Tis the season: Window Paint Tip

As far as pricing, I approach paint as a way to get new route customers. I might not make my rate on the removal but I’ll make it up over the year.

If it’s just a one time thing then I would want my rate.

I picked up a nice restaurant because their cleaner wanted 50 bucks to remove a few windows worth of paint. Oh I also got his house, his rental, and neighbors incredible house.

This is a good point. Freakin murals are harder because they have layered paint.

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That’s an understatement! The longer it’s on the glass, the worse it is. If it is baked on from sun your in for a real treat!

Im in the same thought pattern as Mike when it comes to pricing holiday paint removal.

It is an easy in to gain new route work…(the wow effect for the new customer).

I live in a small community so theirs still alot of window painting happening here…

Wonder what oven cleaner would do to the paint! Lol dont try this , just me thinking out loud

Holiday paint removal is my seasonal cash cow.
Fresh scraper
Old small bucket for cleaning the scraper
(Don’t use your window cleaning bucket!! I know from experience …)
Wet the paint and scrape up.
It really is easy, but time consuming especially for those like me who don’t leave a mess on the side walk

Peace

** Belief Systems Are Fragile Things. How Will You React When Your Reality Suddenly Ceases To Exist?
Cleaning Windows is Just MyJob, Not My Life…
~ Pompous Basterd

Thanks for the sprayway tip !!! My way works good forme but since I ALLWAYS have a ton of sprayway around I think I will give it a go.
I can see it being more efficient for me,
And I love me some more efficiency !!!

** Belief Systems Are Fragile Things. How Will You React When Your Reality Suddenly Ceases To Exist?
Cleaning Windows is Just MyJob, Not My Life…
~ Pompous Basterd

Well I used the spray way on my first holiday paint removal this year. It went pretty good. I don’t know if it was the 3 blades I used or the music in my ear. Or the spray way but not to bad. I wasn’t cursing the whole time I was doing it.

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How did you use to do it ??

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No music!! Regular solution mix. And a lot of frustration. I think the music helped.

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Has anyone ever used a 90% DLimonene product for paint removal? Just wet. It doesn’t evaporate. Let set about five minutes. Then upscrape and dump in bucket. Soap and scrape for the final squeegee finish.

Henry

Years ago I used a brass ice scrapper and Finish Kare 425, an automotive quick detailer as a lubricant to remove some large latex paint spots off my windows. To my Suprise the. 425 melted the paint on the glass and made it much easier to remove.

@JaredAl

Started my Paint Removal runs this morning. (4;30 a.m. Brrr. cold front coming in!!!)
And am trying JaedAl sprayway tip.
For those interested…

DON’T USE SPRAYWAY!!!

O.k. Let me rephrase that ^^ with a story… (storytime!! story TIME!! STORY TIME!!)
Way back in the neanderthal days when i first heard of peeps crowing about sprayway, i said to myself :
“Self”
“Theres GOTTA be another foaming cleaning that works just as well as sprayway for cheaper”
So i went on the “find a cheaper foam cleaner than sprayway” hunt.
I hunted high, i hunted low. Every place i could think to go.
to get different cans of foaming glass cleaner.
and to find that “better” one.
So now i have tons of cans of other foaming glass cleaners.
So i thought i would do a test and grabbed a couple cans and a can of sprayway as a baseline.
and found that the dirt cheap foaming spray worked just as well as sprayway FOR HOLIDAY PAINT REMOVAL!
Good for me since i have ten HOLIDAY PAINT REMOVALS lined up and i have a crap load of non sprayway in the garage…
So save your sprayway and get the cheap stuff FOR HOLIDAY PAINT REMOVAL!!!
So one may ask… How did it work??

DAMMMM Jaredal
I would NEVER have thought of this myself!!!

I could kiss you!!!
(don’t get your knickers in a uproar… My lips don’t stretch THAT far…)

First… It cut down on the extra buckets i had been lugging around .
And the foam holds the paint in suspension on your blade as you scrape up, Making it easy to “flic da foam” into ones foam bucket.
I am kinda anal about NOT leaving a MESS behind on the sill or sidewalks. (and we ALL have seen the mess some leave behind after thier feeble attempts to remove holiday paint off windows…) and this tip makes for hardly ANY needed e
“EXTRA” cleanup.

I used a SMALL (2 gallon) square bucket.
I’d recommend a square bucket one not a round one so you can use the flat sides to scrape off ones scraper if needed.
A a angled TRIUMP scraper. ( had it in my bin for years. FINALLY got some good use out of it.
And Foam Window Cleaner.

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This has been sprayed with foaming glass cleaner (no dwell time) and first scrape.
I know some of you sharp eyed winder washers noticed i have scraped at a angle and not “UP” like i am always harping about.
This angled scrape is just for “photo Purposes”

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This is pretty much all i used for my “first Pass” (Note cheap foaming spray from LOWES")
Yep. Dat Be foam in dat bucket!!!

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This is AFTER the “first Pass” Not only is there no paint on the glass… (o.k. there may be a speck that will get knocked off in my second WASHING pass…)
but a clean sill AND sidewalk!!!
AND i left the rags in the car!!
I ALLWAYS had to do cleanup on sills and sidewalks with my last years system no matter how anal and careful i was.
Hardly no clean up using this tip!
AND i was half sleep this morning!!!
I suggest to scrape ALL the paint off all windows first pass, then use a OLD washer go back and wash dem winders (looking for any MISSED flecks).
Easy Peasy.
This is the best christmas present i got this year!!
THANKS JaredAl !!!
Pax

OOOH YEAH…
In case you were wondering…
After much searching and trials… YES i finally finally did find a foaming glass spray that works JUST as good as sprayway and costs a dollar a can.
Found it at the Dollar Store. Looked up the ingredients and same as sprayway.

YES !!! JACKPOT!!!

Unfortunately, by the time i got back to “BUY them out”, the dollar stores no longer carried that manufacturer ( it was their private label) any more and their replacement SUCKS!!!
So while my shelf’s are stocked with different foaming sprays that i can finally make use of for removing holiday paint.
(you should have seen the faces of the kids as they opened gifts of “foaming Glass Spray” i gave them as gag gifts…
PRICELESS!!!)
Sprayway still rides supreme in the W.C. Vehicle

Merry New Year To All!!!
(yes… that includes EVEN you…)
Peace

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[MENTION=3025]pagliachi[/MENTION] I’m glad it worked out for you! For the really stubborn paint just keep spraying it and letting it soak. It made my life so much easier.

I think I posted it somewhere that I thought any foaming spray would work so thanks for the heads up on the dollar store and lowes. I just referenced sprayaway because I think it’s pretty cheap for a 6 pack at sams. I’m all about the cheap stuff.

I usually used a garbage bag for paint removal. You can get like a million bags at sams club for really cheap (the thin, cheap, wastepaper basket kind). I like that bucket idea. I usually ended up with like 10 different bags in the back of the van.

@Jaredal
I would NEVER have thought to use foaming glass cleaner, so your tip is priceless!!!
I am sure you did mention it, i probly didnt see it…
I FINALLY can use up all my extra F.G.C. !!!
You have NO idea how happy this makes me!!!
Thanks agian!!
Holy Crap !!
Just saw your from albaquerkie N.M. (never could spell that)
My sister just moved from there!!
I loved the volcanos, and sandia moutians!!
Ahhh the watermelon…
pax

Now let me ask you something frosty! Was that oil base paint there ? I’m big on my straight ammonia for paint removal. I’m going to try the foam cleaner an compare. I’m glad it’s working good for ya ! An thanks for that short rhyming story
Btw I can see what frosty ate for breakfast!

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Mike [MENTION=7269]Majestic66[/MENTION] (why the heck can’t I spell majestic? I keep wanting to put in a “g”)

As far as I know it works on all sorts of window paint. I did this pawn shop that had a real high gloss paint for their “We’re now open” sign and the razor was making hard work of it. I sprayed some foam on it and it came off like butter. I finished 4 big windows of foam paint in the same time it took me to do the one letter. I think they used like a house paint or something, it wasn’t normal window paint.

And the Denny’s we did had an air brushed paint on their windows for Santa’s 7 reindeer or whatever it is (one deer for each window) and it was brutal with just the razor. I felt bad for the people inside trying to eat while I did the first deer. But after foaming it up (it took a couple of sprays) the rest of the deer come off pretty easy.

Real elaborate paintings will have several layers of paint so they tend to need more sprays.

There’s nothing sweeter than that paint just piling up on your razor in a big wad where you can just fling it into your bag or bucket. The one customer I did every month, I would play a game with myself and see how many windows worth of paint I could balance on my razor before tossing it.

But if that junk hits the sidewalk, game over: you will NOT be able to clean it up.

Here’s an evil tip: if the foaming stuff is working good for you, wrap it in duct tape. That way when other cleaners see you breezing through the paint, they’re going to want to know what you’ve got. Just tell them “It’s specially formulated for window paint.”

And if you’re feeling generous, you can sell them a can for $20.

Oh, and I wouldn’t let it sit in the truck overnight if it’s going to freeze. I had several cans that had frozen out in the shed and they would just dribble when it came time to use them.

[MENTION=5616]Jared[/MENTION]al

Duct tape!!! What else can ya do with it??? Priceless!!!
Reminded me of my first mentor.
Demanded that the dawn be put in another bottle, and if someone was " looking" at us work we had to change up our stroke
(heeheuhhuh …he said stroke…)
So they could not “steal” how his system of stroking the windows…
Ahhhhh. Memories…
But I can’t thank jaredal enough for the foaming tip!!!
I breezed through the removals in less than half the time it took me last year.
And hardly no clean up!!!
Man I am missing the holidays already!!!

Merry 2015 to all. !!!
Pax
Hey

** Belief Systems Are Fragile Things. How Will You React When Your Reality Suddenly Ceases To Exist?
Cleaning Windows is Just MyJob, Not My Life…
~ Pompous Basterd

[MENTION=3025]pagliachi[/MENTION] yeah, I know how you feel. I was so excited when I found out the foam stuff helped so much.

Snow in a can tip:

Now in regards to the snow in a can junk. I hate that stuff because it always makes a mess. I had one of my regulars use a can this year and instead of trying to razor it (waste of time and razor) and instead of just hitting it with my mop, I got one of my microfiber towels out of the dirty bin and, after wringing it out, wiped up all the snow. I usually carry 4 or 5 microfibers to wipe up sills, but that one microfiber saved me a huge mess, saved me from messing up my water, and by wiping the snow off like that it only cost me maybe a minute worth of work.

So I’m happy that I finally found an easy way to deal that that garbage.

[MENTION=5616]Jared[/MENTION]Al and [MENTION=3025]pagliachi[/MENTION]

I just did my first ever holiday window paint removal job today. I priced it at $40 before reading this thread, and I was really stressed that I had grossly underbid it. Well, thanks to the awesome advice from you guys, it took me 5 minutes!!!

I did a sample area (about an inch square) dry just to see what it would have been like without the Sprayaway and bucket and THAT little piece made an absolute mess!

I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU!!! to both of you for letting the rest of us benefit from your experience. I was dreading this job, now I’m looking forward to next year’s paint removal season!

Jesse
Atlas Services - Exterior Cleaning Specialists
North Carolina