Cleaning windows is relatively straight forward once you have all the correct tools and know what you're doing.

Cleaning Solution

In your bucket all you need is cold water and some washing up liquid and that's it. There are people who swear by putting in a bit of vinegar and other rubbish but I wouldn't bother. The windows I clean look immaculate with just washing up liquid so why use anything else.

A lot of other window cleaners use fancy window cleaning solutions like Glass Gleam 3 and Squeegee Off and recommend them highly. I really can't comment because I've never tried them.

Once you have built up a good round maybe then you can then think of investing in something better than regular washing up liquid, but first I would concentrate on getting the essential tools and customers.

Water

Ordinary cold water is fine except when it is very very cold. You may find the cold water freezes as you put it on the glass and in these circumstances you'd be better asking your customer for some warm water, or maybe even better off going home for that day.

If you're a hardcase I have heard of a method of preventing water freezing on windows and that is to add some rubbing alcohol or vodka to it. Softies like me are probably better off going home.

With regard to how much water you need, the answer is you don't need much. You could probably get three of fours houses done out of one bucket filled two thirds full, but it completely depends on how dirty the houses are and how many windows they have.

In Summer you may find the water dries on the window very quickly before you manage to squeegee it off. There are various substances on the market that are supposed to help prevent this but because I have never used them I can't comment. I rely instead on keeping my T-bar sopping wet.

Squeegeeing

For most windows you will be using your squeegee to clean them. The exceptions are lead windows, those French Windows that have small panes of glass, and windows that have bumpy decorative patterns in the glass.

I use an Unger S squeegee channel that is fourteen inches long. You can buy longer or shorter depending on your personal taste but I find fourteen inches is a good length. I also have a six inch channel but I only ever use it on French Windows.

I use the Unger ergotec squeegee handle and have found it to be more than adequate.

For a big pane of glass you want to do horizontal squeegee strokes and then after each stroke dry off the rubber in your squeegee channel on your scrim/microfibre/cloth/t-shirt before doing the next stroke. A lot of windows cleaners don't bother with the drying off part to save time.

If you're intending on doing a really top rate job I think you need to dry the rubber off because when I don't I always end up with a series of water lines left behind on the glass. After squeegeeing the whole window you can run a dry cloth around the edges of the glass where the glass touches the frames to clear up any water that has been left there.

Most customers will expect you to do the sills because quite a lot of dirt collects there. I also give the frames a wipe as well if they look dirty.

Sometimes your squeegee channel will be too long to do horizontal strokes because a window isn't tall enough and this means you will have to do vertical strokes instead. After wetting the window with my T-bar I run a dry cloth across the top of the window then between every stroke I dry the squeegee rubber. You can then do the edges afterwards just as you would with horizontal squeegeeing.

Glass Scapers

Glass scrapers are an extremely useful and integral part of your kit but you need to to be careful with them because when used wrongly they can scratch the glass. Never use a glass scraper on a dry window, make sure the area you intend to scrape has been wetted.

Regularly inspect your glass scraper blade for damage, rust, chips, etc. If there is any damage to the blade replace it before using your scraper again.

I use the Unger Ergotec four inch glass scraper and have a pack of ten replacement blades for it. The blades with this scraper are reversible, there is a blunt edge and a razor edge. I like to use the blunt edge just because I know if I used the razor edge I'd probably do something stupid like accidentally cut my wrist open.

Using a glass scraper is fairly self explanatory, just place the steel blade flat to the glass and rub it forwards over the stubborn deposit you have discovered. Don't rub the blade back and forth over the glass because you can trap grit under the blade and then pull it back over the glass scratching it. After rubbing the blade forwards over the glass give it a wipe on your cloth/jeans to take off any debris that may now be on the blade and could cause a scratch.

You also need to careful of low-quality tempered glass because this type of glass has been known to scratch easily.

Before scraping a window try an inconspicuous area first like the bottom left corner to see if this produces any scratches

Golden Rule: Always wet the glass first.

Lead/Lattice Windows

You will not be able to clean lead windows with your squeegee unfortunately. To do lead windows wet them as normal and then get your dry scrim or microfibre cloth and rub it over the glass to dry up the water and wipe off the dirt. This can be a lengthy process and that is why you should charge a bit more for houses with lead windows.

You need to be careful with lead windows because the lead work can be at times very delicate. It can easily pull off under the pressure of your hand and cloth.

When doing lead windows you will find your cloths will change from dry cloths to wet ones very quickly and so you will need to have a good number with you because once they become very wet they are pretty much useless and will need to be washed and dried before they can be used again. I actually take about 50 microfibre cloths out with me. I keep twenty in the boot of my car and another 30 in my rucksack.

A good way of conserving cloths when doing lead windows is to use one cloth to wipe off the majority of the water, and then a seperate one as a buffer to soak up any remaining residue.

French Windows

In general I think you should avoid doing these because they're just too much hassle. I heard of one window cleaner who cut one of their sqeegee channels with a hacksaw to the same length as the size of the little panes of glass and after this was able to clean through the windows fairly fast. Personally I couldn't be bothered doing this and would have passed up the job.

For other small windows, for example the little panes of glass you might find in a door, just use your dry scrim/cloth to mop up the water like with lead windows. Or sometimes I might use my six inch squeegee channel.

Decorative Pattern Windows That Are Bumpy

Again done exactly the same as lead windows

Cleaning Inside Of Windows

You clean the insides exactly the same as you would clean the outsides.

Cleaning insides is a lot more awkward than cleaning outsides because of all the things that get in the way. The ornaments and other rubbish people place on their window sills, as well as stuff like blinds can make life difficult. In general I would avoid doing insides because of the high risk of damaging something.

Also, if you accidentally knock you bucket over (very easy to do) outside it doesnt matter, you just go and get some more water for it. Knock your bucket over on the inside though and you're a dead man. You're customer understandably will not be very happy.

Conservatory Roofs

These are a serious hassle. I've only ever cleaned a couple of conservatory roofs and they took me ages. You will need a step ladder, your window cleaning pole, and lots of patience. You might be better off advising your customer to phone a specialist conservatory roof cleaning company because the results with your window cleaning pole are always unpredictable. In fact with regards to window cleaning poles that attach traditional tools to them, (I'm not on about Water Fed Poles here) I think you should only use them when you can't access a window by ladders because I find the finish is terrible, but that's just me, you might have more success with them.

Always inform your customer you'll not be able to clean the windows above a conservatory because standing on a conservatory roof is a certain way to acheiving an early grave. You can get up on some conservatory roofs with a couple of wooden planks but it is very risky.

Tops First

Always make sure you do the top windows of a house first because when you're doing a top window the dirty water from your t-bar and sqeegeeing will drip down onto the ground level window below it, making it dirty. It will be very annoying for you if you clean a bottom window that has another window above it first because you will end up having to do the bottom one again.

Work Your Way Down

This may seem obvious but I just want to state it because what can seem obvious to one person isn't to another. When squeeging a window you should start your strokes at the top of it and work your way down and you should overlap your strokes by say or three maybe four inches. When I am doing vertical strokes on a window I tend to overlap slightly more.