One of the worries clients have is whether we’ll be able to clean their windows in the autumn and wintertime (actually, it’s the UK so, spring and summertime as well) because of the wind and rain. After all, they think, what would be the point of cleaning windows when they’re just going to get rained on and dirty again and the window cleaners are probably going to say they can’t do it anyway. However, that’s not the case – we can clean high-rise windows to a shine come rain or, well, shine.

1. Rain. The more often you clean your windows, the less dirt can cling to the panes. The grimier your windows, the slower the raindrops will trickle down and deposit more dirt. So, clean glass, even in the rain, is worthwhile because your windows will stay spotless for longer.

2. Wind. Surprisingly, we can actually work in the wind as well. When you’re many storeys up it’s often windy so you learn to compensate, and you always remember your health and safety training.

Of course, if it’s too windy or rainy it could be dangerous, but a good grasp of health and safety regulations and experience means that we’ll know when those conditions have been reached, and we’ll let you know.

We were recently instructed on a development of two buildings on Marylebone Road, near Baker Street in central London. The taller one is 16 storeys high and the smaller one is 3 storeys. Wind and rain stopped us for just half a day on this weeklong job – not bad for a British winter.

The smaller building was simple: being just three storeys high it meant we could use our water-fed pole system – warm, deionised water, pumped up to a brush from our electric van to clean the windows, including the glazed balustrade that surrounds the penthouse terrace all the way around the top floor. By the way, we always use electric vehicles where we can to minimise our environmental impact, but also it means we can keep costs down by avoiding congestion charges and parking costs so we can keep our fees down as well.

The larger building was a little more challenging. There was a cradle system on the roof, but it was not in working order so abseiling was our only option. And there was no available anchoring point so we needed to use our dead weight trollies (heavy mobile weights we can anchor our lines to when abseiling down a building). Getting the trollies up to the top floor was easy as we could use the lift, but getting them to the roof was a little trickier. We had to dismantle them and carry them up the stairs (and, as the name suggests, they are a dead weight!). Once up though, these trollies secured us safely so we were able to work in the wind and drizzle for most of the week.

So, call in your high-rise window cleaner – we won’t let a little wind and rain stop us.

If the windows or the exterior of your building need a clean, then contact London Window Cleaners today on 020 3954 2900.

  SOURCES

1. Phone call