Went out to do an estimate this afternoon and found a patio enclosure/sun room in very poor condition. Talk about breaking down the molecular structure of the glass! The home itself was a nice home in a sub-division that I do alot of work in that has about 900 homes in it. I was actually surprised to find something in this condition in this neighborhood as I do gutter whitening often there because the neighborhood association is threatening fines for those that don’t have their gutter exteriors looking bright & clean.
I looked the enclosure over and found several panes to be beyond restoration. The corrosion had completely fogged over some and yet others didn’t seem too bad. The homeowner told me that she had bought the property for pennies in this down market and had taken it “as is” essentially. She wanted me to experiment and restore all and any panes possible. I pulled out some Safe Restore and scrubbed a few panes that I thought might be salvageable. I saw positive results. I own no UV ray light so finding the tin etch side is not going to happen. They are all IG panes and she told me the cheapest bid to replace each pane was very expensive so having me try was an option.
I only took 1 pic of the enclosure, I should have taken more so you guys could see what I’m dealing with. She consented to signing a waiver and agreed to my hourly pricing. I know thePowder will be staying in the truck. I have some CC-550 but have never used it and am apprehensive about proceeding. I guess this job is the perfect one for a newby at restoration as she doesn’t care if I ruin the glass as most of it is gone already. I’m fairly confident that I can save about 8-10 panes. Most are just clouds of deep and old corrosion that just needs to be replaced.
The “MAD SCIENTIST” is on the loose and needs guidance! I scheduled it for mid week next week and gave us a half a day to try. (about 5 hours with two guys) I don’t own a buffer or anything to utilize other than white pads, steel wool, bronze wool, etc. Believe it or not one side is completely stain & corrosion free!
What I am looking for specifically is some guidance on how to safely use CC-550.
Looks like a broke seal to me or is it water damage from ?? Get a palm sander will help. White pad only !! And get a waiver signed too !! Cya thats cover your ass!! Stan , pro window kleening , south dakota
Oh for sure there are several with broken seals. Those I won’t be attempting to restore. She had a glass company (like window medic) come out and they told her which ones were beyond restoration. There are some that can be and in this case she will save money by paying me to restore them.
Her cost for having them replaced will be about 5 times what I am charging for restoration.
How about overspill? I’m not worried about the ground and to some degree not too worried about that nasty wooden surface that surrounds the sunroom but I still feel like I’ve got to protect it. What could I use to protect the surfaces under the glass from the CC-550 that wouldn’t be ate through by the CC-550?
CC550 is not as rough as it sounds. besides the eye/hand/lung protection have the garden hose near. As it is acid it is less powerful when you dilute it with water. Wet down everything except the windows. the wood frames all that stuff. Keep the hose near you with a small trickle of water. enough to rinse but so little that you won’t splash it in your eyes. Do not use in direct sunlight. if it’s hot out cool the glass with water and squeegee off. I normally apply with a dry t-bar, keep it wet with cc550 for about 30-45 seconds while scrubbing. try not to let it dry. rinse with the hose and wash like normal. Not much you can really harm those windows. worse case you can burn the glass a light blue or light yellow. this normally occurs when it’s too hot with sun or you keep it on to long. the color depends on the mineral. Funny thing is I use CC550 all the time. I order it by the 5 gal bucket. Sad thing is that I have never used safe restore. go figure. hope this help you out. and if you do get any on your skin wash it off. it does take a little time to burn but it will happen. good luck.
A palm sander… sweet LOL… never thought of that, great idea, and it gets into the corners as well. Why not get a grinder - variable speed, it only costs about $100 for a cheapy, how often do you use it, anyways? Or get a car buffer for about $35 and up. Cheapy is ok, too.
I say garden hose, keep it wet, just keep spraying it. Or a big plastic watering can for flowers, you know the type big ugly thing that has a shower head looking thing on the end, it is good for that as well. Good water dispersment.
Seeing as I also do floors, what I do to protect stuff from flying water that is nasty, is use dollar store aluminum foil, just wrap it in place or use some duct tape. Do not use masking tape or painters tape, use the duct tape. Duct tape works like a charm for me, less residue, less sticky and comes off easily.
Now, the guys all All County have lose nifty, high end machines, maybe you can rent one for a week or so, so you can do some awesome stuff, video, before and after, and get lots of work lined up for a leased purchase! Just a thought!
Ended up restoring only 3 of 7 panes that we attempted to restore with SafeRestore.
It was a good experience though as we learned much and the homeowner was happy as her replacement IG panes are going to be very costly and saving the 3 via restoration saved her much money.
And we will be going back in the spring for the windows on the house. I’ll post pics once I get them done.
