I was out this morning at one of my customers. They are remodeling their dealership. They will be needing a cleaning. Upon my inspection, I found labels on almost every thermo pane stating “LOW E ON THIS SIDE”. This was on the inside the showroom surface. I always thought that the LOW E coating was in between the glass. I have always been told that the LOW E coating will scratch very easily. I am wondering if anyone has seen this. I found some of the glass was soft. I put some pressure on some of the office glass and it felt mushy. Can anyone help.
You could try TSP (trisodium phosphate) 1 tablespoon per gallon for your solution. I like the TSP + whitepad because it will get anything that needs to be removed off the glass without tempting me to use a razor or steel / bronze wool. Do not use anything abrasive. For whatever reason (maybe because you are cleaning film and not glass) I find that straight pulling works better on hydrophibic films. TSP and straight pulling for me.
Be careful!!! You are correct about the coating on interior of igu. Better inform your customer of the exposed coating ( which is crazy stupid design or glass co’s mistake hoping no one notices…ya, seen it done) and i would back up your claim w documents of coating softness w pure possibility of unavoidable coating damage due to the obvious.
How old is this building/glass? Late 70’s to late 80’s?
crazy stupid is more common than you’d think. Sick Gary Mauer on 'em. He’ll straighten them out.
Doesn’t even stress me out anymore telling someone that their windows are defective. I don’t use that word… "you’re windows are special"
Because it’s so common that these mass produced windows are pretty much junk. I’ve learned to not worry if a job doesn’t come out perfect because the windows are defective. Don’t expect perfection.
that sticker doesn’t mean that the coating is on the exposed piece of glass. it means it’s on the inner surface of that pane, the insulated side. the sticker helps the installer orient the glass properly so that the low-e coating does it’s job: in this case, to reflect inside ambient heat back to the inside while still allowing light to pass through. if the coating was on the other pane of glass it would do the opposite, reflect outside heat away from the inside.
it’s not a defect. the surface you are actually cleaning is just straight glass. clean it as normal.
All my builders buy low-e windows. We blade them. Have to no other way to get all paint and stickers off. Chemical and 3M, steel/bronze wool gets you so far. If need to blade keep really wet. If not covered with paint use Goof Off painters prep, denatured alcohol ant the pads to loosen the paint. There is also paint thinner, acetone. I like TSP as well used substitute and regular but found the powder a bugger to dissolve, even with hot water. Try that first. If not coming off go to goof off, alcohol, or thinner. Might save you. No luck you can use a blade just don’t go crazy and keep wet. I spray while I scrape. If possible do a test. If need to go chemical only it could add to your cost. We use the sprays in conjunction with blade. Since builders won’t pay more if special glass we learned to adapt.
I dare say there is not much paint. You may just get lucky and see little paint. I would use the denatured alcohol or TSP. Gets thick or a lot of paint along edges use the goof off.Not working blade the edges and corners where usually the thickest (unless they taped then the center is painted.
I called a few companies. Some film the interior if single pane. You may be right since the windows should be rather large and double pane. If the sticker is still there look up the manufacturer online. I do that with the 2 brands used around here. They also state what they recommend to clean with. I think Pella had one use Muric acid and water mixture. If you do blade just be sure to look over all the glass first to find scratches and defects. You will find when you blade it will seem smooth in one area and all of a sudden rough in a few spots. I proceed with caution because not sure if glass debris or rough coating during fabrication. I have more trouble with low-e than tempered. See if it has a tempered symbol in corner. I dare say these may be tempered for safety reasons with a low-e in between. If they are have that statement of understanding signed by builder. There is a lot of info on here about fabrication debris. If these are large windows there is a good chance there may be defects. I flush so never a problem. Most get glass moist and scrape away.
Seriously? Both sides? Shows you just detached the window folks are in their own reality. No connection to the outside world.
I cleaned some interior French Doors the panels have a thin plastic film. Painters paint everything and the film peels right off. Minor blade detail in corners and a bit of film that was stuck. Why can’t they do this to all glass? builders wont cover them. Only true builders and craftsman are careful with glass. Peel-N-Stick film protect the windows, just peel the thing off and simple spray and rag do the rest.
There is much confusion about low-e. Cheaper windows have only a side 1 and 2. Quality windows may have 4 surfaces. 1 being inside and 4 outside. Hot climate windows place low-e on surface 3. which is inside between the panes. If you have a simple low-e it is placed on inside. I called the manufacturers of my typical windows Maritech and All America. Coating is durable but depends on who makes the coating. I also played with a broken window a builder was replacing on single pane. and there was no second layer of glass just 1 but low-e sticker. You just need to know your windows used in your area. If you are anal like me, get that bad window from a builder and practice using products like chemical or scraper and see what technique works best. That is why clean normally but with a touch of caution.
My employees doing new const could care less about this. They just go and get the paint off. My problem isnt with the coating but with some of the stickers that are baked onto the glass. Even pre soak and graffiti remover has a tough time loosening it. Many scratches happen in sticker areas. Small dirt particles man get stuck on the adhesive and scrape without being careful and there you go. That’s my experience anyway
The low-e round scrapes right off. Usually the paper sticker in the lower left corner or top manufacturer one. If it were that glue a gun would work but TX sun bakes it on already had heat treatment. The other stickers come off with a quick scrape these you stop dead and wish you could use a hammer and chisel. Soaking gets paper wet. Key is to get paper wet enough to rub off and exposing the glue. Products like goof off works but its hard so remover takes a while to soften. On these stubborn ones its a careful scrape a bit flush a bit at a time.
I even emailed the manufacturer and asked them about trying a plastic sticker, change glue maybe, explained the issues with this sticker, and most of all Must there be 5-6 stickers all over the place! Not going to happen. I am sure they can make 1 with all the info on it.
Have I seen Pella. Heck no. Those are for rich folk. I see them on “This Old House” and remodeling shows.
Per code here the “tempered” glass is placed in bathroom, door glass. Safety glass breakage code type thing.
i had only been a cleaner a few months when i ran into my first and only house with new low-e +woodframes . about a third of the windows had been assembled incorrectly with low-e surface on the outer and these were impossible to squeegee .Also all the glass units had a fine smear of non hardening silicone sealing the frame to glass -this smeared if touched like the glue it was. However ,after several visits id got on top of it ,using just a damp scrim to carefully wipe off the solution
my guess is that young lads do the assembly of the glass in the factory unsupervised and as long as it looks ok at a glance nobody minds
it was easy to see it was low-e ,as you walked towards it ,it looked tinted but it wasnt tinted if that makes sense-also on the glazing bar between the panes at the edge it was stamped low e . iv noticed that here in the uk the glazing bars are dated when the window is made and often also have the houses number /street name printed on them in a slanted computer style of lettering
The other stickers come off with a quick scrape these you stop dead and wish you could use a hammer and chisel. Soaking gets paper wet. Key is to get paper wet enough to rub off and exposing the glue. Products like goof off works but its hard so remover takes a while to soften. On these stubborn ones its a careful scrape a bit flush a bit at a time.
