http://www.windowcleaningkits.com/product-1698-Large-Natural-Sea-Sponge.aspx?source=GoogleBase
Saw a little discussion about the usage of the Sea Sponge to wipe sills and tracks. The guy I learned window cleaning from used them. I’ve grown accustomed to vacuuming sills & tracks and wiping them with a towel.
Do any of you guys use them and for what?
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Hey Dwight,[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I use a sea sponge on my store front window cleaning route. I carry it in my Ettore pouch outside pocket. I use it to wipe ledges, frames and the rubber on my squeegee blade. It also comes in handy on small panes of glass to wash them. The real sea sponge is much much better than synthetic sponges. I use Rock Island sponges because they hold up longer than Mediterranean. I use a small size so I can ring it out with one hand. [/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]For residential I use a terry cloth face cloth, stowed in my Ettore pouch to keep it handy. Residential work seems to tear up a sea sponge really fast. I use the cloth on screens, ledges, and tracks.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I need to try a chamois for mopping up like Uncle Phil suggests but I’m use to my sea sponge.[/FONT][/COLOR]
I keep one on my belt as well. The wierd thing is that it becomes part of your hand after you use it for a while. adding to all of the above it is nice to have to catch stray drips or to wet a small stubborn spot. They come in handy for a ton of things. Small pieces of glass like lights and stained glass. If you have one you will start to find uses for them.
I use the natural ones, mostly for interior on resi. It takes some time to get to like them and they seem to work better for me after they are a little broken in. I often hold them under my squeegee doing horizontal straight pulls and then to wipe any water left on the sill, after that I use a dry Huck around the edges. Since I don’t carry water inside with me, after they become saturated I wring it out on my (microfiber) mop and I only have to go out to get more water in my mop a couple times on a good size house. Using them has really cut down on how often I have to wash my Hucks.
I keep a sponge in my bucket for really messy sills. Works great.
So true Scott,
I feel naked without one.
Picked up some sea sponges today at Ace Hardware. The ones I have in my box were too worn for usage. Gonna put these babies to work very soon. 
Another thing about sea sponges-they never wear out! I always lose them before I use the up.
It’s important to rinse them out in clean water at night and let them dry if you want them to last as long as possible. Strong soap, like ammonia and TSP, will also shorten their life.
Dwight, I’m kinda glad someone said something about the sea sponges, I wanted to try them…now I’m gonna go get me some!
thanks
Go get some Matt 
… and let us know how it goes lol
Believe it or not they do wear out over time. They will eventually become really soft and start to break apart. Some faster than others. When you’re at the store feel for the ones that are stiffer, brighter beige color, more spongey-like. The softer, darker colored ones usually will fall apart on you really fast. Fast as in a month or two. I good one will last 4-5 months or more.
Like Matt said you may lose it before you use it up.
I don’t know if WCR has them in stock. Do they?
Like I said before the guy that taught me residential used them but I never got used to them. I talked to him recently and he still brags about how effective they are for sills and squeegee wiping. He feels lost without one as I recall one time him leaving the house we were at and going to buy one because he could not find one in his truck arsenal. lol
Got big snow in Charlotte the other day huh?
I always thought the darker unbleached sponges lasted longer if you take care of them. I still have one that I use everyday, it’s been with me for about 8 months now.
Hmmmm…Maybe I’m mistaken. I’ll have to go feel me some sea sponges today at Windows 101. Manny might get mad at me for groping his sponges in public:o
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana][COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]If they are Rock Island sea sponges they definitely do. [/FONT][/COLOR]I used to use Mediterranean. The Rock Island sponge is darker in color, stiffer, and lasts much longer than Mediterranean. I get the small size ones so I can squeeze them out with one hand. I carry it in my belt pouch so it’s close by at all times, right next to my squeegee.[/FONT][/COLOR]
PS
I switched back to Mediterranean because they hold more water.
Good topic!
Natural sponges hold a lot of water. And that’s a [B]good thing[/B].
But it can also be bulky and heavy, taking two hands to wring dry.
I really like a small sponge, I mean really small, baseball size. So that I can wring it almost dry with one hand. Natural sponges, when they get that small, are frail and flimsy.
It’s tough, because it takes months to get a sponge the way I like it…
In all fairness, I rarely use a sponge on outsides. I typically remove water with the squeegee.
On insides, I wring my small sponge into my BOAB.
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I totally agree carrying a small size sponge. Mine is bigger than a baseball but I wear extra large gloves. Small and easy to squeeze. 
[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I squeeze it out the window but sometimes that’s not cool, so I like the BOAB idea. I try not to squeeze the sponge into my regular bucket because it makes the water dirty really fast. [/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I do bring my regular bucket into the house, a lot of guys don’t. I set it up on a bath towel in a central location, where it can’t get tipped over, so I can rinse out my strip washer from time to time. I wet the glass with a 32oz. bottle of solution.[/FONT][/COLOR]
PS
They also mop up water much faster than a synthetic sponge. They just drink it in, it’s amazing!
I bring my bucket inside and throw it on a towel too. I look at it as a fail-safe place to go if things start to get messy. Homeowners often think they have these clean/pristine houses, but we know better. Our sponges and stip washers can get pretty funky! It’s nice to have a big bucket to clean things up.
You guys are convincing me, about the solution bottles. I never really thought about that…
The solution bottle is great because you can add just a little bit of water to your strip washer. Great inside for less mess. Also saves a little time not going back to the bucket. Don’t be lazy though, the strip washer needs to be rinsed out every so often in the bucket. 
PS
I carry mine in an Ettore pouch. I like the Ettore pouch because it is smaller than some of the other ones.
Oh! Lets not forget the sea sponge that’s in the pouch too. Nice and handy over my right hip pocket. 
