Interested In Advertising? | Contact Us Here
Warning!

 

Welcome to Clean It Up; the UK`s largest cleaning forum with over 34,000 members

 

Please login or register to post and reply to topics.      

 

Forgot your password? Click here

[GQC] Tim

  • Posts: 4536
Double gothic windows and wfp. How?
« on: April 05, 2008, 08:55:10 am »
See picture attached. This or early next month is the big step for me to wfp, but this is a job where I'm absolutely terrified of using wfp. Traditional these are quite hard to do, the little top lights you clean with some spray and microfibre, while the main panes you need a completely different squeegee technique for to not leave behind lines, a new rubber is pretty much required.

Anyway, inside and out takes me 7-8hrs, and it's a very very good earner and my best customer.

How would I tackle this window with wfp? Most of them are in very good shape, cuz they are less then 2 years old. One or two places the putty didn't dry correctly, hence having a bit of moisture in there, which in turn cracked the paint. For the rest, they are very good quality. Also the actual (hope I explain this correctly) subframe which divides the window into gothic, isn't square edged, but the edges are a 45 degree angle on the glass, so where the top lights come together it's like the edge of a knife shape. I guess dirt can be trapped in there, so that needs a good wash. But there is a real big chance, that water will run down the subframe on the window, creating runs. Looks to be a nightmare for wfp. So how would I do this window? (sorry for the long explanation) I keep forgetting to take pictures, but I don't want to do that when they are in.

:)

Please click on the picture, it will open up to the big one, the thumbnail picture looks weird.


Alex Gardiner

  • Posts: 7744
Re: Double gothic windows and wfp. How?
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2008, 09:05:56 am »
I think this is a case where you will need a soft bristled brush (Bentley, Addis, Vikan Swivel, Vikan Oval) coupled with a swivel adapter which will allow you to get the point of the brush angled into the sharp point of the frame.  We do a few similar to this and you ideally do the window in stages.  So you go along and do all the top sections of the window in a run and then come back and do all the lower sections.  This way you minimize run down, particularly if the frame is a stone frame (which ours are).  We make do without a swivel adapter but that's because we don't have that many of these type of frames (10) on the job.

Whenever carrying out work on older gothic type windows that have stone frames between sections of glass, it is best to stage the clean, ie, clean the top section first, go away and come back and then do the bottom section.  Otherwise the stone will often leave a mineral rich run down on the lower section of glass.

macmac

Re: Double gothic windows and wfp. How?
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2008, 11:02:41 am »
Ditto alex

I would use a swivel & soft brush. if these are quite high a light pole would be the biggest bonus as you're probably going to have to do some twisting & turning with these ones.

Tony

[GQC] Tim

  • Posts: 4536
Re: Double gothic windows and wfp. How?
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2008, 08:30:21 pm »
Thanks a lot Alex, very good explanation, and I'm glad that even though I'm not yet wfp, this forum gave me some valuable tips already to spot things.

I've got a Vikan rectangular mono (red), the old Ionics multipole brush (crinkle) and the new multipole brush, which is a bit stiffer, I think I'll try the old Ionics brush, that one seems to be the softest, and is dual trim, which would hopefully be of benefit too. :)

Wayne Thomas

Re: Double gothic windows and wfp. How?
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2008, 06:51:02 am »
Biggest problem will be mineral runs from the stonework. Use your softest Ionics brush head. I concentrate on washing the glass at the top and side edges to loosen the dirt, then give a good rinse along the top & sides only and move onto the next window and do the same. When I've done all the windows like this, I'll go back and just clean the glass, making sure I stay well away from the stonework to avoid any mineral runs down the glass when it's drying up.

[GQC] Tim

  • Posts: 4536
Re: Double gothic windows and wfp. How?
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2008, 08:45:27 am »
The same applies to wooden frames then I guess. Thanks a lot for the comments. :)