How To Prevent Water Damage When Cleaning Interior Commercial and Residential Windows

Recently I received the following question from a new window cleaner who's involved in my 6 Month Window Cleaning Business Mentoring Program. If you've never cleaned residential or commercial interior windows, you may wonder, as my student did...

In your August 2007 picture of the month you are shown cleaning an interior office windows. How can I help prevent water / cleaner from spilling all over the sill / floor?

(Click on image to see larger view)

A: When cleaning home or office interior windows, make sure to wring-out strip washer of excess water before applying to glass. Because, "what" you put on glass is "what" will come off glass. The fact is... YES, your solution will puddle on sill after squeegeeing. What you want to avoid is the solution running over sill and down the wall. And, that requires using less water on glass. So use less solution on glass by sufficiently wringing out strip washer.

Some water will puddle on sill after squeegeeing... No problem. Mopping sills is one of the many things your sea sponge can do, (Also known as a Natural Sponge). Once you've mopped the sill, wring-out sea sponge into your bucket.

Some moisture may still be present on window sill. Here's where it's handy to have a dry towel on your window cleaning tool belt.

Use your dry towel to completely remove any trace of moisture. This will be especially important when working on fine wood sills that can be damaged if water is left behind.

If you choose to not use a sea sponge and use towels for all sill drying purposes, you'll end up needing to have stacks of towels handy to complete large interior window cleaning jobs. This can use up time and resources as well as appear "Low Pro" by onlookers, i.e.. (your customers or office workers). So, I'd highly recommend, if you haven't a sea sponge yet, get one at your local hardware store in the painting department.

When cleaning interior windows, protecting furniture and other valuables may be a concern. If you are cleaning over furniture, computers etc... You might want to drape a cotton sheet over valuables to protect from drippings.

You can also minimize the chance of drippings when moving over valuables by sea sponging or dry toweling your squeegee before and after each use. Squeegee can be held horizontally after each pass and carried over furniture with minimal dripping. Or, you can hold your squeegee after pass in the vertical position while pressing sea sponge to bottom of squeegee to catch run-off.

In Conclusion:

Protecting sills, walls, funiture and other valuables is always an important consideration when window cleaning interior commercial and residential properties. Along with your standard window cleaning tools, I'd recommend bringing to interior window cleaning jobs a sea sponge, dry towel, extension pole and a cotton 'bed spread sized' sheet to protect valuables from potential water damage.

Of course, you should always be aware of where you place your bucket in a room and make sure it's not in a high traffic area where others can accidentally knock it over.

And lastly, if owners personal belongings are on window sill, kindly ask them to remove their treasures before you clean the window. These items can get damaged or even broken... And, don't assume it's your responsibilty to move these items. In some cases, just moving items from sills can cause breakage. So, when possible, have owner remove and replace items for you.