Coming up to a year of water fed pole window cleaning and i oftenn leave jobs after closely inspecting the windows finding scratches. It leaves me feeling pretty bad - even though i havent had a single complaint (and also many compliments on my work). Still i am unsure of the validity of the technique for scratch free window cleaning. I clean a lot of south facing places where you can see clearly where the scratching occurs. I have come across many different opinions from window cleaners on the topic. I read through an old forum post on the topic:
https://windowcleaningforums.co.uk/forums/topic/15108-water-fed-pole-scratched-glass/#comments
There are so many contradictory comments in this post it makes me wonder if anyone has done thorough testing. Many people think its almost impossible to scratch windows using WFP. However i have come across many scratch's in my first year after closely inspecting my work after cleaning. Seems like others also find these. I have gone through and found some example quotes:
"Wfp can scratch glass , just had a new company under cut us on two jobs , took them 2 hours to clean a 5 bed house , destroyed three pains of glass and as told the customer to **** off when she rang them one day later
all because they wanted to save three pounds a month in there 4ook brand new house"
"I think people worry too much
I never rinse my brush..just a quick flick with my hand if it's got bit on it
Never scratched any glass
You would have to do something seriously wrong to scratch it like that."
"I have priced a couple of jobs up lately and the customers have asked if i use wfp as the last window cleaner had scratched the glass. When i looked at the 3 people that had said it there were lots of scratches on most of the glass. I could not think of any way this could have happened. But 3 people in different areas have said it has."
"But yeah if they were downstairs then I'd be very surprised if you didn't hear, see, or feel the scratching, so I'd say it's almost 100% not you mate"
"Personally i think that could be a contaminated brush. you don't have to push that hard with some sand to see a scratch and the flow of scratches, to me, looks like the path of movement made with a brush."
"A brush can be contaminated with grit when cleaning the door sill of french doors for example which are close to the ground. If you don't wash and get that out then you are carrying a potential to scratch glass on the next window you clean."
I clean many windows where there is dirt in the rubber seals. I can see how that would easily come out during the initial frame clean and contaminate a brush potentially causing scratching. It seems many window cleaners in the "You can't scratch windows using WFP" camp don't clean their brushes ever, laying them down on a pile of ground down diamond dust between cleans and never scratch windows!
"Sometimes I find I can spend as much time cleaning the brush as it does the window. I often stick my brush under a customers outside tap to clean it off between windows. Maybe this is why I'm so slow."
It is quite disconcerting that there is so much contradictory advice in this one thread from many experienced cleaners in one single thread. I have gotten to the point where is literally spend a great deal extra time and water pre rinsing every window (and rinsing my brushes as well) before i even clean the glass - and i am still finding scratches.
I am curious on how much testing has actually been done in to the lab to see how difficult it is to scratch windows with say a tiny bit of sand or grit on the brushes ? Often it is only visible from a certain angle with the sunlight shining on it, but it is still there for sure. Just looking to try and get some solid info on this subject so i can speed up and improve - thanks in advance as always ?
https://windowcleaningforums.co.uk/forums/topic/15108-water-fed-pole-scratched-glass/#comments
There are so many contradictory comments in this post it makes me wonder if anyone has done thorough testing. Many people think its almost impossible to scratch windows using WFP. However i have come across many scratch's in my first year after closely inspecting my work after cleaning. Seems like others also find these. I have gone through and found some example quotes:
"Wfp can scratch glass , just had a new company under cut us on two jobs , took them 2 hours to clean a 5 bed house , destroyed three pains of glass and as told the customer to **** off when she rang them one day later
all because they wanted to save three pounds a month in there 4ook brand new house"
"I think people worry too much
I never rinse my brush..just a quick flick with my hand if it's got bit on it
Never scratched any glass
You would have to do something seriously wrong to scratch it like that."
"I have priced a couple of jobs up lately and the customers have asked if i use wfp as the last window cleaner had scratched the glass. When i looked at the 3 people that had said it there were lots of scratches on most of the glass. I could not think of any way this could have happened. But 3 people in different areas have said it has."
"But yeah if they were downstairs then I'd be very surprised if you didn't hear, see, or feel the scratching, so I'd say it's almost 100% not you mate"
"Personally i think that could be a contaminated brush. you don't have to push that hard with some sand to see a scratch and the flow of scratches, to me, looks like the path of movement made with a brush."
"A brush can be contaminated with grit when cleaning the door sill of french doors for example which are close to the ground. If you don't wash and get that out then you are carrying a potential to scratch glass on the next window you clean."
I clean many windows where there is dirt in the rubber seals. I can see how that would easily come out during the initial frame clean and contaminate a brush potentially causing scratching. It seems many window cleaners in the "You can't scratch windows using WFP" camp don't clean their brushes ever, laying them down on a pile of ground down diamond dust between cleans and never scratch windows!
"Sometimes I find I can spend as much time cleaning the brush as it does the window. I often stick my brush under a customers outside tap to clean it off between windows. Maybe this is why I'm so slow."
It is quite disconcerting that there is so much contradictory advice in this one thread from many experienced cleaners in one single thread. I have gotten to the point where is literally spend a great deal extra time and water pre rinsing every window (and rinsing my brushes as well) before i even clean the glass - and i am still finding scratches.
I am curious on how much testing has actually been done in to the lab to see how difficult it is to scratch windows with say a tiny bit of sand or grit on the brushes ? Often it is only visible from a certain angle with the sunlight shining on it, but it is still there for sure. Just looking to try and get some solid info on this subject so i can speed up and improve - thanks in advance as always ?