All you lucky guys in the US don’t seem to find these very often, but here in Australia they are EVERYWHERE. Seriously, they are part of every third or fourth house. I’ve ended up perfecting a one-side-at-a-time squeegee and buff technique which is actually ok for efficiency, but was wondering is anyone had any tips? And yes, I wash with the Sorbo washer, but the Tricket squeegee is… fairly useless - the angle isn’t right as the rubber hits the glass.
When they aren’t so dirty, I was maybe thinking of wfp’ing the exterior while they are closed, and then opening them and buffing the underside with the residual moisture?
Any tips would be appreciated, as I have quite a large home with almost 1000 of these coming up, and then recurring quarterly. Thanks!
If you can post some pictures we can advise with some more specific advice.
I am based in Central Florida and I run into these in the older homes and some of the mobile homes have them on porches. There are a few types, some with 7.5cm vertical height slats typically found on doors or bathrooms, some with 25-30cm vertical height slats found on standard wall windows. Also I have run into a few with full metal frames and rubber gaskets while others have glass to glass contact along the horizontal edge.
Like these, they’re all glass on glass close, all less than 10cm wide. In more architectural homes there can be multiple floor to ceiling runs of these…
First I would charge 2-2.5x as much vs a standard window to cover the additional labor time. Typically I will start on the interior as I would have to remove the screen first. What I do is open the louvres until they are nearly perpendicular or fully open. I will take my 25cm mop and run it back and forth under the glass piece and then do the same with a 25cm or smaller squeege. Then I take a basic cotton terry cloth rag and wipe from out to in along the two metal edges to collect any water remaining. As for the exterior, WFP if possible, but if trad is your only option, I close the window back down so that you can still get your squeege channel the full width of the louvre yet you csn run the mop side to side to soap multiple piecese simultaneously.
Unfortunately, just like French panes, there is no other option than to clean each piece individually. In that instance Luke advised to cut an extra channel down to the exact width of the French pane, then run your dry finger along the top edge of the pane before placing the rubber at the top for a single straight pull down.
I guess you could do the same for the metal mount edge. Wipe the edge with a dry finger before placing the rubber.
Yeah pricing isn’t an issue. People understand that they are a pain.
It sounds as though you use a similar technique to me. I’ll open them, take the screen out and then wash 5-7 of them with the sorbo washer (depending on how dirty), then push the louvres so they are fully open and squeegee the underside of each while wiping my squeegee every time. I then tilt the louvres to a little more than 45 degrees and do the same to the outer side of the glass. Then with my bath towel mop up the edges and bottom of each panel then buff with a detailing cloth if needed.
It sounds time consuming but I can actually go fairly quickly. I think that’s probably the quickest way if using trad methods.
Has anyone wfp the exterior while they are closed and then buffed the inside with a detailing cloth using the residual moisture? I like the just use the pole as it would leave a horizontal line where the glass meets.
