Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: pylofm on March 11, 2007, 03:11:45 pm
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Have been getting a little cockey of late, early last week I thought I would try using a little less water on a couple of cleans. . . My varistream is usually set at the 12 o'clock position which is aprox 1.4lpm...as I said last week I tried a couple of houses at the end of a very busy day (read that to mean water getting low) with the varistream set at 10 o'clock and go a little faster....low and behold a customer rings and says the windows have not dried well...so does the other....so the following next day I attend both houses and yes the windows were awful...and I mean nasty, I then spend 2 hours re-doing the windows (complete)....so for all those thinking of 'scimping'...bear this in mind...I shall now continue to use a 'healthy' flow from now on.
Also I find that other wfp user on here show pics of them doing houses and quoting fast times...I have to admit I am not that fast and am a little scared to do so..
Have any of you tried the same or similar...what did you find?
Cheers
Dave. ;D
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I've done the same as you when water is getting low and turned the flow right down, haven't had any complaints yet but like you say probably risking things although jeff brimble tends to get by on a mugfull a house so maybe you were just unlucky ;)
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Have been getting a little cockey of late, early last week I thought I would try using a little less water on a couple of cleans. . . My varistream is usually set at the 12 o'clock position which is aprox 1.4lpm...as I said last week I tried a couple of houses at the end of a very busy day (read that to mean water getting low) with the varistream set at 10 o'clock and go a little faster....low and behold a customer rings and says the windows have not dried well...so does the other....so the following next day I attend both houses and yes the windows were awful...and I mean nasty, I then spend 2 hours re-doing the windows (complete)....so for all those thinking of 'scimping'...bear this in mind...I shall now continue to use a 'healthy' flow from now on.
Also I find that other wfp user on here show pics of them doing houses and quoting fast times...I have to admit I am not that fast and am a little scared to do so..
Have any of you tried the same or similar...what did you find?
Cheers
Dave. ;D
Were they first cleans?
I've noticed that a very low flow can cause spotting even on maintenance cleans. Sometimes I WFP Georgian front doors. I turn the flow down to keep the entrance way as dry as possible. Sure enough, loads of spots. I will only do that on obscure glass in future. Clear glass on front doors will either have a decent flow rate or be done by hand.
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Yep exactly the same here shiner since I flooded a hallway I turn the flow right down and get the dreaded spots on the door window.
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No shiner, they were not 1st cleans but most of my jobs are 8 weekly that may be part of the equation... :D
Have to admit that on some doors I just handbash them too ;D
As of late my confidence is not so high but I now intend to pay 'better' attention to what I am doing, was starting to 'coast' it.
Just did my whole house and have been around to check and 2 windows are not to the standard I would want but these were windows that I have not cleaned for 5 months, the rest are done every couple of weeks.
Cheers
Dave.
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I've done about seventy now with no complaints but I'm buggered if I can get my own house right! I can only think that most customers are not as critical as me either that or I'm too tired to do my own house properly. I've come to the conclusion that whilst this system is good it's not perfect. At least not with me operating it.
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I am starting to believe that wfp is good but I have yet to learn my optimal way of working with it . . . ;D
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wfp does my head in one job i do it took about four cleans to get right then it was good for the following two cleans , i did it again last friday and the spots where back i hadnt rushed the job or done anything different, i think its the not knowing how the glass will dry that anoys me ,with traditional you could look immediately and know you had done a good job with wfp you dont know untill someone complains and then you worry are the rest the same but people not mentioning it to you.
normally i look forward to the summer months this year i am not so sure with that bright sun showing up every mark ,personally i wish i could have stuck with the ladder ,yes it was harder and i couldnt get through as much work but there was piece of mind knowing when i left a job it was to a top standard.
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I've only been doing wfp for a month-never cleaned a window before so I can't even do trad if I wanted to. Had plenty of feedback- people saying what a great job I've done on their houses then I do mine and get really p***ed off that it's not perfect. Got my tds at zero and rinsing like mad using more water than I'm happy with, maybe no-one gets it right 'cos you need to be on the inside looking out after the windows have dried. Have to say they look brilliant from the road though. Several clean houses have been done by the established trad cleaners and every one is smeery in the right light.
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Davew.. Ive only been WFP for 8 weeks now and ive had my ups and downs but 99% ups and i used to be trad.... not missing trad at all now....
Bazz...
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Bazz what's your second cleans like-are you doing them frames and glass in one pass?
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Still do the frames first then the glass but i do it quicker and still get the same results so next time will be much quicker.
Bazz...
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wfp does my head in one job i do it took about four cleans to get right then it was good for the following two cleans , i did it again last friday and the spots where back i hadnt rushed the job or done anything different, i think its the not knowing how the glass will dry that anoys me ,with traditional you could look immediately and know you had done a good job with wfp you dont know untill someone complains and then you worry are the rest the same but people not mentioning it to you.
normally i look forward to the summer months this year i am not so sure with that bright sun showing up every mark ,personally i wish i could have stuck with the ladder ,yes it was harder and i couldnt get through as much work but there was piece of mind knowing when i left a job it was to a top standard.
Well at the moment I agree with you in that I am having my doubts that what I think has been a good job is such....I will be out doing leaflets this morning and this afternoon I'll do my own windows again to see what shows....
Cheers
Dave.
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It shouldnt have nothing to do with the amount of water you use.
If your water is reading 000 it will dry spotless weather you use a cup of water or gallons.But if your hitting the frames and your resin is going up thats when you will get spots.
Clean one of your own windows at home then cuck a cup of water over it you wont have any spots left
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It shouldnt have nothing to do with the amount of water you use.
If your water is reading 000 it will dry spotless weather you use a cup of water or gallons.But if your hitting the frames and your resin is going up thats when you will get spots.
Clean one of your own windows at home then cuck a cup of water over it you wont have any spots left
It will dry spotless........providing it's not contaminated before it has dried, that's the hit and miss bit as far as I'm concerned, I've said previously my parents house has been cleaned endless times by myself and I cannot get it to dry spot free, I did it again yesterday cleaning just below the top rubbers of the bottom glass and it dried perfect, next time I'm gonna include the rubbers and see what happens, if thats ok I'll do the top openers etc etc working my way up the window to find the problem, my bet would be on the rubbers perishing.
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John, your exactly right about rubbers perishing i have a few jobs like this and i do the same thing i brush upto and across the rubber but when rinsing i keep the rinse about an inch below the rubbers and the spot problem is solved.
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It sounds easy doesn't it? This WFP lark...I mean, what can be difficult about washing a window with a brush on a pole and a constant feed of pure water?
As several of you are finding, it isn't that easy at all, there is just so much more to it than meets the eye.
I have some accounts where all bar one or two windows come up perfect, but it is always the same couple of windows that don't, maybe it's the sealant thats used to glaze the pane in, maybe for some reason the surface of the window frame is awry, or maybe even it is just one of those panes of glass that always spots!
Upstairs windows, tough, live with it, downstairs windows you can just quickly nip round and drag your squeegee over the odd pane that you know doesn't come up right.
But ultimately it takes experience.
You will get the odd pane that will spot, and sometimes it is just a case of working out the right technique for a particular house or window.
Even with work done trad there can be errors and mistakes, some modern glass on patio doors can be a right sod to get right >:(
And then there are kicks, smears, lines, poor detailing....
Often these are mistakes best viewed from the customers perspective..FROM THE INSIDE!!
In the past I've often had an inside and out to do (Trad) only to find I've got to nip back outside and pick up a couple of runs or marks of some description.
AS for speed; now that really does come with experience!!
No good turning down your flowrate and then trying to work quicker than before! Wrong way around!! :o
On the occasions I need to turn my flowrate down a long way, I always slow down and take more time.
To work quuickly you need a healthy flowrate, but you also need to have the ability to work quickly and effectively with a high flowrate too :-\
AS time passes you learn how quickly you can work with a given flowrate, too high a flowrate (before you are used to it) and you are just wasting water.
Ahh yes...waggle a brush on a stick...easy innit ;).....not :'(
Ian
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John, your exactly right about rubbers perishing i have a few jobs like this and i do the same thing i brush upto and across the rubber but when rinsing i keep the rinse about an inch below the rubbers and the spot problem is solved.
I'd do it that way, except these problem windows are 2 top openers above 1 large pane of glass so unless I trad the openers then WFP up to the rubbers below (pain), I cannot help but get water on the rubbers, I even scrubbed the rubbers with gg3 and a firm bristled handbrush and they still left loads of lines of spots after:-\