Hope the pics explain my situation. 3 floors of glass, 2-3 inches of space between wall and lower portion if glass. Looking for simple solution here, having to detail around the lower round mounts is driving me nuts.
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I’d just pole it from the stairs. If you’re a master of the wagtail it might minimize detailing, but if you go through 5 towels, who cares. Get er done!
indoor pure water system for the inside of rails if not you are going to spend a lot of time trying to get the part between wall and glass. i did some and no channel(sorbo, ettore) i had fit between wall and glass. i ended up using a slim jim wrapped in blue towels. i got luck that that job was charged by the hour other wise would have paid to work instead of work for pay.
Humm, I don’t know if that unger pad holder would fit between the glass and wall. I use ettore squeegees, so I just flip the release, slide the squeegee all the way to the end and it’ll reach down in there. Then wrap a towel around the squeegee to get down in there and detail and/or mop up the water.
I see you are in a pickle there. Try a large 36x36 towel preferably microfiber with pure water and a title bit of alcohol two guys one upstairs one on the bottom. Feed the moist microfiber towel thru and lean against glass grap one each and go up and down removing dust and dirt. Hopefully you don’t have fingerprints from install. You may need several towels but I don’t see any other way. I had one. With less than an 1/8 of space. Didn’t do it. Too risky. In your case you have plenty of space. Use gloves for no prints on glass.
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I think what I’m getting from his question is… How do you clean between the wall and pane of glass… Correct me if I’m wrong…, run a towel down between and buff like hell…
We have a job exactly like this on a monthly basis, with about 45 pieces of glass railing. And that is exactly how we do to. Only gets easier.
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I Tried What you said but there was not enough space for correct angle to squeegee Tharsys way sounds like the best way
You have to wonder if the architect who designs these glass balustrades thinks about the time and effort cleaning that small gap around the lugs.
I had one once on SAAB building it was a feature on the stairs solid concrete stairs with a balustrade that was about 10’ high 3 ’ wide with a 2" gap covering 6 feet of the sold concrete stair case, We had quite a lot of trouble getting that clean, the guy in charge wasn’t really happy when I proceeded to inform him that the design of the stairs and the balustrades was flawed. where he informed me it was designed like that to be a feature of the stairs, I then asked him to ask the architect how to clean it properly and we would follow his instructions, the architect just assumed it would not be a problem and stated it was not his job to clean things just design and build them.
Yeah, we did this blm building and the architect was so proud of his 20" louvers - set 38" back from the windows. He did the math and everything on them… only issue was how were you to clean them? No, you can’t stand on the louvers. No, you can’t run a lift down through the landscaping. No, you can’t lean a ladder on them because they’re aluminum and will bend or scratch.
So I just told them I’d wfp them and since my pole had to go up between the louvers, I wasn’t going to guarantee anything. My guys were completely done with the inside by the time I got the top set of windows done.
Oh, and the inside was pretty sweet too. It went from 2 stories to 3 stories and the 3rd story windows were impossible to clean. It was like an atrium a bunch of cubicles at the bottom. No, a 40’ ladder wouldn’t fit because there was no way to set it up between cubicles. No, a lift wouldn’t work because there was not enough room for outriggers. No, an indoor wfp wouldn’t work because the windows got so freakin hot and no, someone didn’t want to be there at 5am to get the cleaned. Yes, there are light fixtures under the windows and NOBODY knows how they’re going to change the bulbs.
But the building is leed gold certified. Which basically meant that nobody could shut the blinds in the middle of summer or it would affect the cert. Oh, and the contractor screwed up the hvac AND the landscaping AND the plumbing and pretty much everything else.
Its all ego for these guys…
They are the Revolutionaries on their minds and the world needs to adapt. a
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None of them think about cleaning when drawing…
Hey Jared,
Although I am not sure what the roof looks like perhaps you can do the top exteriors from the roof leaning over/lying down flat the parapet…following OSHA standards of course. Thus, for the inside…would a scissor lift work? I could see the floor from the pictures you shared.
Hi all,
Architect here that DOES care about window cleaning 
I would love your guys’ input on a similarly challenging window/ glass railing design.
Imagine a design similar to the attached image, with the red part opening from inside, and the green part fixed. How much space do I need between the glass of the green area and the glass railing to fit cleaning tools in between to clean the green window (when standing in the red opening to reach over in between)? Minimum gap and ideal gap? Trying to keep it as small as possible while keeping easy access for window washing.
Thanks a lot!
Necro thread, but…
I’d say about 6" is the minimum for me. I’m in my 50’s though so don’t bother with craziness like that.
Ya you would just need to be able to get a wfp in from underneath. I think 6” does it.
When I have to deal with this, I use this tool I found from a multi-level called Norwex. I now see there are other versions of on the market. Hope this helps.
