So I’ve watched a video of a guy who wrapped a towel around his squeegee to catch the extra water (it’s hard to explain without a picture) but when I’ve tried it, the towel thing didn’t work.
I tell customers there’s a possibility of getting drip marks on the walls and sometimes they don’t clean up… It gets me out of cleaning some skylights, but I’m still not satisfied with my inability to do this correctly.
How do you keep from leaving drips on the side walls when cleaning skylights?
I’ve never had this happen. If it leaks when you clean it wouldn’t it leak when it rains? Sounds like a problem for a carpenter not a window cleaner.
I’m sorry for not clarifying this is when I’m cleaning the inside of the skylight not the outside.
Unger speed clean with WFP. No problems.
Is this what you tried.
When it’s done correctly from a ladder and fanning all the way down it works every time.
or the tips already mentioned or the ones to follow
Yah that’s what I’ve tried on a pole with my wagtail and it didn’t seem to work… Maybe I just need to practice it more.
Works inside in the hand and I believe you have to fan all the way down
I use a standard brass handle and Ettore 12 inch squeegee and standard huck towel. Use to be a trade secret. Lol
Do you mean holding the handle? When I put it on the pole I used rubber bands or something like that
I never tried it that way.
Ya holding the handle a regular small brass one
My biggest problem is most of the time the skylights are pretty high up. One job was in the entry way of a house, and they had a live tree growing right smack dab in the middle of where a ladder would go, and it was probably a 12ft tree. Plus I don’t have a sectional ladder yet. I hear they make things a lot easier.
I usually tell them I can use the indoor speed clean which will get them good unless they are really bad. Or I offer the sectional ladder. Usually you can tell if it’s real important or not to them. Most all people choose the speed clean and are totally satisfied. But I’m always prepared to ladder up if they need it.
I prefer a stick and a pad over a ladder anyday as well. Little giant ladder would work inside but a sectional ladder was always my preference.
On second thought I think the little giant would trump the sectional on skylights because it adjusts in one foot increments.
For me speed clean used to be a regular wetting of the sky light with a strip washer on a pole and drying the glass with a full size bath towel draped over a doodlebug on the end of a pole. Rotating towel for a dry spot as ya go. That method works on filthy sky lights that haven’t been done in well over ten years. Of course you’ll have to clean it twice if you’re looking for perfection.
PS
Now I use the Unger pad system. The thick green washer pad is made out of the same microfiber cloth they use to make my strip washer sleeves. It can be dunked in a bucket when necessary and rung out. Same results as the old way but looks way more professional.
I’ve never had drip marks that didn’t clean up, not in 16 years.
Early on I would just make a mess and wipe it up but realized that doesn’t look so good
in the customers eyes even though it gets the job done. These days I will wet it up with a damp
Costco microfiber (or with sprayaway) draped over a strip washer and then dry it off with an Unger indoor pad.
Over course that only works if the skylight is flat.
Thats one good looking guy in that video!
Yeah it would be hard to get it to wrap around the channel while you’re poling it. Maybe if you used a safety pin to hold it on?
I have one little trick that might work for you. It’s not foolproof, but it works sometimes. So part of the problems with those black drip marks is that the dirty water soaks into the plaster or paint. So what you can do is get your strip washer moderately wet and scrub the wall where you expect the drip marks. The idea is to get the wall wet enough so that the dirty drips dont soak into it, but you also dont want to over wet the wall. Then the drips clean up much easier.
