Shine Bright: Window Cleaning Tips for the Summer Season

The summer season, with its brilliant rays of sunshine, exposes every streak, smudge, and smidgen of grime that's settled on your windows over the cold winter months. 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 3 years consulting a famous multinational window cleaning franchise to help you achieve professional-level window cleaning results right at home!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, What Causes Streaks After All?

Streaks and lint are the seemingly unconquerable window cleaning struggles that cause so many consumers to give up and hire professionals. While I am 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 given the wrong supplies and training, 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 (foreshadowing - 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 do 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 wiping 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! <insert foreshadowing here>

Wipe Away Your Window Cleaning Woes with Microfiber!

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%! 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 exactly, how does microfiber hold onto so much more dirt than cotton and paper towels? The answer might surprise you, as 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, it’s actually all the nooks and crannies between the fibers that store the dirt, the insides of the strands just store water! By offering 10 x more surface area and 1000% more nooks and crannies for the dirt to get trapped into, microfiber cleans every other fabric out there! For those itching for a full-blown science lesson on the marvels of microfiber, read up here.

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 together, they'll deliver squeegee-level results in seconds without any special training! Just dampen the all-purpose towel with warm water or your favorite window spray, wash up the window, then buff it to a quick and effortless shine with the glass towel.

The Dawn of a New Era in Window Cleaning

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 actually a staple in the tool belts of professional window cleaners, and it's about to revolutionize your window cleaning game too!

Most pros use Dawn Commercial Formula Manual Pot and Pan, because just 1 oz 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 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 spring for purified water at the grocery store, as it’s inexpensive and makes a big difference.

Bronze is the Gold Standard 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 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!

In Window Cleaning, Ladders are the Stairway to Heaven

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!

Recommended Microfiber Cloths for Window Cleaning

16"x16" MW Pro Multi Surface Microfiber Towel (12pk)

Clean and polish glass, stainless, and windows with just water
Hard-working microfiber towel and lint-free microfiber glass polishing cloth
6 x 16" x 16" Microfiber Glass Cleaning Cloths
2 x 12" x 12" Green Buff™ Pro Multi Surface Microfiber Towels
Lavable a máquina

BUY NOW

16"x16" MW Pro Multi Surface Microfiber Towel (12pk)

Limpia y abrillanta cualquier superficie sólo con agua.
Más suave y absorbente que una toalla de microfibra normal
Prevenir la Contaminación Cruzada - 16 opciones de color
Paquete de 12 unidades
Lavable a máquina

BUY NOW

Escrito por

Melissa Homer
Content Contributor at
Microfiber Wholesale

VER SITIO WEB

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.

Easiest Way To Mop Your Floors

Check out our Mop System

Productos relacionados

12”x12” MW Pro Multi-Surface Microfiber Cleaning Cloth - Pack of 12

Paquete de 12 unidades

As low as $13.98 /12 Pack

Buff™ Pro Multi-Surface Microfiber is a professional-grade cleaning cloth that is more durable and contains more microfiber compared to other m...

Ver todos los detalles

Paño de microfibra para limpiar cristales de 16" x 16"

Paquete de 6 unidades

As low as $13.98 /6 pack

Say goodbye to streaky and dusty surfaces with our Glass Cleaning Microfiber Cloths. This pack of cloths is designed to provide a lint-free and str...

Ver todos los detalles

16”x16” MW Pro Multi-Surface Microfiber Towel - Pack of 12

Paquete de 12 unidades

As low as $16.98 /12 Pack

The MW Pro Multi-Surface 16x16 Microfiber Towels are a game-changer. These towels are more durable, more absorbent, and heavier than other all-purp...

Ver todos los detalles

Pack de microfibra para limpieza de cristales

As low as $15.98 /each

Get ready for sparkling clean windows and mirrors with our method! Our streak-free microfiber cloths paired with just water are the quickest and ea...