Window Cleaning Tips From a Cleaning Professional

The summer season exposes every streak, smudge, and smidgen of grime that's settled on your windows. If you've been turning a blind eye to your less-than-sparkling windows, it's time to throw open the curtains, break out the microfiber, and let the sunshine in!

Here are some insider secrets from my 20+ years in the professional cleaning industry, including three years consulting a famous multinational window cleaning franchise to help you achieve professional-level window cleaning results right at home.

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What Causes Streaky Windows?

Streaks and lint are the seemingly unconquerable window cleaning struggles that cause so many consumers to give up and hire professionals. While I'm all for consumers hiring skilled tradespeople, especially for dangerous tasks like cleaning exterior windows that require ladders, I hate to see home consumers feel defeated, like they can’t do something they actually can.

Most people who think glass cleaning is really tricky have just been using the wrong supplies and techniques, and a few moments of corrections could fix everything. From now on, if you hire a window cleaner, I want it to be because you’re too busy or you’re scared of ladders (you should be), or you just don’t like cleaning windows — not because you think you can’t!

As an expert, I can definitively tell you it isn’t you, it’s your supplies!

The real culprit behind streaks and lint is your cleaning tool, not your window cleaning spray or your skill, especially if you use towels. While squeegees require a solid amount of training and practice to master, window cleaning with towels should take moments to master if you’ve been given the right towels.

The streaks you are seeing are actually just soap and dirt residue your towel or squeegee left behind. While a great window cleaner spray can help leave fewer streaks by removing more dirt and being easier to wipe off, even the best soap can never compensate for a terrible wiper.

Conversely, if a glass cleaning tool is effective enough, it can clean glass 100% streak and lint-free with just water!

This is incredible news, as so many people blow a ton of money constantly buying expensive window sprays, which they could totally ditch once they get the right towel!

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Why Microfiber is the Best for Streaky Windows

Here's a secret that may just blow your mind: Cotton rags only pick up 67% of dirt and germs and drop an abysmal 33%, while paper towels only grab 77%!

In comparison, microfiber towels can remove up to 99.5% of dirt and germs, dropping none of it until they're laundered. This means a microfiber towel can whip off all the dirt and soap residue, leaving you with a truly streak-free, lint-free shine in mere seconds.

So how does microfiber hold onto so much more dirt than cotton and paper towels? It’s all about surface area and friction!

Microfiber’s ultra-tiny strands are so ridiculously thin it takes a staggering 1000 of them to equal the width of one cotton fiber.

When you clean with any towel, the dirt gets stored in between all those tiny fibers, while the insides of each strand store moisture. By offering 10X more surface area for the dirt to get trapped into, microfiber cleans better than every other fabric out there.

Read Now: The Science Behind How Microfiber Works

While any microfiber is better than cotton and paper towels, premium microfiber, like the Microfiber Wholesale Glass Kit, takes it to a whole new level. This game-changing kit includes an all-purpose towel for washing away grime, as well as a specialty weave glass drying towel designed to give you 100% streak-free, lint-free results every time!

Used altogether, they'll deliver squeegee-level results in seconds without any special training. Just dampen your all-purpose microfiber towel with warm water, wipe the window paying particular attention to any soils, and then polish it to a quick and effortless shine with the glass towel.

A Better Way to Clean Windows

While most basic dirty glass can be cleaned with just warm water and microfiber, sometimes your glass is bad enough that you need reinforcements.

Believe it or not, your go-to dish soap isn't just for tackling greasy pots and pans. Diluted dish soap is a fantastic staple in the tool belts of professional window cleaners.

Most pros use Dawn Commercial Formula Manual Pot and Pan, because just 1oz makes a staggering 10 gallons of grease-cutting, spot-free drying, dishwashing liquid. For window cleaning, you can use even less, especially if you use the Microfiber Wholesale Glass Kit.

For your homemade window cleaning solution, just fill a quart spray bottle with warm water, take the stick of the spray trigger, dip it in the Dawn dish soap, return it to the bottle, and give it a good shake. The tiny bit of soap clinging to the stick is all it takes to transform your windows from drab to fab!

If you're looking for a specific glass and mirror cleaner, our glass towel kit teamed up with our Glass and Mirror Genie Sheets is an unstoppable powerhouse!

The beauty of our Genie Sheets is, they come to you waterless in a package the size of an envelope, so you're not paying to ship water — you already have water at home. One pack contains six sheets (one sheet makes one 24oz bottle) and cost less than $1.20 a bottle!

Speaking of water, if the water in your community is especially hard and you don’t have a water softener or filter, it’s not a bad idea to grab some distilled or purified water at the grocery store, as it’s inexpensive and makes a big difference.

Bronze Wool Pads for Hard Water Stains

Hard water can leave its mark on windows and glass shower doors, resulting in a stubborn buildup that seems impossible to remove. Enter fine bronze wool pads, the secret weapon of pros for restoring neglected glass.

These little wonders can scrub off even the most stubborn hard water deposits without scratching the glass. While 0000 steel wool can also work on glass, bronze wool holds a significant advantage: it never rusts!

Though it's a bit pricier upfront, bronze wool ends up being cheaper and safer to use in the long run versus stainless steel, which starts rusting and scratching after only the first use.

Simply spray your glass with diluted dish soap or glass cleaner to lubricate the surface and start buffing the bronze wool in overlapping circles. Then use the two-towel microfiber method described above to remove all the loosened minerals and muck.

Stay Safe, Hire the Pros

You may be thinking, "I'll just whip out the old ladder and get to those second-story windows. How hard could it be?" I hate to rain on your ladder-climbing parade, but there's a touch more risk involved than you might think.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year, over half a million people get a one-way ticket to the ER for ladder-related calamities, with roughly 300 tragically losing their lives. That's a staggering 2,000 injuries daily, and we're not talking about folks working skyscraper construction. Nope, most of these tumbles happen right at home from heights shy of 10 feet.

And here's the real kicker: an eye-popping 81% of fall injuries landing folks in the ER are linked to our seemingly innocent ladder. Keep in mind this data only includes reported incidents. I'm not even touching on those less catastrophic yet still painful mishaps that never see the inside of an ER. Strains, bruises, and damaged property are all par for the course when wrangling a ladder.

You don't even have to be teetering up there for things to go sideways. Toting a ladder around your property can turn into a costly game of demolition derby, toppling prized vases, scuffing floors, leaving dents in your walls, and scraping house exterior paint.

Then there's the balancing act once you're up there, cleaning away. A tiny wobble and your flailing arms could annihilate everything from light fixtures to your designer curtains.

So, let's leave the high-wire act to the trained circus performers, shall we? If you've got an itch to clean those lofty windows yourself, opt for the safer route: tilt them in or reach around them to clean as much as you can from solid ground.

Trust me, both you and your health insurance will be grateful.

Let the Sunshine In!

Achieving professional-level clean windows at home doesn't have to be intimidating. With the right tricks and towels up your sleeve, you'll be well on your way to sparkling, streak-free windows that would make any cleaning company envious. Now grab a Microfiber Wholesale Glass Kit and get out there and let your windows shine bright this summer!

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Melissa Homer
Content Contributor at
Microfiber Wholesale

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Melissa Homer is a professional cleaning expert with over 20 years experience in the commercial and residential cleaning industry. She is a highly trained cleaning professional, business consultant, and educator that specializes in cleaning product testing and research, premium surface care, cleaning safety, cleaning procedure efficiency, training documentation, and cleaning damage repair. Melissa has worked for some of the biggest names in the professional residential cleaning industry, including P&G Professional and MaidPro. She has been interviewed and quoted in numerous leading publications such as Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, Consumer Reports, Better Homes & Gardens, U.S. News & World Report, and The Washington Post.

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