Hi all. I am starting a new window cleaning business and am a noob, so I need some advice. I went to clean my buddies office for practice and ran in to this issue. The windows are tinted and have not been cleaned for years. If you look at the picture here Imgur: The magic of the Internet you can see that the windows is stained with what looks like hard water, but I have cleaned this window no less then 5 times with dawn, lime away, steel wool, microfiber cloths, and I cant clean the window. Are these stains hard water or is it just the old tint on the window coming off? This is Florida btw, so we are known for hard water.
Also there are these white speckle markings on the windows that look like either bird drippings or paint. If I spent significant time using steel wool, I can usually get most of the white speckle markings out but it takes a long time and many passes. How do you suggest something like that gets cleaned fast and efficiently. Also how do you deal with hard water stains on tinted windows if you are afraid of using steel wool so as to not damage the tint? Thanks.
Ps. I did not scratch the windows, those scratches were there before I started
First appearance looks to me to be hard water stains on a tempered window, the tint on that should be sealed between the panes.it is dark glass so it’s severely damaged
Hard water stains are a build up of calcium deposits that have bonded with the glass. The easiest way to remove it is with chemicals…One Restore (aka SafeRestore) works great.
The white little specks are, more than likely, paint specks that have been baked on the glass. The chemicals for the hard water stains should take these off.
If it was only paint specks on the window I would test the window with a scraper and clean it that way.
If it is paint specks on window tint I don’t touch it and I don’t worry about it. The owner needs to charge back the painter for a new tint job.
I need to point out, maybe I read your post wrong, the way I read it you are writing that the hard water stains are on the tint of the window. The plastic sheet-ed tint usually goes on the inside of the glass…it is rare to see hard water staining on the inside of glass, unless you are in a greenhouse, bathhouse, or Sea World.
If the tint isn’t a plastic sheet and is either in the glass or is chemically applied to the outer surface of the glass DON’T DO ANY OF THE ABOVE TREATMENTS. (But, you already wrote that you’ve used Lime Away and Steel wool so, I don’t think any kind of tinting is on the surface of the glass.)
Thank you for the information. I don’t know what side the tint is on, I still have no idea how to figure that one out. When I was cleaning the window I washed it from the outside multiple times and was unable to remove the apparent water stains at all. I used steel wool and lime away and dawn, got no where with that. So I went inside an then washed the window from the inside using only dawn as I was afraid of scraping the tint off as I was guessing that it might have been applied from the inside. After washing the window from the inside as well, there was no progress whatsoever, I was not even able to remove the tiniest but of that hard water, even when sitting on the same spot. The window seems like its a single pane window, what is odd is that when looking closely at these hard water stains they seem to come from the inside the window, like they are a few millimeters below the surface of the window, I didn’t feel any friction or bumps on the surface of the window with my fingers either.
I will purchase the EacoChem and give that a try. But is there a similar chemical on the market at home depot that i can purchase and try out tomorrow rather then waiting for it to get shipped? Also I presume its not safe to use that chemical on the tinted side? What do you do if the tinted side has hard water stains for some reason? Thanks in advance.
Definitely hard water spots. If on dark glass it will be a bear. I doubt any chemical will do it. It will require a two step. Silicon carbide grind then cerium oxide polish.
Since you are just starting out, will u be offering hardwater removal as part of your everyday service? Most customers know that most window cleaners cannot get rid of hard water stains and therefore do not expect it.
Maybe tackle that later down the road when u are a bit more experienced.
It’s not on the side you used Steel Wool and Lime Away on.
The Surface of glass has micro cracks in it that allow water to penetrate it, due to capillary action. Capillary action allows the calcium to build up in these micro cracks when the calcium rich water dries. The micro cracks and capillary action are partly why dirty window get dirtier faster than clean windows do.
To determine which side of the glass anything is on…look at the glass from an extreme angle to the glass and look closely at the object on the glass and try to touch it with your finger…you will be able to tell.
If you don’t think the calcium is on the surface of the window take the back of your finger nails and rub slowly back and forth across the window surface, you should feel resistance like very fine sandpaper. If you don’t feel anything, take a number 2 pencil and rub it back and forth on the window and wipe one direction, one time only. Now, look at the black pencil markings, has the white staining been replaced with the black from the pencil lead? If not, it’s very possible the calcium deposits are between the glass…I’ve never seen this before.
If there is tinting on the inside, it’s possible they tinted over the top of preexisting hard water stains on the inside…I’ve never seen this before.
It is possible that some form of seal coat has been put on these windows in the past and the water stain is under that…I have seen that before. But, nothing as bad as in the picture you posted.
Just so you know, I have scraped hard water stained windows smooth before with a six inch scraper. It was smooth to the touch and still had visible hard water stain damage.
Try 1 cup of lemon juice concentrate, 1/2 cup of Dawn, 3 cups of white vinegar. And apply it with '0000 Steel Wool using slow circles. OneRestore / SafeRestore saves a lot of scrubbing.
Take some pictures from both sides of the glass and some of the window frame edge and backup and take some pictures from aside angle…sometimes you can see hard water deposits on the frame and the walls of buildings.
