Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Scottish Cleaning Service on September 19, 2025, 03:44:35 pm
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Don't know how I managed it but did a first clean last week and left some scratches on the front window when scraping off paint spots. It's a big new glass window and I think the scraper had rust on it. Not that deep, I heard baking soda or toothpaste can be used to remove them. Any help most welcome.
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Don't know how I managed it but did a first clean last week and left some scratches on the front window when scraping off paint spots. It's a big new glass window and I think the scraper had rust on it. Not that deep, I heard baking soda or toothpaste can be used to remove them. Any help most welcome.
We're you scraping on wet or dry glass? Never scrape on dry.
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And only scrape in one direction taking the blade off the glass between scrapes don’t use it like a saw
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Baking soda and toothpaste won't work so don't waste your time.
You should have told them before you started that you will try get the paint off, but if it causes any scratches you won't be liable.
Since you haven't done that, Google for someone who buffs scratches out of windows. If it's not a deep scratch then it should be able to be buffed out. Itl cost under £100.
If the scratch is to deep then the your going to have to replace the full unit, and not just the pane you've scratched.
Id get onto your insurance if I were you unless you fancy paying for the full unit to be supplied and fitted yourself.
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personall i only clean windows and frames with my brush,if theve had building work and theres dry cement or paint left on glass i tell them to get builders to remove it,so it they scratch glass they have to replace it,thats always worked for me and have never had any scratched glass issues to date
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Don't know how I managed it but did a first clean last week and left some scratches on the front window when scraping off paint spots. It's a big new glass window and I think the scraper had rust on it. Not that deep, I heard baking soda or toothpaste can be used to remove them. Any help most welcome.
We're you scraping on wet or dry glass? Never scrape on dry.
It was raining and I cleaned the windows and srapped them when wet. I remember at one point I was moving up and down. Thank, because I now realise I should have just moved in one direction and lifted off.
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And only scrape in one direction taking the blade off the glass between scrapes don’t use it like a saw
Thanks, was in a rush and used the saw motion. Looked great till later on when it dried out.
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personall i only clean windows and frames with my brush,if theve had building work and theres dry cement or paint left on glass i tell them to get builders to remove it,so it they scratch glass they have to replace it,thats always worked for me and have never had any scratched glass issues to date
Will be taking that approach in future. First time in 6 years so good learning experience. It was bound to happen to me, so will be remembering this especially if I can't repair the glass by polishing them out. Going to try to buff them out because they are not deep. If I can't then going to claim my liability insurance.
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You need a grinder that plugs in to a socket and a pad. Battery powered ones don't have enough power.
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With a concrete cutting disc on it. You won’t notice the initial scratches once you’ve finished with that
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No point in pishing about trying to polish it out , just pass it on to your insurance company and move on
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No point in pishing about trying to polish it out , just pass it on to your insurance company and move on
I expect the excess on the on the premium will be at least £250 and I doubt a pain of glass will be any ware near that figure , it’s far better paying for it out of your pocket unless it’s a huge piece of glass , you will have to declare the claim for the next 5 years and the premium will go up as well
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No point in pishing about trying to polish it out , just pass it on to your insurance company and move on
I expect the excess on the on the premium will be at least £250 and I doubt a pain of glass will be any ware near that figure , it’s far better paying for it out of your pocket unless it’s a huge piece of glass , you will have to declare the claim for the next 5 years and the premium will go up as well
Itl not be one panel. Itl be the full sealed glass unit that will need replacing. Only replacing 1 panels of glass has an effect on the overall seal of the unit. It's not recommended.
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You need a grinder that plugs in to a socket and a pad. Battery powered ones don't have enough power.
I was just going to use my battery drill. Watched some Utube videos and the optimal speed is 1200rpm. Bit I didn't realise its like sanding wood. Start with heavy grit and then work down to Cerium Oxide Powder to polish it. Me being a joiner means I have plenty of tools to do the job.
Have a few big scratches on my glass patio doors, so going to practice on one of them and see how it turns out, if I can polish them out then I will tackle the window. If I manage it then it will be another service I can offer my customers.
Picked up 3 new jobs yesterday a new score a month clean in the middle of 2 customers I have been cleaning for years. Always wondered why they never asked me to clean them, then the house got sold and new young couple asked me yesterday. Talking to my other customer and now I have the SFG to clean and clear gutters for them and then another job to scrape damaged paint off wall and repaint.
Back out today clearing a block of 4 homes gutters with vac. Tomorrow I am going to buy a 15m Vac hose because my 7.5m hose is far too small. The 2 ton SFG job will pay for the new hose, it looks like the gutter clears have came in early. Since the condition of gutters is in the home report means much more work for us so they can get them down to a number 1 again.
Stuff coming today and tomorrow so will report back when I tackle my patio door scratches.
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No point in pishing about trying to polish it out , just pass it on to your insurance company and move on
I expect the excess on the on the premium will be at least £250 and I doubt a pain of glass will be any ware near that figure , it’s far better paying for it out of your pocket unless it’s a huge piece of glass , you will have to declare the claim for the next 5 years and the premium will go up as well
Already claimed my liability insurance years ago. £100 excess, ladder fell on a new car's bonnet, cost £2,000 to repair it. Best £100 I have ever spent and my liability never went up much. The glass unit is 2.4m by 1.1m in the front room and it will take 2 folk to replace it, so its definitely an insurance job. Don't know if my excess is still the same or went up but will find out pretty soon. The customer was saying they are new windows and after they were fitted, he came home one day and the upstairs inside pane had exploded into hundreds of pieces so it must be toughened glass.
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You need a grinder that plugs in to a socket and a pad. Battery powered ones don't have enough power.
I was just going to use my battery drill. Watched some Utube videos and the optimal speed is 1200rpm. Bit I didn't realise its like sanding wood. Start with heavy grit and then work down to Cerium Oxide Powder to polish it. Me being a joiner means I have plenty of tools to do the job.
Have a few big scratches on my glass patio doors, so going to practice on one of them and see how it turns out, if I can polish them out then I will tackle the window. If I manage it then it will be another service I can offer my customers.
Picked up 3 new jobs yesterday a new score a month clean in the middle of 2 customers I have been cleaning for years. Always wondered why they never asked me to clean them, then the house got sold and new young couple asked me yesterday. Talking to my other customer and now I have the SFG to clean and clear gutters for them and then another job to scrape damaged paint off wall and repaint.
Back out today clearing a block of 4 homes gutters with vac. Tomorrow I am going to buy a 15m Vac hose because my 7.5m hose is far too small. The 2 ton SFG job will pay for the new hose, it looks like the gutter clears have came in early. Since the condition of gutters is in the home report means much more work for us so they can get them down to a number 1 again.
Stuff coming today and tomorrow so will report back when I tackle my patio door scratches.
The guy I use always used a grinder with a cord on it. Says battery powered tools don't have enough power for it.
Also if you can get your nail into the scratch then it won't buff out, and itl be a waste of your time.
Id highly recommend getting someone who does this for a living to carry out the job. When you take into consideration the money youl loose trying to buff them out, which will take you treble the time of someone who knows what there doing. It probably works out cheaper paying someone £100 instead of you spending half a day trying to do it.
And even then you might not have done it properly so have to call out someone anyway. It's not ideal but £100 isn't something that's going to keep someone up at night wondering how there going to get it.
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You need a grinder that plugs in to a socket and a pad. Battery powered ones don't have enough power.
I was just going to use my battery drill. Watched some Utube videos and the optimal speed is 1200rpm. Bit I didn't realise its like sanding wood. Start with heavy grit and then work down to Cerium Oxide Powder to polish it. Me being a joiner means I have plenty of tools to do the job.
Have a few big scratches on my glass patio doors, so going to practice on one of them and see how it turns out, if I can polish them out then I will tackle the window. If I manage it then it will be another service I can offer my customers.
Picked up 3 new jobs yesterday a new score a month clean in the middle of 2 customers I have been cleaning for years. Always wondered why they never asked me to clean them, then the house got sold and new young couple asked me yesterday. Talking to my other customer and now I have the SFG to clean and clear gutters for them and then another job to scrape damaged paint off wall and repaint.
Back out today clearing a block of 4 homes gutters with vac. Tomorrow I am going to buy a 15m Vac hose because my 7.5m hose is far too small. The 2 ton SFG job will pay for the new hose, it looks like the gutter clears have came in early. Since the condition of gutters is in the home report means much more work for us so they can get them down to a number 1 again.
Stuff coming today and tomorrow so will report back when I tackle my patio door scratches.
The guy I use always used a grinder with a cord on it. Says battery powered tools don't have enough power for it.
Also if you can get your nail into the scratch then it won't buff out, and itl be a waste of your time.
Id highly recommend getting someone who does this for a living to carry out the job. When you take into consideration the money youl loose trying to buff them out, which will take you treble the time of someone who knows what there doing. It probably works out cheaper paying someone £100 instead of you spending half a day trying to do it.
And even then you might not have done it properly so have to call out someone anyway. It's not ideal but £100 isn't something that's going to keep someone up at night wondering how there going to get it.
Thanks, sound advice. Don't know anyone who does it but I will be looking this week if I can't repair my own door scratch. As you say its all the time it takes trying to learn how to do it, never mind buying the stuff in the first place. Will let you all know how I get on.
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No point in pishing about trying to polish it out , just pass it on to your insurance company and move on
I expect the excess on the on the premium will be at least £250 and I doubt a pain of glass will be any ware near that figure , it’s far better paying for it out of your pocket unless it’s a huge piece of glass , you will have to declare the claim for the next 5 years and the premium will go up as well
Itl not be one panel. Itl be the full sealed glass unit that will need replacing. Only replacing 1 panels of glass has an effect on the overall seal of the unit. It's not recommended.
I replaced a patio door complete door glassed unit was only £150 including fitting so its worth paying for it rather than claiming obviously if it’s 3mx3m tripped glazed and costs 4k then yes insurance claim
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No point in pishing about trying to polish it out , just pass it on to your insurance company and move on
If it’s a basic liability insurance product, chances are it doesn’t cover properties being worked on. Even if it does the time you take the excess into account it’s probably not worth making a claim.
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There are companies that will send an employee to remove scratches for you. Minimum charge used to be £250 last time builders had to get someone out. Might be cheaper than replacement of a large panel. Phone around subject to your location.
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Well, ordered Mirka, 180, 500 and 1000 grit that fits on my 150mm sander. Trying to polish out scratches on my patio door but I need the 180 grit to grind down to scratch level. If I can polish out the scratches on my own door then I will tackle the window.
Just seems a bit bizarre sanding a pane of glass with 180 grit paper even though its made for glass. Scratching that window has now turned into an adventure that I never thought I would ever tackle. Plenty of work polishing car windscreens which seems to be where all the work is. Another sideline like Ceramic Coating, with some cars costing more than a house means there must be demand for it but I think I will stick to window cleaning.😂
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After many days on Utube and tackling my own patio door with a deep scratch, I managed to sand it down to scratch level and then polish it out. Managed to follow my usual pattern of buying lots of stuff that I didn't really need or was useless.
Popped by customer's house to try and polish a few of them out but I will need to sand them first and then polish the cloud out. Long drawn out process and my liability Insurance gets renew around now.
Doesn't rain but it pours, seems like all my mates running their own companies seem to be in the same boat.
Raining in the next few days so an ideal time to get stuck in and complete the task, only blessing is the neighbour came over and wants his windows cleaned every month, without the scratches.😂
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After many days on Utube and tackling my own patio door with a deep scratch, I managed to sand it down to scratch level and then polish it out. Managed to follow my usual pattern of buying lots of stuff that I didn't really need or was useless.
Popped by customer's house to try and polish a few of them out but I will need to sand them first and then polish the cloud out. Long drawn out process and my liability Insurance gets renew around now.
Doesn't rain but it pours, seems like all my mates running their own companies seem to be in the same boat.
Raining in the next few days so an ideal time to get stuck in and complete the task, only blessing is the neighbour came over and wants his windows cleaned every month, without the scratches.😂
The very reason you should have got someone who knows what there doing to get it out. There in and out within an hour.
Id see your point in wanting to learn something if it was something that you had to do quite often.
In 22 years though, I've had 2 scratches I've had to get fixed. So wasting my time for hours on end so I know how to do it is just pointless.