So Many Screens!

[COLOR=“Black”][COLOR=“Black”]I did a residential clean with over 40 screens!

I had trouble remembering where they all went.

I recall people mentioning they would "mark"
their screens? Would that be for remembering where
they went or did I misunderstand?
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How do you keep track of all window screens?[/COLOR]

In the same way dogs mark their territory, some WC’ers “mark” screens to ward off the competition.

I probably do screens differently than msot others out there but I’m not sure. I pop out the screens from inside the home and gently toss them infront of the window where I can. On the second story I hold the screens out flat and then give them a simple outward push into the air and they float down. Then once out side I collect the screens up on each side of the house so there are four sets already on each side I do not gather them up to one spot, each side of the house has a spot for those screens. You can usally tell which ones are the top screens because of where they floated down to and the bottom screens are close to the their windows.

Next I take my bucket of solution and washing wand and clean the screens on the spot. I then knock them out and finsh the screen with a towel. I do that for every screen and then go to the next side of the house where the next set of screens are.

This way my screens are where I need them and I know where they go.

That’s how I do them too. :smiley:

Sometimes I can’t use that system and have to mark them. I use a fine sharpie pen and write across the top edge of each screen so the writing can not be seen when the screen is instauled.

The label will mention which side of the house and which floor. It also gets a number indicating the order from the left corner of that side. (F2-1) (F2-3)

Oh! I almost never have to mark them.

Steve Wright taught me how to do this:

You can seperate the house into the front back left and right. You can also seperate more by doing porch or extra for a mother-in-law place.

When you are facing the house you read the windows like a book. For example if you are on the right side of the house and they have three windows with screens upstairs and 4 windows down you would mark those screens like this:

UR1, UR2, UR3 “U” stands for upstairs and “R” stands for right. 1,2 and 3 mean that 1 is the top left window and so on.

R1, R2, R3 and R4 “R” stands for right. and the 1234 is windows that have a screen on them starting from the left.

I hope this makes sense. That method is used for the technique of gathering all the screens together. If you don’t do that and just clean them where they stand you don’t really need to do that.

I don’t know about marking territory or not. It sure won’t stop me from washing a house. That is probably a joke. It’s hard to understand things sometimes via posts.

Deland

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Me too! :smiley: Steve Wright has an excellent how to run a window cleaning business manual. I guess that’s where I learned my system as well. :cool:[/FONT][/COLOR]

I used the advise of others and marked my screens with a sharpie, probably did not need to because I did not have so many. However, since I am still stumbling around a bit trying to discover the best working system for myself, marking the screens did save me from potential confusion! :slight_smile: I did struggle getting a couple of screens out, but that was because they had been installed wrong. Also I followed the advise of using a paint can key and it worked wonderfully!

Joie ~ N. CA

I’ve met his friend who is a midget dwarf, he’s the model for trophies.He also doesn’t know what to add to his powdered water. :smiley:

I don’t mark screens. I seperate into stacks by each floor, but that’s it. Am I the only one that doesn’t mark screens?

Most of the screens around here are on the interior. They still need to be cleaned, but less often and they’re usually easier to clean when they do need it … so typically they only need a good wipe down when we’re cleaning insides.

Whats a sharpie?

this is a sharpie


Oo-er - permanent marker on some ones stuff!

40 screens is a lot of screens but generally what i do is separate them by a side of the house so generally you would have 4 piles of screens in order they were taken off from left to right or opposite.

I use sharpies to draw fake beards on peoples pictures.

Like your style :slight_smile:

+1

We dont mark screens because it takes too long. Just separate by floor and put the screens back where they fit.

This is how I handle screens:

1.) Start at the front of the house (this is the starting point for all homes)

2.) Take off the screen. Your first screen is #1, it is marked that way.

3.) Go all the way around the house repeating the process for each screen and going up on the number for each respective screen.

4.) Send someone to the second floor. That person floats them down (or if they’re not too dirty carries them down stairs) to the guy waiting below. He catches or at least deflects them from a hard landing. This guy numbers them before he sends the down. he does so in the same exact fashion as the ground level screens.

5.) Stack all numbered screens up in pile on driveway or other flat concrete.

6.) 2,4,6 at a time (depending on space available) rinse off large debris, scrub with Tide w/Bleach Alternative using a scrub brush on a 5’ paint pole

7.) Flip and scrub the other side. Pick them up. Rinse standing the screen on one of it’s corners. Set aside to dry

8.) Replace screens after everything else is done.

Just like this everytime. The repitition is monatonous, but it works really well, even for new guys on the crew.

When we do a home with 40 plus screens, we start on the inside and float the screens down. The lower windows are gently placed beside the window leaning against the house.

Then we gather the uppers and lean them against the garage in a very organized fashion. Same thing with the lowers but on the other side of the garage. Then we wash them with tide, scrub brush and lots of water.

Couple advantages to this method.
1- They come very clean
2- Homes with 40+ screens around here are always 4000 ft.2 plus and are in good neighborhoods, so washing them in the front yard (driveway) is great advertisement.
3- It’s very easy to put these screens back in just by looking at the window before you climb the ladder! Usually go back in way easier from outside too!

[COLOR=“black”][COLOR=“black”]Good Responses.

Thanks guys for your input and advice.[/COLOR][/COLOR]
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