I’m scheduled to clean windows on a house with pretty severe (I’m thinking) nicotine deposits on the interior of the glass. I have read that I should wear gloves, possibly a long-sleeved shirt, and be careful about stains from water runoff.
I have never had any significant exposure to nicotine; I’m not sure how it will affect me. The client is super nice and I’m sure will be willing to renegotiate if there is a health hazard. Should I avoid this job? Also, do these deposits completely wash out of the scrubber, towels, and so on when I run them through the washer?
I get a headache from excessive exposure to nicotine when cleaning.
I use latex gloves and two separate cleaning kits.
With the first, I add Simple Green or Titan Green to cut the nicotine film. The second is my standard solution, and I want to keep it segregated to avoid contamination (which might leave a residue and/or streaks.)
I ensure that I have carefully placed sill towels to capture any runoff.
John Kieser posts that he presprays with an aerosol foam spray such as SprayWay.
I use the same method as Larry. I even spray the Titan Green (or Simple Green) directly on the windows if they are really bad. I have been meaning to try John Kieser’s method of using SprayWay foam on these windows the next time I run across one.
You have to be kidding right? Stop listening to the news reports that exposure to every little thing will kill you. You prob have more risk standing on a busy street corner in regards to exposure to a health hazard. Heck you get more smoke in your lungs sitting at a stop light with your windows down from the other cars. We tend to forget, that just about everyone in the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s smoked and most lived well into their 70’s and 80’s. Heck many of them smoked while pregnant. Not saying it’s good for you. Just saying don’t freak out this much about it. Some of the chemicals used to clean a window are more likely to harm you alot worse then a few hours exposure to some dried up nicotine. I have cleaned windows that have had mold spores on their frames and sills. I’m sure cleaning those did not do my lungs any justice. It’s all part of the job. Personally I would not charge more for this job. The only thing I charge more for is hardwater. If your that concerned about it, then pass up on the gig. Tell the customer to put a hazmat sign on their front door.
As far as your scubbers and towels. They will get stained and will be very hard to clean afterwards. You can still use them afterwards without any issues.
I tried sprayway the other day on a cigar shop we clean, and it worked like a champ. I sprayed down 2-3 window at a time, then went back to the first and scrubbed and squeegeed like normal.
Your very smart to be cautious. I’m a smoker, but my helper was not. A couple of years ago we cleaned a REALLY bad one and she did end up getting mildly sick, just from the nicotine absorbing into her hands.
Additionally, really make sure you have a drop cloth in place and hucks on the sills. The run off stains like crazy.
He should be ok. Heck I think people who do not smoke exaggerat their experiences from exposure to things. Not just nicotine. Heck opening the door to the local 7-11 gets all sorts of goodies on our hands. It’s just me, but I think this over healthly additude to life is not doing anyone any good. It’s good for sure to be exposed to nasty stuff. Makes us stronger. Heck when I was growing up most of the people would have laughed at a “Flu shot”. Most people are just unhealty cause they are disgusting, fat, lazy and have no will power. Yet they keep eating junk food and try an sue Mc D’s. You know the point I’m getting at. Just live your life and don’t worry so much about every little thing. If he is concerned about getting sick, wear a paper mask. I have never seen anyone who can proove their exposure to nicotine on a window put them in the hospital or bed for days. Like Larry, maybe a headache. But heck take asprin. You will stop your headache and “decrease” your risk of a heart attack. lol.
Ray’s right on the money here dude, Your not going to be poisoned from the nicotine but wearing those thin gloves won’t hurt, it’s just an add on to your process !
Say in my opinion Trisodium Phosphate will cut that stuff right off and put a glisten on the glass ! 2 to 3 tablespoons to 2 gallons of warm water will work great !
Also scrubbing will move the dirt and grease and saturate it in to the water. A boar hair brush will really help with the scrubbing and get into all the edges really well, a natural sea-sponge will help with the slop !
Getting slop all over the place is really bad in any aspect of window cleaning , so your process should always include keeping things clean and not slopped, either doing a window with nicotine or just dust !
Not being sloppy should always be S.O.P. standard operating procedures ! Ergo our title is Window Cleaners.
Good luck to you and please be safe in all that you do !
In some ways I completely agree with you. I think some people distance themselves from everyday bacteria and viruses with anti-bacterial sprays and hand gels, a little too much, and therefor never build any type of immunities to common germs. However, you can’t build immunities to chemicals-- which nicotine is. You can build tolerances though, and everybody has different ones.
Why even get a headache or stomach ache if you don’t have to?
Slap a pair of gloves on instead of that mask. The nicotine is on the glass (unless the home owner is there smoking while he works) and not worry about immunities, tolerances, headaches or anything other doing a damn good job and getting paid well for it.
Ray has a point. That being said the nicotine on the window is far more concentrated than anything the smoker is putting in their body. A headache when working on heavily nicotine stained windows is a signal from your body that it’s been poisoned. If you do enough of these jobs you might need to be more cautious but one or two a year won’t necessarily present a serious health threat.
Also, for an ex-smoker to be exposed to a large amount of nicotine is the same thing as an ex-alcoholic cleaning alcohol off of something, or Charlie Sheen cleaning crack off a Hooke… uh… well you get it.
I’ve never worn gloves because I was a smoker. I will now though.
I never thought of nicotine being a danger other than that of staining the walls below if you’re not careful. And that it’s disgusting. I haven’t dealt with any bad ones lately but I will definitely try the aerosol or Simple Green prespray.
I charge (no separate line item for “potential health hazard” LOL) more because it takes longer – to clean the windows and my tools afterward – and because I’ll prolly get a headache.
