I see a lot of houses where a ladder won’t get anywhere close. It’s either pull the window from the inside, pole or walk on a pretty steep tile roof. What do you do?
I won’t walk a steep roof so I either pole it (traditional or wfp) or do it from inside (if possible).
Do what is comfortable, sometime if you use a pole for second story windows you may spend more time “touching” up the window to make it perfect than it would have taken the time to setup the ladder and do it once the correct way and move on to the next window.
I know the post is old but hey someone commented lol. I was reading this thing and people are making comments about bringing a pole inside a house. lol. Man I hate to say it but sometimes I wonder about the intelligence level of some in this industry. Ok so you will bring a ladder inside a home because of quality, yet not use one outside? The funny part is, it’s easier to see bad quality on an outside glass then inside. Ok so bring a ladder inside and risk breaking something, or scratching a floor, yet just use a pole outside. lol. Man I dont get the logic sometimes. If you are good with a pole you can do both in and out and I dont blame anyone who can do it for doing it. It saves a ton of time. But if you are not good with a pole and decide to pole instead of ladder, you’re a hack.
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I agree with Juggernaut even though he looks like GSP. However I come across very few windows in side a house that I do with a pole, the ledges are usually too deep but I have a 16’ and 20’ ladders on the truck and can maneuver them around quite easily. I will use poles to to do the tops on tall windows bring it down to where I can reach it but I’m very good with a pole.
The secret of traditional indoor poling is to use the absolute minimum of water. Always wring out real good.
I cut my window cleaning teeth on large stores where internal displays were close to windows and the use of a ladder was just not possible. There’s nothing like a few manikins dressed in white Armani suits to focus a window cleaners mind !!
I used to ladder every single window inside customers homes, but after I tore some ligaments in my ankle and had to avoid climbing a ladder for a couple of weeks, I began using the pole for interior windows. On a home full of large windows with the tops all out of reach from the ground that used to take me 3 and 1/2 hours for just the inside, took only 2 hours when I did it with a pole and wagtail! Not only did it cut my time almost in half, I didn’t have to worry about hauling a ladder around a home filled with fancy art and furniture.
For an optimal wagtail experience, I find that dog-earing the channel ends means no detailing and making your own scrubbing pads with old worn out scrubbers saves money and generally works better than the one it comes with. As far as modding the flipper to flip over the channel instead of under the channel, I find that it actually is harder to squeegee that way because when you tilt the channel to almost vertical the pad flops back over and ruins your progress, so leaving the flipper on the bottom has worked fine for me.
Like many of you I used to think poling was for amateurs and you could never get good results and always laddered. Now I am converted and enjoy much faster job completion and results that are just as good. The wagtail is the key. And a little practice.
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I should have bought one last time I made an order. I thought about it but went with the zero degree squeegee but I’m having trouble fanning with it so I went back to straight pulls.
Nice post btw.
I have only two window accounts and they’re both commercial accounts. All windows are easily reachable as they are ground level except for four, which are 2nd story. These windows are a two pane design with a larger 28" W X 42" T pane above a smaller 25" W X 18" T pane. These four windows are actually paired up, so there’s two side by side and then the next two are about 15 ft away and then those two are side by side.
I have been using a plain 3 section ETTORE pole and these are a Pain because the pole flexes too much. I think I may buy a standoff and try them up close, at least once to get them as clean as possible.
I have tried a couple different squeegees, a 28" Pulex and a 18" ETTORE BRASS MASTER. I got the PULEX with the intention of just having to do one single verticle pull but I am really disappointed, as it doesn’tdo that good of a job. Now, the ETTORE 18" does a great job as long as you keep contant pressure on the pole but with the pole flexing so much, I can’t get a clean swipe.
I think my issue is the pole. What poles are you guys using?
Mark, you are smoking too much “green”. You obviously havent been trained properly.
The Wagtail is great for pole work. You do not need to change tools and it is very light. It does take time to master the Wagtail but you can do a good job with very little detailing. I use a doodlebug and towel to detail and wipe up water on ledge.
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