[mgba_78]

Hi

I have a customer that wants if possible there frames whitened as they are a dullish off white in parts, UPVC.
What if any products are there available to do this would anyone recommend, as it could be a good little earner on top of the normal cleaning.


Ta
Andy

[vivaro 013]

plenty elbow grease im looking for what to use

[mick40]

nothing wi bleach in it, i hear it makes them turn yellow.

[Jeff Brimble]

The older sills are made of plastic that degrades, not upvc, and require a good clean and then a coat of polish but still will not come up great. The natural colour of all plastic is grey.

[chris@c.m.s]

Have you tried colgate?

[shammy davis jnr]

acitone,should do the trick just wear gloves and a mask dip on cloth and rub  and do not inhale to much  :

[Londoner]

That sounds illegal to me. Acetone is a very restricted substance these days.

[Trevor Knight]

I think this could be a massive problem in the waiting.

Guy's we are window cleaners not UPVC specialists, you make a mistake on this one, damage the conservatory and not only will you be into a hefty insurance claim but you may find you in hot water with your insurance company as well trying to justify why you have diversified from Traditional or WFP WINDOW cleaning?

My advice - STAY WELL AWAY!!

Trev

[Jeff Brimble]

Stay away from the £££ Trev, no way. If you use a specialised product that says "upvc cleaner" on the tin, then its OK to use it, otherwise they wouldnt put it on the label? . Nilco do one that you polish off, I just keep it for sills. But hardly use it as I just wfp most.
I used to make and use acetone for cleaning cleaning boiler suits. Its a very very very  explosive chemical that doesnt come with instructions, BEWARE.

[Trevor Knight]

Thats fair enough Jeff, each to thier own. I am not covered on insurance for this type of work so won't entertain it.

Fair play to you guys.

Have fun,

Trev

[scrimit2]

one of customers had there plastic cleaned under the warranty of the window company who fitted them, the frames were dis colouring, going a shade of orange, aparantly its cause by lack of direct sun light to the frames, as the plastic was made with something to counteract fading by sun light, so when they didnt get light they dis coloured (anyway to cut a long story short)

the window company sent two guys down to her house, they used a 3 part treatment one to strip down the dis colouring and dirt, another to whiten and another to laquer them it took these guys nearly all day, they cleaned up great, except fot where they spilt the laquer on the glass,which won't come off, although the frames looked good as new I wouldnt reconmend doing it for customers unless, you charge a fortune or are short of work.

[simbo]

simple to do, just go to your nearest wilcinsons store and buy their version of t cut, i do a lot of this type of work and have tried lots of different things but this works great, no scratches and easily removes the black film layers then just rinse off, job done
simb0

[carl stanton]

acitone,should do the trick just wear gloves and a mask dip on cloth and rub  and do not inhale to much  :

my wife uses that to melt off false nails [ legally i add, she is fully trained n' that ] the stuff melts plastics!! 
simbo watch some of them t-cut type stuff read the lable some must / should not be used on plastic, it breaks down the top coat even though it maty leave a shine wich may wash off over shortish time and then leave the plastic rather dull.

[paul mather]

My wife also used to do nail extensions & acetone is used to dissolve the false nail when taking them off. NEVER USE THIS ON UPVC!

[jeff evans]

Just read this post, and must say i have concerns about the insurance side of things, but don't you think we are all being a little paranoid about this.

We pay anything from a couple of hundred pounds to in some cases thousands,

How many of you have claimed from your insurance more than once in the last 10 years.

If you have doesn't this make you either a clumsy worker or a bad manager

[JM123]

acetone is no more dangerous than petrol - chill, as long as you use it carefully then there should be no problem with it - however I wouldn't recommend its use with UPvc as it can break down plastic polymers used in sealants and other plastics, I'd personally go with Trevor's recommendation and not do the job.

[welmac]

i used to install pvcu windows etc, and we used a "solvent cleaner" (smells great  ). this removed anything from the windows!!! have also used a "cream cleaner", much like jif, that works quite well.

if you have a window/doors centre near you why not ask if they have some you could buy?

just a point if the windows have discoloured to a yellow/pinkish kind of colour, then no amount of elbow grease or solvents will get them back to the original look.

[poleman]

Remember if you do clean it and you damage it, insurance company don’t pay out on the job you was working on, if you did not know that check your own cover or thou its rare to get this type of cover and I wouldn’t like a claim that was going to cost thousands and it had to come out of my own pocket, I would walk away and stick to what you know best...Window Cleaning

Andy     

[mgba_78]

Chill guys!!!!!

I decided NOT to put any chemical crud on the frames incase of damage etc etc.
When i cleaned this particular house again i gave one sill a really really good scrub with plenty of elbow grease and a wet clean cloth and it came up quality, but it took ages someyhing like 7 or 8 mins, but i made it an extra special go, to show customer.
I have now left the ball in their court and said i will do all frames sills etc etc but will charge an hourly rate to complete job as it will take a while to do.
They are going to let me know next time i clean if they are going to go for it, they were happy enough about paying for it this way but i think she is going to get hubby to have a go to see if it really is worth it.
i bet they get me to do it, or should i say he'll want me to do it, a proper arm ache he will have

Andy