[andy2847]

hi guys
i am going through about 50-75 ltrs on a 4 bed detached house on first cleans at the moment. is this too much water? rinsing and scrubbing like crazy, have a freedom trolley which is set to about 30. 30 what i dont know just know it comes out well and at good pressure for rinsing. dont want any call backs so initially using lots of water. is this a good idea?? or can i hold back on the amount i use, these are all 4 bed detached about 20  quid a house.
cheers
Andy

[NWH]

To much water if you ask me,i can clean that size house in 15 minutes at 1.5-2 ltrs a minute =roughly 25-30ltrs.

[scud]

To much water if you ask me,i can clean that size house in 15 minutes at 1.5-2 ltrs a minute =roughly 25-30ltrs.

  Here we go again, 15 minutes I do not believe, please consult your wrist watch a bit more.

[macmac]

To much water if you ask me,i can clean that size house in 15 minutes at 1.5-2 ltrs a minute =roughly 25-30ltrs.

  Here we go again, 15 minutes I do not believe, please consult your wrist watch a bit more.

It's like when people get their first diesl car. They can suddenly go from scotland to devon on 3 quids worth of juice!

[gary999]

hi guys
i am going through about 50-75 ltrs on a 4 bed detached house on first cleans at the moment. is this too much water? rinsing and scrubbing like crazy, have a freedom trolley which is set to about 30. 30 what i dont know just know it comes out well and at good pressure for rinsing. dont want any call backs so initially using lots of water. is this a good idea?? or can i hold back on the amount i use, these are all 4 bed detached about 20  quid a house.
cheers
Andy

i wouldnt worry about it iwas the same when first used wfp its a learning
curve end of day as you get more experienced your water usage will
gradually reduce 6months from now you will be surprised how little water
you will be using compared to when you first started.

[NWH]

You lot are just to slow lol,or old.

[scud]

You lot are just to slow lol,or old.

  Or can understand a watch!!

[concept]

if its not a first clean, 15 mins "on the glass" has to be achievable surely?!

[scud]

if its not a first clean, 15 mins "on the glass" has to be achievable surely?!

  But thats not doing the house, there is more to it than just cleaning glass.

  I am 5 years wfp and am considered to be pretty quick by other cleaners  and know others who are very experienced, I bet none of them can do a 4 bed house in 15 mins.

  I've said it before, some people need a new watch!

[michael papworth]

I've often thought that most of the water I use is completely wasted. I try to be much more economical these days.

You see, you need a good flow of water to rinse, but only a very modest flow when soaking and scrubbing.

These days I soak the window in the time-honoured way: top, sides, bottom and then turn the water off to give a good scrub. Then, turn the water back on to rinse.

I'm using maybe 25% less than before and I'm sure that I could save even more if I used a trigger rather than a ball valve.

Just a thought.

Of course, for maintenance cleans, this isn't necessary as the glass is usually just a bit dusty. It's only first cleans or very dirty windows that need scrubbing.

[Mike 108]

A 4-bed house with big windows (not the ‘farty’ little things that they put in new houses) takes me 30 minutes minimum to do glass and frames – but I am slow, I admit it. I could go faster, but I don’t want to (I’m too old to be dashing about).

However, on the odd occasion that the windows looked like they didn’t need cleaning, I have giving them a ‘quick scrub and rinse’ only to find that the end result was not as good as usual – a bit of ‘spotting’ that the occupier probably wouldn’t notice, but that I knew was there.

Mike

[Mike 108]

I've often thought that most of the water I use is completely wasted. I try to be much more economical these days.

You see, you need a good flow of water to rinse, but only a very modest flow when soaking and scrubbing.

These days I soak the window in the time-honoured way: top, sides, bottom and then turn the water off to give a good scrub. Then, turn the water back on to rinse.

I'm using maybe 25% less than before and I'm sure that I could save even more if I used a trigger rather than a ball valve.

Just a thought.

Of course, for maintenance cleans, this isn't necessary as the glass is usually just a bit dusty. It's only first cleans or very dirty windows that need scrubbing.

I think I agree with you, Wally ("most of the water I use is completely wasted"). I do use 'triggers' and find that their biggest advantage is being able to stop the flow of water every few seconds to allow scrubbing without unnecessary use of water.

I only release water on the upward stroke and stop the flow of water for the downward stroke.  So i have convinced myself that I'm only using half as much water as someone without a trigger.

However, others have said that a high flow of water cleans quicker and rinses quicker, enabling the job to be completed quicker and therefore using the same, or less, water per job.

Mike

[NWH]

A 4-bed house with big windows (not the ‘farty’ little things that they put in new houses) takes me 30 minutes minimum to do glass and frames – but I am slow, I admit it. I could go faster, but I don’t want to (I’m too old to be dashing about).

However, on the odd occasion that the windows looked like they didn’t need cleaning, I have giving them a ‘quick scrub and rinse’ only to find that the end result was not as good as usual – a bit of ‘spotting’ that the occupier probably wouldn’t notice, but that I knew was there.

Mike

I can do 2 4 bed leadlight houses in 40 minutes that`s cleaned packed up and driving away,i can`t believe this is not being achieved by the more experienced WFPolers out there.I`m not bragging what`s the point i`m just saying how long certain jobs take me to do,a 4 bedroom house is not a big job for me.

[leapstallbuildings]

A 4-bed house with big windows (not the ‘farty’ little things that they put in new houses) takes me 30 minutes minimum to do glass and frames – but I am slow, I admit it. I could go faster, but I don’t want to (I’m too old to be dashing about).

However, on the odd occasion that the windows looked like they didn’t need cleaning, I have giving them a ‘quick scrub and rinse’ only to find that the end result was not as good as usual – a bit of ‘spotting’ that the occupier probably wouldn’t notice, but that I knew was there.

Mike

I can do 2 4 bed leadlight houses in 40 minutes that`s cleaned packed up and driving away,i can`t believe this is not being achieved by the more experienced WFPolers out there.I`m not bragging what`s the point i`m just saying how long certain jobs take me to do,a 4 bedroom house is not a big job for me.

A 4 bed house should be quite achievable in 15 minutes.  I wouldn't do it with all 4 bed houses but if access etc was OK then no problem.  I once timed myself on a bog standard 3 bed semi from getting out of the van, unloading kit, cleaning etc.  My key was in the ignition ready to leave in 9 minutes.  It was an easy access job with no aggravating factors and yes, I did do top frames and sills.  Whether I would want to or be able to work like that all day long is another issue.

[pingu]

When we all started I bet we all useds lots of water...don't worry about it Andy....you find that you'll use loads of water to start then somewhere down the line you'll get really confident and you'll start using less and less and THEN...you'll get a call as some of the windows you cleaned 'today' have spots on them and that is because you were too fast and use too little water...it's just an experiance thing and it'll come...dont not worry about using too much water right now...just make sure you do a good job for your custy's...the rest will come in time..

Oh yeah..some people here can clean houses very fast, some not so fast...it's all about finding whats right for you.

Cheers
Dave

[ftp]

The original post was for first cleans and yes, you will use a lot of water on a first clean to do a proper job. Ignore the braggers, it's not about speed it's about doing a good job. Once you can do a proper job then your speed improves naturally as you enter maintenance cleans.
 You have to use a lot of water to shift all the dirt from the frames and sills - probably double or treble the amount you would normally use on a maintenance clean.

[karygate]

when i first started i used a lot more water than i do now. if i have a big first clean i turn the flow down while doing the frames . this helps .

[Pj]

hi guys
i am going through about 50-75 ltrs on a 4 bed detached house on first cleans at the moment. is this too much water? rinsing and scrubbing like crazy, have a freedom trolley which is set to about 30. 30 what i dont know just know it comes out well and at good pressure for rinsing. dont want any call backs so initially using lots of water. is this a good idea?? or can i hold back on the amount i use, these are all 4 bed detached about 20  quid a house.
cheers
Andy

In answer to your question - That is about normal for 1st clean, maybe a bit too much, but better to get it right first time.  I still would go through about 40 - 50 ltrs on a 4/5 bed detatched if it was dirty dirty.

[AuRavelling79]

Yesterday I did three 1930's semi's together - the sort you get in an area which is private but similar to local authority houses - but with a 3 facet downstairs bay as an extra and a sidepanel on the door.

The first two were regular cleans - one georgian, the other UPVC - the 3rd (UPVC) was a first clean and looked like it had not been cleaned for about a year on some of the top frames, maybe the owner had had a go at the bottoms six months ago.

I did not have to move the van for any of these three and they took me 70 minutes from driving up to driving away - including a quick look round and pricing of the third house and doing the job immediately.

House 1 (monthly) georgian £13.50   20 minutes
House 2 (2-monthly) £10.00 15 minutes
House 3 (1st clean) £15.00  35 minutes
(inc setting out and packing away)

I didn't measure the water flow but as you can see House 3 took about twice as long as the others and I guess twice the water.

So the original poster? If your 4 bed was a rabbit hutch 70's/80's upvc jobby I reckon unless it was minging you probably used more water than necessary. If it was a 30's bayed window house then about right.

Halve or even third it for maintenance cleans.