As I've said on other threads, I've had very few problems to date with WFP, it's a continuous learning curve, every job has to be assessed for suitability.
Ross's circumstances are fairly unique, though there are sure to be others in coastal towns with similar problems.
The salt air is very obviously a big problem for him; some time ago on the forum there was another window cleaner who had been using WFP almost since it's inception in this country.
He was adamant that the only way you could ensure a top job time after time was to use separate brushes for frames and glass.
Justin Ruggles for instances always insists on having a fresh bucket of pure water and (I think I am right in saying) adding a little GG3 into the water and then regularly cleaning out his brush head throughout the day in this pure water.
The Ionics brushes are single filament, though there are a lot of filaments making them quite dense, nevertheless the single filament aspect will allow them to rid themselves of contaminants far easier than the brushes with 'flocked' bristles such as the....er...the name of them escapes me for the moment
The Salmon brush is also single filament, and not so dense as the Ionics brush, and in all probability is the brush most likely to remain uncontaminated for the longest period of time.
In my own personal opinion (please note the 'personal') contaminated brushes are responsible for leaving windows in a poor condition, or rather, not a tip top condition I should say.
The other day I had to clean a couple of shops on the inside, they only have the insides done every 6 to 8 weeks or so.
Outsides WFP as normal, and I spent that little bit extra care on doing the outsides, obviously I wanted to be sure they were in a tip top condition being as I was going to be cleaning the insides of them a little later in the morning.
That being said, on both of these shops I had to re-do the outsides afterwards, and it vexed me more than a little to have to do so!!
These are also shop fronts that really do come up absolutely mint usually, but not this time
At the first opportunity I went home and cleaned out the brush head thoroughly, to look at the bristles looked spotlessly clean, but for us inland WFP'ers I think that grease, albeit in very minute concentrations gradully builds up on the bristles of the brush.
Pure water will not disolve grease, that takes detergent.
This 'grease' I believe can slowly be picked up through a varietly of ways, greasy fingerprints on windows, someone has thrown a chip onto a window or maybe the entire takeaway
Some woman his kissed the window (oh that does annoy me too
a lipstick mark is a paiin to get off!)
Other things on the glass that cannot be dissolved by water alone may gradually build up.
Then as we clean our windows with our apparently clean brushes, friction from the bristles on the glass leave behind trace elements of the contaminants on them, drying out and then leaving glass in a not than spotless state.
Anyway; after I had gone home and cleaned out my brush, the rest of the cleans that day were checked very thoroughly indeed and lo and behold, they were gleaming.
As William has said, Ross may well benefit from using 2 brushes and then washing and rinsing them in pure water (with some detergant in them, GG3 etc) several times a day.
Done regularly in a bucket it only takes a moment or two to keep them clean.
That big job in question though is never goingto be ableto be done with WFP. if the paint is coming off the walls then you're stuffed dude
At least done trad, when you have finished you know it is spot on, it might lash with rain and ruin your hard work within a day or two, but at least you'll have the piece of mind that you've done the job properly.
The owners of the building should be told what the problem is though, that is something that should not be happening, something is definitely substandard there
Squeaks as usual jumps on anything that suggests that WFP is crap, Ross is always truthful and objective, but his circumstances are pretty extreme, even trad work has to be adapted to suit the particular conditions of his location.
Maybe a hot water system would be better for coastal areas?
I will agree with him about Seagul crap though, that stuff is much harder to get off than other types of bird poo.
The odd outline on anything above 1st floor windows though is acceptable so far as I am concerned.
Ground floor and first floor poo is easy to spot and rectify, the higher you go, the tougher it gets.
But due to H & S the customer is just going to have to put up with minor errors I'm afraid
Ian
