dust as an ingredient. http://www.diamondmagic.com/uploads/msds_Jan_2011.pdf Silica is between 30 to 40 percent. So I am guessing that is what does most of the work. The only way to know is to experiment. Side by side testing. Same everything, same window.
I care about learning restoration, to an extent. I want to be able to offer a useful service to my clients, but this is something (to an extent) that I offer, not the whole package. There are things that are out of my scope of interest/things I am willing to do. I do afterall, offer window cleaning and am adding power washing next season. I don’t want to be JUST a resto guy, or travel the four corners of the earth to do business.
I don’t have time to spend lots of time experimenting and researching. I have a business to run and market. That’s not to say I (or others) don’t respect the science behind this, or that we don’t care about the people that bring us the info. We do. We just have higher priorities we have to contend with.
I bought into Mr. Hardwater, mostly because I LIKED he offered training with his products. His stuff is especially expensive IMO, and after buying it, I find it not to be the most superior product. It works ok, but I have found better. Point was (not to run him down), I bought because he presented himself as an expert and offered training with his products. Both of which, made it very appealing to me as a buyer.
I said this to say, I trust YOU as an expert. I would be happy to buy products you develop if they fit a need I have. But you are gonna need demo/training videos for someone like me. Too many times we get pitched products that are the next miracle, and fall quit short. Part of the problem is most videos for the products become nothing but a promo for the product, rather than training and real world use. I just don’t have time for hype anymore.
That is the kind of reply I was going for! Don’t mean to sound like I am mad. Just frustrated. I have been working at this for many years, and spent a real lot of time doing experiments, traveling, and writing. I now understand the real problem here. It is education. But in a form that people can easily and quickly relate to. Videos really are the best way to do this. And I will have to find a way to sell ingredients. Because I do not want to do this as others have. No one REALLY wants to buy water. Thanks for the direction. I will be using my blog to do it. This forum too of course.
Thanks for the feed back. It’s not heavy dirt. When I first pulled up that’s exactly what I thought it was. I tried to think back was there a heavy rain storm, or did the guy who does the fleet washing spray down something here.
First thing I did was run my finger on it to see if it would move. Seemed like it would, So we continued to proceed with cleaning. After noticing it wouldn’t come off . I went to a white pad to get some xtra scrubbing power. I didn’t use the steel wool method your talking about. Which is a great idea.
Nothing worked !! Until I Broke out the diamond Magic. Like I said the owner said he had stuff sprayed on the Beams to prevent pigeons. So it must be coming off , an getting on the windows. Don’t know what the stuff is yet. Going to find out !
Yeah it’s weird. Idk why someone would pay a crazy amount for nice windows and then skimp on the cleaning cost to save a few hundred or a few thousand, which is why I usually don’t do construction cleans…
This is interesting. I remember a friend out west that had a very large building that was covered with little spots of silane based sealer for concrete. It was sprayed on the concrete panels next to the windows and got all over the glass. He was able to take it off with his fingernail. So the owners said great. Not a big deal. To which he said fine. Then take it off all five hundred plates with your finger! The key was to find an effective quick way to get it off. Most solvents won’t dissolve chems like this. Usually the only fix is to physically polish it off. Which was the fix used here. Check out the SDS for Diamond Magic. Only at best 1% diamond dust. But at least 30% silica. Hmmmmmm! Which does the bulk of the task? My SKRUB is the most concentrated silica compound out there. In fact there are no commercially available microcrystalline optical grade siica “compounds” available. Try to stand a pen up straight in Diamond Magic or any other silica based slurry/suspension. Also ask them about the elemental breakdown of the silica powder used in the product. How pure is it and how “tight” is the size peak. I designed the SKRUB so you could cut it down to the least concentration that works for you. So as to minimize using too much which is a waste of product and money. I really have to make a video showing how this can be done. And if you want to know what powder to get so you can make your own I will tell you. Silica isn’t exactly hot on the market these days. Unimin is a specialized manufacturer of this product however. I have tested several of their product lines. One of them was excelling. Also Universal Photonics silica has been taken over by another company. But still available. Making silica compounds is rather easy. Check out this video I made. Making SKRUB. Haven’t died of silicosis since I made the video. Tell me if you like it. Any suggestions on how to improve would help too. And I will be teaming up with some of the video gurus here that I have featured in the Glass Smart blog. They are way better than me. Really looking forward to working with them.
”.
. I was like whaaaaast Jim take these guys to court … He never did. They scratched his 170 thousand dollar doors too. Amazing … Like I said nice guy !!!
. Well he does , but you know what I mean .
