[dai]

One of my customers [now ex] came running out this morning. "I'm not having them done with that thing"
The reason for his outburst was that pure water running down from a window without sills had left the artificial slate cladding a paler colour. I tried to explain that it was only dirt that had been washed off. He said "those poles are no good anyway, they dont clean bird muck". It's funny that the people that saw the first Newsnight programme didn't see the follow up.
I did the rest of the houses in that row off the ladder. The guy came out and said It's ok if you do them like that. I told him to go and whistle Dixie.
Now the only reason I went up the ladder at all was to isolate him from his neighbours before he whips up some anti WFP frenzy. I carried on as before with WFP in the adjoining rows.
Have any of you encountered this problem with pure water leaving pale marks?
Dai

[24-7 S C Services]

Hi Dai,

Well let me tell you about my day.

Brand New customer, massive house 60 windows. Has not been cleaned for over a year.

Double glazed, wooden frames.

Every window that opened leaked, Spent an extra 10 mins, inside scrimming the runs on the inside.

The paint work outside was dirty, so now they have nice clean runs down it.

Customer’s comments. 'Wow, I can see through my windows now, oh and look; my husband cannot tell me the house does not need painting anymore'

So I was lucky their, but it was a nightmare of a job.

Andrew

[AuRavelling79]

Yup tatty old wooden frames + wfp = aggro!

[thewindowcleaner1]

Every window that opened leaked, Spent an extra 10 mins, inside scrimming the runs on the inside.

I had one of them a few weeks ago, customer had secondary glazzing as well so I charged her £60 to do the insides, right pain though..

As for customers saying they don't want me to use WFP I stand firm now and say WFP or nothing, once you start doing one traditionaly the other customers start to doubt the system.

Or you could do it Traditionall but charge them a lot extra as it takes more time and you have to produce a risk assment..

[williamx]

Dai

You will find that it is dirt that you have removed fron the wall, if a customer in the future say that the water has caused a problem, just ask them whether rain water does the same, because pure water is like rain water.

[dai]

William X That's what I told the client. He was complaining at having the dirt washed off. His missus even suggested I WFP the rest of the cladding so it all looked the same. Yeh sure for £100. sacked two not this month thanyou's this morning so I'm having a good week. It's the luxury of having 5 weeks work and a 4 week or bi monthly round. Any hassle and it's bye bye. 3 £4.50 jobs gone and I'v taken on 8 new ones average £8.50. I'm still learning at the age of 63. DAI

[clearly pro]

Here in the states our situation may be a bit different but let me explain what happens with clean water:

I do new construction clean-up and the paint is new, no dirt, no leaks etc. However, if i drip some water onto the wall, it will leave a streak. BUT...the streak will vanish in a few hours. Until then it looks like I have destroyed and otherwise nice wall. First time it happened I almost jumped out the window.

Last year we had some massive stroms and right about now many of the houses are finshing up remodel. So, there is old paint with dirt in areas where the glass is new. I have droped water here too with the same results. The streaks that do remian are clean areas. where the water sort of lifted the crud on the wall.

The word water stain or water mark is a missnomer. Water  (pure) does not leave a mark. What it can do is left cellulose (spelling) from the paper product (like a wall or wood) seep to the surface and that will cause the mark. This usualy only happens when lots of water has contacted whatever saurface is ending up with the spot.

Your water did NOT do any real damage but proving that may be a real chore.  What may have happened is your water washed out some gunk in the tracks which, in turn, ended up on the wall.

However it turns out, g'luck.

[rosskesava]

Today we had a similar situation to what clearly pro is saying above.

We're new to wfp and today we done this huge Victorian place. I won't go on about how it has 11 1930's coloured leaded glass windows and how they were always a real time consuming pain but now with wfp - incredible.

I didn't notice an upstairs bottom sash window was open and when we done the insides I was horrified that half a ton of water had gone down the inside wall down that embosed type hessian wall paper leaving a puddle on the wooden floors.

After we'd done all the insides I pretended I was going to inspect everything and the wet bit down the wall had dried without the slighest stain. Tosay I breathed a sigh of relief is an understatment.

With regards Dai's problem, fortunately, we havn't encountered that yet but I'm sure we will at some point.

Cheers

[Skyglide]

Have had lots of UPVC turning pink after WFP cleans. It stays pink too.  Just waiting for the customers to comment on it.
I seem to remember that recycled UPVC turns pink after a while. It is usually sections of trim or gutter downpipes.

WFP is not the perfect solution by any means.

Chris

[thewindowcleaner1]

Have had lots of UPVC turning pink after WFP cleans. It stays pink too.  Just waiting for the customers to comment on it.

Pure water can't turn upvc pink, as you mentioned that happend a while ago and was due to a batch being made up with recycle eliments and the colour pigmantation mygrated to the surface of the plastic... apparently ICI excepted the blame for this and if you could prove that it originated from them they would relace it, but the problem was that this pink upvc would appear on frame surrounds, inserts ect and looked really odd, I recently had a customer that had this problem (it show up more as the frames had been washed with WFP) after waiting for about 7 months a company turned up and wiped the pink bits with some sort of solution and they returned to white...(wish I new what it was I could make a killing doing those odd pink bits of UPVC...

[Morph]

Have had lots of UPVC turning pink after WFP cleans. It stays pink too.  Just waiting for the customers to comment on it.
I seem to remember that recycled UPVC turns pink after a while. It is usually sections of trim or gutter downpipes.

WFP is not the perfect solution by any means.

Chris

Have had lots of UPVC turning pink after WFP cleans. It stays pink too. Just waiting for the customers to comment on it.

Pure water can't turn upvc pink, as you mentioned that happend a while ago and was due to a batch being made up with recycle eliments and the colour pigmantation mygrated to the surface of the plastic... apparently ICI excepted the blame for this and if you could prove that it originated from them they would relace it, but the problem was that this pink upvc would appear on frame surrounds, inserts ect and looked really odd, I recently had a customer that had this problem (it show up more as the frames had been washed with WFP) after waiting for about 7 months a company turned up and wiped the pink bits with some sort of solution and they returned to white...(wish I new what it was I could make a killing doing those odd pink bits of UPVC...

Anyone got anything to add to this?

I've got this problem occuring.  Pinky pinky?

[neil100]

If upvc has turned pink. It is nothing to do with pure water.

 BY mistake Certian batches of pvc while being manufacterd have not  had the chemical added to it that makes pvc light resistant. IT is known as upvc because of its ability not to react to ultravoliotlight. thierfore staying white.

You see sometimes parts of window frames pink, and part white.

I allways keep a special look out for my customers who have new upvc windows, Because the glass and frames carry a 5 year warranty. If I see sections turning pink within 5 years of installation. I advice them  to contact the firm who installed them, and to badger them to get in touch with the upvc manufacturer.

THe Manufacturers (ICI) have teams of upvc cleaners going up and down the country appliyng a chemical by hand, wipeing it off, and the upvc comes up like new. Completley pure white, and it stays white, no more pink.

I must have helped about 5 of my customers getting thier frames sorted out. IT works whatever they put on the frames. I tryed to get hold of the chemical myself, but it was not for sale. Shame, it could of been a nice little earner.

Nel

[Morph]

Where did you get this information from Nel?

[Morph]

Any official reference?

[neil100]

After several failed attempts of trying to get pink frames to white. I asked local suppliers of upvc windows, why some frames turn pink. You will allways notice the frames in the sunshine are the most affected.

One supplier eventually told me. As I said my customers have had them treated, and the pink colour as never returned.

If out of warranty, you will have to pay to have it done. but worth it.

Nel.                                             

[preston powerblast]

I am follwing this post with great interest, because as from January all windows on my round will be getting cleaned with wfp.
They can like it or lump it.
I would say 50% are are all for it as they have all got inaccesable windows and are glad that they will getting cleaned at last.
But one or two have said that they wouldnt like it done.
So I have told them that i will not be doing theirs.

[Chris Cottrell]

I have told them that i will not be doing theirs.

Better to tell them "try it and see you never know untill....."
I would think

but then thats just my opinion

Chris

[preston powerblast]

I have thought long and hard about it and bounced a few ideas of my custies and have decided to do only 1 st floor windows at first and see how it goes from there.
This should speed up the job somewhat.
I'm no stranger to the old trad ways and have done it on and off for the past 13 years.
But I do like the idea of no ladders to lug about.

[Chris Cottrell]

I did it tops only at first but soon realised youre as well to do it all with a pole time you put the pole away and get trad gear out

I went at it with the H & S issue at first and then the "I've spent so much on this i'm gonna make best use of it
Haven't had any probs so far