2 of my last 4 window cleanings I have had major problems with a milky white substance forming on the windows. For example, if I’m cleaning the outside of a window and I even touch the frame with the cleaning wand it will make a white milky substance. I then will wipe the substance all over the window. Then, I will have to clean the window like 5 times and make sure I don’t touch the frame again and pick up anymore substance. This is “REALLY” slowing me down. It’s taking me 4 times longer to do jobs like this. Now, I am a rookie I’ll admit and I’m just getting started with window cleaning. If any of you have any tips on how to deal with this issue I would greatly appreciate it. I’m using Unger Pills as my cleaning solution but I don’t think that has anything to do with it. Thanks in advance for any help.
If you’re dealing w/ vinyl or aluminum clad windows the problem is oxidation of the frames. You could rinse the edge of the frame w/ a squirt bottle and then clean the window.
I refer to those type of windows as bleeders. If you can’t do them with a WFP then the best bet is to use a solution with very little soap. As the soap seems to pull more of the paint away from the frame. I have no experience with the Unger pill so I don’t know how soapy it is. Another thing that helps is adding a little alcohol to your mix. You should also be very conscious of how you detail the edges. You really need to use a two rag system. One to get up almost all of the water on the edges and one for a final clean. On the final detail its very important to make sure that none of the white stuff is on the part of the rag you use for the final detail. I usually use one finger for this.
If these jobs are taking you 4 times longer then you could speed things up by going around the house with an extension pole fitted with a truck washing brush and bucket of solution. Do a pre-scrub concentrating mostly on the frames to rid them of the oxidation. Use a garden hose with an adjustable spray nozzle to rinse the frames and glass off. It should be faster and you could knock it out from the ground instead of spending all of that time on a ladder on high windows.
After this you can then clean the glass in a much quicker fashion the traditional way. (I’m assuming that you don’t have WFP)
If the frames aren’t badly oxidized this method would be overkill but you said that it’s taking you 4 times longer due to the oxidation. Go ahead and do a really good clean this time and when you come back to this job the second time you won’t have the oxidation to deal with, unless they wait 2 or 3 years to have their windows cleaned again.
I usually see this on white vinyl windows. Kind of like faded vinyl siding, if you rub your finger against it, you will have the oxidization crud on your finger. Use a huck to detail once around the window frame, then a scrim. Works great.
I agree with this one. Sometimes you have to prewash the frames(and this doesn’t fix the problem , it just lessens it) Make note if it’s a regular. You’ll see it next time too.
“because glass looks it’s best when you can’t see it”
I agree with this one. Sometimes you have to prewash the frames(and this doesn’t fix the problem , it just lessens it) Make note if it’s a regular, cuz’ you may see it next time too. It helps to work a little wet on these too.
“because glass looks it’s best when you can’t see it”
If you use GG4 that doesn’t bleed as much, you shouldn’t have to clean any of the frame. Use a smaller applicator, don’t touch the frame at all. It may also help if you detail the outside before squeegee-ing & use dog-ear squeegee’s.
DIITO that…very important…it works
From what I gather some in this thread are cleaning the glass only but wiping the edge of the frame just along the glass.
It’s personal preference but I like to clean the whole window which includes washing all of the loose oxidation off of the frames. I use WFP as often as possible and with a good scrubbing with it the loose oxidation will come right off. It does require a bit more rinsing but results are really good.
A pre-scrub with your regular solution will do wonders before doing the WFP scrub & rinse.
Before I had a WFP I used to get up to the window and scrub the oxidation off with hucks (wet with solution) and it took forever if they were really bad. That’s when I’d yank out the truck brush on an extension pole and rinse with garden hose. Thanks to the WFP I don’t have to do that anymore.
Thanks guys. What would I do without this forum.
skip the window 
ok this time in all seriousness…
i agree with sharen and hunterst… two rag system… dont worry about the “milky substance” when youre wetting it down, it should come off when you squeegee it off… just make sure you do your final detail with a clean rag or a clean part of your rag and you wont smear anything around
I wonder if EaCo Chems product SafeRestore would work. It is designed for oxidation on frames.
As others have said it’s oxidating or ‘chalking’ paint that makes the milk and it’s the sun which causes this as you will rarely see it on the shady side of a house. You will know immediately if you are going to run into this by running your finger down the frame - if you get white on it you will get it on the glass and your rags. In my experience (assuming you are hand washing and not WFP) the best thing is try as best you can to never wet a badly oxidating frame with your brush and then to detail the edge very carefully. Realistically you will never avoid the white completely but at least you can keep it to a very tiny amount that you can deal with during detailing.
It’s not ideal on any frame other than anodized aluminum. It could brown while vinyl and worse yet, it can break the seals in dual paned windows if not rinsed properly and thoroughly. (i know from experience)
great product and love it, but not for removing oxidation on vinyl or painted alum frames.
Also, not very cost effective or eco-friendly solution for such an easy-to-fix problem
Kurt,
I would suggest to cut back on your soap a little to see if things improve. A few summers ago, we were having a difficult time with those milky marks for about a week straight. Back then we were using Dawn dish soap. Im not sure what was going on but we switched to palmolive anti bacterial and have never had an issue since. Maybe we got a case of Dawn that had the chemical ingredients off or something. All I know is that I cleaned a foyer window about 4 times before it looked good:mad:! We do run into the chalky window issue from time to time but if you are getting it pretty regularly, I would almost bet its your soap.
Steve
Buildings that have been repainted will pose a threat as well,set aside the condition of the frames, be prepaired to wash more than once, the choice of WFP or trad should come to mind depending on how soon the job needs to be completed, I am assuming low level glass, do them trad for a few visits
pretreat frames as mentioned,wash as normal, go back and stay off the top
its a trade off at this point
Wiih this type of streaking, pay close attention to the reason why, most times the building has been upgraded, a price increase is in order, as it could bleed like this for quite a while
