[paul alan]

your speed will get better and better with time if you try to speed up before your ready you'l end up making a mess of the windows or missing bits it took me a year and half before i was at my peak with speed and quality,i soap the whole window aswell as if you miss the edges by 1/2 inch they are dirty so need wiping anyway,

i tryed the dogearing but wasnt happy with the squeege then so went back to a normal 12" one,as for cloths cheap microfibre are no good for glass you need unger green microfibre leave no bits but get wet quicker than a scrim so i use both,scrim are only a problem if you miss a bit on the glass in the sun and try wiping it off thats when they leave bits behind,the unger mirofibre is needed then,eventually you'll just click and wonder why you found it so hard

i understand my speeds gonna improve over time but ive got around 100 customers and do these over 3 days a week if poss,but i need to be getting these done quicker in order to get more customers! these unger sound good,how many would you need in a day? with say 15 houses. wheres the best place to get them? cheers

[paul alan]

Buy syr rubber and use 12" squeegy cut the rubber so only 1-2 mm longer than channel use the fan or rainbow technique to remove water  from glass.

cheers,but whats the rainbow technique mate? can you describe for me please?

[paul alan]

dont soap right up to the edge of the frame,leave about 1/2inch between soap and frame,and a bit of dogear and your be ok,

and I bet after a few months there is a visible white line round the window

a lot if is do with angles, if you hold a squeegie with to shallow an angle i.e handle to close to the glass this will happen

there is about another million reason as well right enough, I couldn't really say without watching you to be honest

well yesterday i went out and studied my angles some, and found that i was better off closing the angle from handle to window on fanning from side to side, then opening the angle around the frame edges,seemed to work well and i gained some speed,and i only used 1 scrim all day. what would you say are the best angles?

[paul alan]

dont soap right up to the edge of the frame,leave about 1/2inch between soap and frame,and a bit of dogear and your be ok,

and I bet after a few months there is a visible white line round the window
a lot if is do with angles, if you hold a squeegie with to shallow an angle i.e handle to close to the glass this will
there is about another million reason as well right enough, I couldn't really say without watching you to be honest

Take note of that advice, there's always a reason for it il name a few;
Too soapy
Too much water within the squegee needs banging off
Little bits on your blade.
Fanning too close to edge of soapmark.
I learnt the hard way through trial an error, I change my rubber every week as I do a lot of olden wooden frames etc and that wears them down quick.
I've been experimenting with amounts of fairy, the perfect amount iv found is very very little in the sun, bit more in winter.

And whoever said don't touch edges oh my god ull be left with a smear where ur blades half onthe water and half on dry.done it seen what it does from the inside and I won't be doing it again. I find it best to soap it all up, let it drip down A bit off top frame(can do frames in this time) detail one side and top corner before squeegeeing, then fan it down and pull off at bottom. I never detail the bottom frame unless the soap is littlerally an inch up the window.
Hope that helped a bit!!

it does help mate ,cheers! can i just ask what you mean with regards to "too much water within,sqeegee needs banging off" is that too much water on the glass?anad i heard somewhere that i should pause at the bottom of fanning motion to let water run off rubber a bit,but it slowed me down somewhat. what do you reckon? nice one.

[paul alan]

wagtail takes a while to get comfy with but its worth a million dollars once you have the wag
 if you are doing houses only,id say get a 12" blue wagtail

ditto, even if you only use on occasion,

as said rubber over hang 1,2,3mm find which is best for you,

not to soapy, test detergents that work for you and do the job 

skill first then speed, no point being fast and getting a rubbish job done fast

scrim have you really washed them, boiled, use as cill cloth to break in first, i don't like to wash micro cloths with scrim will poss leave lint

well done for trooping on chap

cheers pal! i must admit i didnt boil my scrim,wasnt aware of that. one thing i did do though was to cut the 36" by 36" too big in my opinion down to 6 handy sized pieces, i think ive probably dropped a ball there,maybe thats why there leaving smears?? i will not sacrifice quality for quantity,its not an option! i choose to clean windows beacause i want to work for myself,so i want to be as good as i possibly can. i just want to earn a decent wage from this,i know its there.

[Small but perfectley formed]

Raindow technique is you are after the pot of gold 
Its just another name for fanning check out youtube

[Ian Lancaster]

Excerpt from my Tutorial - I was taught this method 45 years ago - still not been bettered   This bit is just about swabbing - the section after this deals with squeegeeing





2.  Swab the glass. 

Start at the top and work down, in a side-to-side motion, making sure to get into the join between the glass and the frame.  Then start at one side and work across in an up-and-down motion.  This will help to ensure you don’t miss any bits.  The aim of this is to lift the dirt off the glass so that it is ‘swimming’ about in the water on the glass surface.  Use a bit of pressure – any missed bits or extra sticky dirt will leave a nasty streak when you squeegee it.

   3.  Wipe round the edge of the glass and the frame. 

Using a piece of towelling in one hand start at the bottom of one side, go up the side, across the top and back down the other side. It sounds simple, but most window cleaners don’t do it, they waste time and effort mopping round the frame and polishing off the residual water at the edge of the glass after they have squeegeed.  When wiping round, hold the rag so you can press your finger firmly into the join between the glass and the frame, wiping the edge of the glass to about ˝” from the frame, at the same time wiping the frame itself clean of dirt and water from your applicator.  Do it in one single movement, up one side, across the top and down the other.  IT IS WELL WORTH PRACTISING THIS MOVEMENT  AS IT WILL SAVE YOU A HUGE AMOUNT OF TIME AND EFFORT ‘DETAILING’ AFTER YOU SQUEEGEE.  When you have wiped, the frame should be clean and dry(ish) and there should be a ˝” strip of almost dry glass around the three sides of the window.  Now wring out the towelling dry enough for the next window.

[paul alan]

Excerpt from my Tutorial - I was taught this method 45 years ago - still not been bettered   This bit is just about swabbing - the section after this deals with squeegeeing





2.  Swab the glass. 

Start at the top and work down, in a side-to-side motion, making sure to get into the join between the glass and the frame.  Then start at one side and work across in an up-and-down motion.  This will help to ensure you don’t miss any bits.  The aim of this is to lift the dirt off the glass so that it is ‘swimming’ about in the water on the glass surface.  Use a bit of pressure – any missed bits or extra sticky dirt will leave a nasty streak when you squeegee it.

   3.  Wipe round the edge of the glass and the frame. 

Using a piece of towelling in one hand start at the bottom of one side, go up the side, across the top and back down the other side. It sounds simple, but most window cleaners don’t do it, they waste time and effort mopping round the frame and polishing off the residual water at the edge of the glass after they have squeegeed.  When wiping round, hold the rag so you can press your finger firmly into the join between the glass and the frame, wiping the edge of the glass to about ˝” from the frame, at the same time wiping the frame itself clean of dirt and water from your applicator.  Do it in one single movement, up one side, across the top and down the other.  IT IS WELL WORTH PRACTISING THIS MOVEMENT  AS IT WILL SAVE YOU A HUGE AMOUNT OF TIME AND EFFORT ‘DETAILING’ AFTER YOU SQUEEGEE.  When you have wiped, the frame should be clean and dry(ish) and there should be a ˝” strip of almost dry glass around the three sides of the window.  Now wring out the towelling dry enough for the next window.

sounds good advice to me ,thankyou! makes perfect sense,and seeing as i sell myself on clean frames im sure this will help a lot,your a star.

[Ian Lancaster]

Excerpt from my Tutorial - I was taught this method 45 years ago - still not been bettered   This bit is just about swabbing - the section after this deals with squeegeeing





2.  Swab the glass. 

Start at the top and work down, in a side-to-side motion, making sure to get into the join between the glass and the frame.  Then start at one side and work across in an up-and-down motion.  This will help to ensure you don’t miss any bits.  The aim of this is to lift the dirt off the glass so that it is ‘swimming’ about in the water on the glass surface.  Use a bit of pressure – any missed bits or extra sticky dirt will leave a nasty streak when you squeegee it.

   3.  Wipe round the edge of the glass and the frame. 

Using a piece of towelling in one hand start at the bottom of one side, go up the side, across the top and back down the other side. It sounds simple, but most window cleaners don’t do it, they waste time and effort mopping round the frame and polishing off the residual water at the edge of the glass after they have squeegeed.  When wiping round, hold the rag so you can press your finger firmly into the join between the glass and the frame, wiping the edge of the glass to about ˝” from the frame, at the same time wiping the frame itself clean of dirt and water from your applicator.  Do it in one single movement, up one side, across the top and down the other.  IT IS WELL WORTH PRACTISING THIS MOVEMENT  AS IT WILL SAVE YOU A HUGE AMOUNT OF TIME AND EFFORT ‘DETAILING’ AFTER YOU SQUEEGEE.  When you have wiped, the frame should be clean and dry(ish) and there should be a ˝” strip of almost dry glass around the three sides of the window.  Now wring out the towelling dry enough for the next window.

sounds good advice to me ,thankyou! makes perfect sense,and seeing as i sell myself on clean frames im sure this will help a lot,your a star.

Happy to help