Spray window cleaners for second story house

[wrkirt]

I know my fellow TUGGERS will be able to help with this one. Our new house has lots of dirty windows and i am too cheap to pay someone to clean them. Has anyone had really good luck with any of the window cleaners that you connect to the garden hose and then spray and let self dry. Any suggestions for other cleaning solutions for first floor windows would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance to all who reply

Bill K in Cambridge Maryland

 

[Transit]

If the widows were neglected for a long while and really need a good cleaning you may need to buck up and pay a pro at least once.If the windows are real bad they may need to have residue scraped.

 

[Makai Guy]

My knees have gotten too arthritic to do much ladder climbing. On recommendation of friends and neighbors, we've used the Windex brand hose-end spray stuff with surprisingly good results. Not as good as a good manual cleaning, but better than expected.

 

[pjrose]

Can you tilt your windows so you can more easily get at the outsides? If not, it's a real pain.

We used a service once; they did an ok job, but weren't able to get off the years of accumulated deposits from the aluminum screens. They said it was etched, but I later used a product that took care of it. Unfortunately I don't recall its exact name, and last time I looked, it seemed to have discontinued. I think it had Zap in the name, but it is not the same Zap that turns up in internet searches.

Maybe the reason it worked so well and was discontinued was nasty chemicals?


If you decide to do it yourself, you may get some ideas here:

http://tugbbs.com/forums/search.php?searchid=1675997

 

[JoePa]

As Doug (Makai Guy) says, the Windex product works really well. We use it but with a little twist... I spray the washing solution on the windows. I attached a brush to the end of an extension pole that is used to vacuum a swimming pool. I bought a brush with a short (~ 6") handle, inserted the handle in the end of the pole and taped it in with electrical tape. After I brush the windows with the soapy water on them, I rinse them off and wallah... windows as clean as those done with elbow grease.

We get 2 - 3 cleanings of the windows doing it this way since you just soap the window up and brush it rather than using a lot of soapy solution to clean the windows.

I keep this brush and pole in the garage so I don't need to tape it in each time I do the windows. We have 10 second floor windows and it takes me about 20-25 minutes to do the job.

Joe

 

[Elan]

I just cleaned the windows on our two story. Home Depot has numerous extension poles with scrubbing pads on one side and a squeegee on the other. They work great when used with glass cleaner concentrate diluted with water (also available at HD). Maybe not as clean as a professional job, but a lot cheaper.

 

[TheDuke]

Window Cleaning

I too have had reasonable success with the spray-on remote washers. It is definitely less effective that being able to climb up and scrub the surfaces directly, but it does seem to work pretty well. High Ladders are heavy, clumsy and are inherently unsafe places to be, especially for an old geezer like me. Intact bones and inner components are much more important than a crystal gleam on elevated windows anytime!!

TheDuke