Tips

How to Keep Windows Clean Longer

Everyone certainly appreciates their clean windows and wants to enjoy those beautiful views and reflections for as long as possible. So here are a few helpful tips that will help keep your windows looking great even longer..

OUTSIDE THE HOME
If you have exterior mounted screens it is best to have them cleaned with your window cleaning. Dust and pollen that gets trapped in the screen mesh will wash onto the glass during a rain shower. During the winter when the windows are not opened, you can remove the screens and store them for the season. In the warm months screens can be removed from the windows that are never opened.

Keep your braai area at least 1.5 meters away from any windows or doors. This will stop splattering sauce, grease, smoke and oils from landing on your newly cleaned glass.

Keep trees and bushes trimmed away from the home. Trees and bushes give off pollens that can gather on the glass just like dust. Keeping them trimmed back away from the home will reduce the amount of pollen that will accumulate on the glass.

Keep your garden sprinklers from watering the windows. Windows that are in the path of a sprinkler system will get stained from mineral deposits. These types of stains will eventually etch the glass and cause permanent damage.

INSIDE THE HOME
Change your furnace air filters regularly. Keeping the air filter clean in your heating/cooling system will reduce the amount of indoor airborne dust that would otherwise accumulate not only on your windows but your home furnishings as well.

If you burn candles in your home for ambiance, fragrance or whatever, keep the candles away from the windows. This will reduce the amount of smoke residue that will form on the glass. Also, some candles will emit more smoke and soot then others, so when buying candles ask the retailer which ones will generate the least amount of smoke and soot. Have your heating/cooling air ducts cleaned. Cleaning the air ducts is especially helpful in new construction and newly remodeled homes. Drywall dust from construction that has gathered inside of the ducts gets circulated throughout the home when the system runs. Cleaning the ducts will eliminate this source of dust and keep both your home and windows cleaner longer.

Run the kitchen exhaust fan when cooking. By operating the kitchen exhaust fan while cooking, your kitchen and dining windows will stay cleaner longer because much of the airborne oils will be removed from the environment.

And remember, rain does not make the windows dirty, dirt does. Dust accumulates on the outside of the glass from lawn mowers, leaf blowers, tree pollen, car exhaust and many other sources. When it rains, the water droplets push the dust into different patterns and after the water dries the dust remains on the glass. This new "mud residue" is now highly visible because it is no longer uniformly settled. Clean glass will stay clean after a rain because once the rain water dries, there is nothing left behind to obscure the view.