April 1, 2025 • 31 mins
We dive into the fascinating world of professional window cleaning with AC Lockyer and expert Denver Klassen of Denver's Window Cleaning, exploring techniques from traditional squeegee methods to modern pure water systems. Denver shares his 19 years of industry knowledge to help property owners understand the best approaches for maintaining their windows.
• Window cleaning involves more than just glass—frames, sills, screens, gaskets, and casements all require attention.
• Traditional window cleaning uses a scrubber/mop and squeegee technique requiring artistry and muscle memory.
• The ideal soap-to-water ratio starts at one tablespoon per gallon, adjusting based on how the squeegee glides.
• Pure water window cleaning uses zero TDS water that naturally attracts dirt without chemicals.
• Water-fed poles enable cleaning windows up to seven stories high while keeping feet safely on the ground.
• Understanding hydrophobic versus hydrophilic glass properties affects your cleaning approach and results.
• Windows represent a major investment in buildings—often $50,000-$100,000 in a home—making proper maintenance essential.
For window cleaning assistance or equipment, visit https://softwashsystems.com/locations to find a licensed affiliate professional in your area.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
AC Lockyer (00:23):
Hey guys, it's AC Locker here and the tools,
techniques and chemicals thatyou're going to need to clean
the exterior of your building.
If you're a homeowner, propertyowner, engineer, maintenance
director, any of those types ofjobs we want to help you be
successful.
Taking care of the surfaces onyour building.
Taking care of the surfaces onyour building.
(00:48):
And this week I've got DenverCross and he's from Denver's
Window Cleaning and you're up inCanada.
What's the specific city thatyou're in?
Denver Klassen (00:52):
We're in a small town called Steinbeck in the
province of Manitoba in Manitoba.
AC Lockyer (00:58):
So, Madeline just moved in and zoomed in and did
the cool Google thing andeverybody can see all the
licensed affiliates we have inthe world.
It just zoomed into yourlocation there, which is very,
very cool.
It's kind of neat to thinkabout that.
We're over 150 licensedaffiliates now in eight
countries and that's just prettycool.
So this week we're talkingabout Windows and people
(01:23):
probably think to themselves ah,window cleaning, that's pretty
straightforward.
Denver Klassen (01:32):
I get that comment a lot.
AC Lockyer (01:38):
You get that comment a lot.
How many years have you beencleaning windows Denver?
We're going into our 19thseasonth season, so basically 19
years, and when you're talkingabout windows we're not just
talking about the glass surfaceright, correct.
Denver Klassen (01:53):
Yeah, there's a lot of different features or
different areas of the window,like the, the frames, the sills,
the screens, the glass itself.
Um and uh, you got interior andexterior.
You got to think about the.
You open the casements.
You got to look into that andclean the, the insects and the
dust out of corners and crevicesthere's a lot of things that
(02:14):
you got to figure.
Yeah, there's a lot.
AC Lockyer (02:16):
There's a lot to it, yeah and so, yeah, when you
look at the basic window, youhave have the glass portion of
the window, you have a gasket,you have a frame, you have, you
know then, the casement, youhave the sill, you have a screen
, storm windows.
You guys got storm windows upwhere you're at.
Denver Klassen (02:37):
Some of the older houses do, but the windows
are built a lot better thanwhat they used to be.
AC Lockyer (02:46):
Before we had double-planed gas-filled glass,
people used to hang a window onthe inside and a window on the
outside.
You'd have a gap, sometimesthis wide, between the two and
you'd have to get in there andtry to clean that with, like, a
bottle opener or a bottle brushor something like that.
Denver Klassen (02:58):
It was absolutely miserable yeah, no,
our old, our old storm windowswere actually on.
They were hung on hooks at thetop and then you could have
toggles that held them in placeon the sides, so you could swing
them out, swing them out,unhook them and bring them right
down.
AC Lockyer (03:13):
Wow, In Virginia here in the United States, they
literally install a window onthe outside, install a window on
the inside and you can raise orlower them.
But when you raise that windowup, you still have the other
whole half of the window on theinside that you've got to clean
out and and window cleaners justabsolutely hate yeah I haven't
seen that too much, but I haveseen, yeah, yeah all right cool.
(03:36):
So let's let's let's break intothis a little bit.
What are the different types ofwindow cleaning?
Because window cleaning hasgotten very sophisticated over
the years.
I mean most homeowners.
When they go to clean theirwindows around their home, they
grab Windex, they grab theirpaper towels and they will clean
the inside of their windows.
Maybe on the outside they'llget a bucket with soapy water
(03:59):
and a brush and they'll scrubthem on the outside and rinse
them with water.
And that's how most homeownersthink about cleaning their
windows.
But there's even now, in asmany varying types of windows
there are, there is almost asmany disciplines now on how to
clean windows.
But I really want to focus onthe top disciplines.
(04:21):
So why don't you introduce usto some of the techniques for
cleaning windows or disciplines?
Denver Klassen (04:29):
Well, you mentioned the mom and pop, the
homeowner style.
But then there's thetraditional window cleaning,
which is the mop and squeegee,and that goes back to, I think,
the Depression era when peoplestarted cleaning windows and
that was one of the industriesthat just they kept busy and
because shops wanted to keepyour place looking nice.
(04:49):
So that's just basically a.
We call them a scrubber.
Here in the us they call them amob, yeah, applicator.
Some people call them anapplicator.
It's just basically a handle.
It looks like a letter t with asleeve on it and you soak that.
You scrub the window, scrub theglass and then you got a
squeegee which is a very softrubber in a metal channel with a
(05:11):
handle on it, and you just pullthe dirty water off the glass.
AC Lockyer (05:14):
That's your traditional method and and so
there's there's a real techniqueto that.
I've seen people take the themop first and the mop almost
kind of looks like lamb's hair.
You know, it's really nice.
You soak it in your bucket andyou apply the soap in the water,
you scrub the window and thenyou take out your squeegee.
(05:34):
But I've seen people have themop in one hand, the squeegee in
the other and follow each otherand come down the glass and
it's really incredible to watch.
They actually have windowcleaning competitions and
there's actually a person whoholds the world's record on the
fastest window cleaning ever ona two foot by two foot lot to it
(05:56):
and different types of rubber,different elastic elasticities
of rubber, the size of thechannel, the different mops, and
then you come back and finishoff with a microfiber towel.
(06:17):
I mean the buckets that theycarry on their side and all the
tools.
Describe some of that stuff,because it's fascinating to see
an old school window cleaner atwork well, you have your the
buckets.
Denver Klassen (06:30):
Which would you come along?
What used to come with like afive gallon pail?
You dip one into the scrubberor the applicator, then flip it
over.
You're going to dip the otheryeah, um, but now they come in a
bucket that's about 20 incheslong, so you can actually just
do one, one dip and, uh, your,your applicators, all wet, um,
so then, um, the whole part ofthe squeegeeing.
(06:51):
Squeegeeing is the, is the thesecret?
Anybody can wet a window, aslong as you scrub, and
thoroughly, and make it wet.
The trick is the squeegee andum, if your technique is wrong,
you're going to leave a lot oflines, and I see a lot of
startups, a lot of people whosay I'll do it myself.
Um, just after they're done,you, just you can see a lot of
(07:13):
the streaks that they leave.
Right, and most traditionalwindow cleaners are artists.
Um, you gotta be able toseparate the artist from the guy
who can do it really well andyou want to make a living at it.
AC Lockyer (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, so literally I've seen people do
different techniques with thesqueegee and so real, real
newbies, amateurs, might do whatthey call the pull technique,
where you go to the top of theglass and you pull the water off
.
You go to the top of the glassand you pull the water off, and
then you wipe off your squeegeewith your microfiber towel and
you go to the corners, wipe it,wipe a few of your streaks off
(07:49):
and that's okay.
But what is the real way, thereal technique, to squeegee a
window?
Denver Klassen (07:58):
uh, some call it the 'S' like the letter S
technique, or this is worldtechnique.
Um, you know, as you talk to,and it basically is just
following a pattern, just aswirling pattern, and then
bringing the dirty water down tothe bottom.
Then you do what's calledclosing out.
You just press your squeegee upagainst the bottom of the frame
and you bring that, that dirtywater, right to the bottom and
(08:22):
it lands and runs onto the silland you can soak up the dirty
water there.
So it's, it's fun to watch.
Um, people always pause and thewhen you're doing that, they'll
.
They'll stop eating if you'rewashing windows at a restaurant,
or they'll they'll pause on thestreet when you're doing a
storefront, and the main commentwe get is oh, can you do my
glasses, or can you do my house,or that looks, that was
(08:45):
complicated things like that.
AC Lockyer (08:47):
So it is entertaining, yeah it's funny, I
call it the dark arts of windowcleaning.
You know it's you.
You mentioned the artist sideof it.
There's a lot of people thatare just very, very wound up and
and and proud of the way thatthey clean windows.
But it takes a long time.
If you're trying to scale awindow cleaning company or
(09:07):
you're trying to you're afacilities manager and you
bought a bucket, you bought aT-bar with a scrubber strip on
it, you bought some squeegeesand channels and rubber and
you've equipped your team withsome trad poles and all of the
accessories and kooch them onfor window cleaning and then you
go to train a janitor how toclean windows.
(09:28):
It doesn't always go well.
How long does it really take totrain somebody to clean windows
where you can turn them looseon a route?
Denver Klassen (09:40):
When you do that method you talked about, which
is the, the pull down, thestraight pull method, um, I
could have somebody beingproductive in in two days, yes
you know.
But when you train that theswirl technique um, it takes a
lot longer.
So when I do train the straightpull technique, I have a
(10:00):
mandatory move they got to do.
First, is they got to do what'scalled a dry line at the top of
the window if they're pullingstraight down Right, or a dry
line at the bottom.
They got to create a smallspace like an inch wide, so they
can put a clean squeegee in andthen pull it across.
Or, if they're pulling down,they put a clean squeegee in and
pull it down Right, becauseotherwise they're going to pull
the dirt from the top and createsome streaks and then it'll
(10:23):
catch and it'll look cleaner atthe bottom than it will at the
top.
So that's the artist side of me,trying to train my people to be
somewhat artistry, if that's aword.
And then An artisan, yeah,there we go To deliver a fine
product, right, right, and sothe customer's thrilled, and
(10:44):
then we have what we have in ourshop.
We call it our Miyagi window Ifyou have ever watched the
Karate Kid.
Mr Miyagi.
Wax on, wax off.
AC Lockyer (10:54):
So that's….
We've already talked about thatseveral times in this podcast
series.
Have you, okay?
Yeah, Mr.
Miyagi is very popular.
Denver Klassen (11:07):
It's a great analogy, right?
Yeah, and uh, um, we actuallyhave the window set aside.
We say, okay, you're on for themiyagi window.
We, we make them do it over andover and over.
Yes, yeah, it's muscle memory.
AC Lockyer (11:15):
Then they say, okay, you're right-handed, switch to
your left hand, which will causea lot of frustration, right,
but, but we, we get both handsgoing in the squeegees so they
can both squeegee and scrub witheither hand and that's
important, because when you'reon a ladder and you're cleaning
a window over here with yourright hand, you don't want to
get down and move the ladder soyou can just clean the next
(11:35):
window with your right hand.
You want to place your ladderonce and clean this direction
with your right hand and turnaround and be as proficient with
your left hand to be able toclean the window yeah, yeah, we
actually have a contest in ourshop for fastest time on that
miyagi window, and then they geta, a gas card or something.
Denver Klassen (11:54):
Yeah, get to a pizza shop or something like
that.
Um, yeah, we do that everyseason.
AC Lockyer (12:02):
And so for people, now that you're you know, you
can go to your local Wash Lifestore or any of our distributors
are out there and you canpurchase some of the great lines
that are out there, likePhantom Window Works or Unger Ed
Array.
You know there's many, manywindow cleaning companies out
there that make great products,many, many window cleaning
(12:22):
companies out there that makegreat products, and you can go
and purchase your T-bar, yourtrad pool, your squeegee and
channel and rubber and all thetools you need to clean the
windows.
But there is a little secretyou just don't put a squirt of
dishwashing detergent in thewater and clean the window.
You can put too much soap inthe water.
You can put too little soap inthe water.
What is your standard mix thatyou like to use for squeegeeing
(12:45):
the window?
You can put too much soap inthe water.
You can put too little soap inthe water.
What what is your standard mixthat you like to use for
squeegeeing the windows?
my ratio to start is about atablespoon of soap per gallon of
water, and then you can tweakit as you go.
Tablespoon is minimum and, uh,you can tell if you have enough.
If you get a nice glide, yoursqueegee will glide across the
glass.
But if your squeegee isbouncing or or squealing
(13:07):
sometimes it makes a squeaky,squeaky sound then you'll
probably need a little bit moresoap.
So we start with about atablespoon so the soap's acting
as your lubricant.
Because when you, when you go with your, your mop
or your scrubber and you scrubthe glass and you mop it all
down, you need that little bitof something to break the
surface tension on the glass sothat your squeegee not only
(13:30):
removes the water but doesn'tshatter, because if it shatters
then of course you leave morestreaks and spots and everything
lasts.
So you know, the product thatwe use is a product called
Phantom Levitate.
We call it Levitate, that'sGilson Phantom's Levitate.
But you also kind of want yoursqueegee to levitate on the
glass.
So you get a good squeegee andso, yeah, you need about a
(13:53):
tablespoon is about right pergallon and then you go up or
down, depending on if you havereally hydrophobic glass or if
you have hydrophilic glass.
Depending on if you have reallyhydrophobic glass or if you
have hydrophilic glass.
Why don't you explain to peoplea little bit about, just really
quick, about hydrophobic versushydrophilic glass?
Because they're going toencounter that out there.
Denver Klassen (14:19):
Well, hydrophobic and hydrophilic this
is the way that the glasspushes away or repels water or
holds on to water.
Now, I'm always under theimpression that hydrophobic
glasses when my water sheets offreal nice and nice and smooth,
it's hydrophobic.
And I've been in debate withpeople who say, oh, that's
hydrophilic.
So I just know there's adifference.
Right, I'm not science-y inthat way, other than I can see
(14:39):
the difference, I can teach thedifference, and it depends who I
talk to.
They'll debate me on what.
Which word is which.
Um, so you might even knowwhich word is.
Is where the water repels realnice, well, I think it's not
only that there's a preferencething.
AC Lockyer (14:55):
Some window cleaners like hydrophilic glass and some
like hydrophobic glass.
So the key to it, the way it'sbeen explained to me and I got
us one of my mentors, steveblythe, with jay racenstein
they're an over 100 year old Ithink they're 115 year old
window cleaning supply companynow um, is phyllos, where hydro,
(15:16):
hydro, water, phyllic orphyllos is the greek word for
loves.
Okay, so glass that loves water, the water will sheet across
the glass and will come down theglass as a sheet of water.
Yeah, it plays on the glass, itloves the glass it, it mates
(15:36):
together well with the glass.
Hydrophobic is hydro, water,phobic is fear, is when it beads
up and the water repels theglass like it's scared, like
it's pushing that water awayfrom the glass.
So when you get glass that thewater beads up on and stands up
on, it's hydrophobic fears glass, um, if it's hydrophilic, then
(16:00):
the glass loves the water, andso that's the difference between
the two.
And if you're doing mop andsqueegee hydrophilic, where that
you get a sheeting action onthe glass is just the absolute
best because then your squeegeedoesn't shatter, you don't have
to use as much, so you don't geta lot of residue on the glass.
It just goes a lot better,would you agree?
Denver Klassen (16:22):
I do agree.
I do agree.
But when it comes totraditional methods, I honestly
don't really pay attention ornotice it that much, and I don't
even teach my my crews about itthat much.
It's when we do pure waterwindow cleaning that you can
really see it yes, you know.
AC Lockyer (16:38):
So you're not.
You're not what I woulddescribe as a window cleaning
snob.
No, I've seen some windowcleaning snobs.
It's crazy.
Yep, so you mentioned purewater, window cleaning.
That is something that's justreally come to prominence the
(17:01):
last 20 years in the industry,especially the last 10 years.
It's really become common inthe window cleaning industry to
use pure water.
So let's describe thattechnique, because if you're a
novice or you're trying to trainand scale your company quickly,
the water fed pool might be theanswer for you.
So describe that process.
Denver Klassen (17:19):
Yes, Well, pure water.
Window cleaning is the art ofputting dirt into clean water
and rinsing the dirty water offand then letting the remainder
of the liquid, pure water that'son the glass, just evaporate
and dry up.
Then your window is leftspotless.
So the key there is to get purewater.
(17:42):
You've got to get a reverseosmosis system with a particle
filter, ro filter and a DI resinto polish the water.
In some areas of the countrythere's more or less of these
items.
I'm in a pretty hard water areaa lot of iron deposits so I've
got to use my particle filter,my DI filter I mean my RO filter
(18:03):
and my DI resin to bring mywater down to zero parts per
million or as close to zero as Ican.
AC Lockyer (18:09):
So let's talk about that real quick, because pure
water is not soft water.
There is a huge distinctdifference between the two of
them.
Soft water is water that hasbeen softened, usually by using
a mineral like salt Okay, usinga mineral like salt okay.
(18:31):
And pure water is zero tds.
Tom, well, it actually standsfor total dissolved solids.
I was gonna go tom day, sam,but no, it actually stands for
total dissolved solids and soit's zero tds.
So in florida, here, our wateris somewhere between usually
between 320 and 350 TDS, andthat means that when you take
the water out of the tap from acity, well water could be even
(18:52):
higher, 500, 600.
But when you take that tapwater out of the house and you
were to rinse your windows evenmaybe after scrubbing them with
a scrub brush and soap and water, and rinse them, they went dry
with spots, or what are calledmineral deposits on the glass.
Now, what's your TDS in yourarea?
Do you know?
Denver Klassen (19:10):
In summer, between three and 500.
Depends which well I tap into.
AC Lockyer (19:16):
Yep, yep.
And so you're in a similarsituation.
What we have here?
We have a lot of silt orsediment in our water too.
Especially if people have awell, they have well water.
You absolutely have to have thatfourth stage or that sediment
filter on your pure water cart,but what we're doing is we're
making zero tds water.
What that means is is in thewater molecule the hydrogen and
(19:37):
the oxygen, okay, hydrogendioxide in that molecule and the
molecules are all stackedtogether and make water, is if
you are able to remove anydissolved solids in there and
and get zero tds water, thatmakes for lack of a better term,
the water hungry for minerals.
So when you spray the water onthe glass and you agitate it
(20:01):
with a brush, it'll, withoutsoaps, without chemicals.
Pull that dirt off the glassand you agitate it with a brush,
it'll with out soaps, withoutchemicals.
Pull that dirt off the glassand bring it into suspension on
the on inside of the water soyou can remove it from the glass
.
And then you, and then so youexplain kind of the technique
because you, you just don'trinse it.
There's there's like threethings you do.
(20:22):
Go ahead and explain.
Denver Klassen (20:25):
Purified water, zero TDS water naturally wants
to get dirty.
Yes, there's definitely atechnique to washing windows
with purified water.
My technique is we start withthe frames.
We got a lot of vinyl frames inmy area, so vinyl, plastic
frames and they tend to breakdown, get a lot of oxidation.
(20:46):
Frames in my area, um, soplastic, vinyl plastic frames
and they tend to break down, geta lot of oxidation, especially
if they're self-facing.
And when we agitate the frame alittle bit, some white looks we
we call it bleeding.
It looks like it's just running.
It's oxidation, it's chalk yeah, it's chalk.
Yeah, it's running down thewindows.
Right early on, when I startedtraining pure water, my guys
would wash the windows, wash towash the frames and then they
(21:07):
leave and let the waterevaporate and then customers
would call me back why is mywindow so hazy?
Yeah, are you a little milky runspots?
I had to change my trainingtechnique, yes, so our method
now is we wash all the frameswith a bristle brush, whether
it's a boris air bristle or apadded brush.
We like to use bristles that getinto all the crevices and get
(21:27):
the bugs and s out dirt and dustas much as we can within the
crevices of the frame, and thenwe'll go around the house or the
building and do the frames.
Then we'll come back to windownumber one, now that the water
hasn't had a chance to drip out,and then we'll concentrate on
the glass without touching theframe again, because all that,
that chalky water, um, has had achance to run down, and so we
(21:53):
can just focus on the glass andthen scrub and rinse the glass
with pure water, and once we doa final rinse on the glass, we
leave it alone and then let theremainder pure water which is
the last thing to touch yourglass let it evaporate.
And then you gotta remainderpure water which is the last
thing to touch your glass let itevaporate, and then you got an
almost perfect result, whetheryou're on ground level or I can
(22:13):
be confident up to 65 feet.
AC Lockyer (22:17):
Now when we were talking about hydrophobic versus
hydrophilic, a lot of peoplethat are doing pure water
because they'll come in.
I like to kind of pre-wet theglass first, try to rinse any
dirt, because we have a lot ofsilica sand here and if it gets
caught in the brush it'llscratch the glass.
So I'll rinse the window first,get silica sand off of it.
I'll scrub all the framesreally good, and I have a frame
(22:41):
scrubbing brush becausesometimes that oxidation gets
caught in it.
I have another brush on thepole.
I'll flip it around then andthen I'll do the glass portions
and I'll lift the pole off theglass and I'll rinse it down
with the spray bar or the jetsor anything else to then make
sure that there's only purewater left on the glass and then
(23:01):
, if it's hydrophilic it'll havea sheeting action and it will
dry 100% spot free.
But if it's hydrophobic you maystill get some droplets or
spotting, you know littledroplets all over the glass and
if they dry with the sun, ifthere's any minerals left of it
at all, they'll dry as spots.
How do you avoid when you havehydrophobic glass and you do get
(23:26):
some droplets of water on theglass after using a water-fed
pole and and scrubbing thewindows, how do you avoid those
spotting?
Well, if it's a really hot day.
Denver Klassen (23:38):
We slow down our rinse so that, so that we don't
rinse faster than what we couldbring the dirty water down,
right.
Um, so we have to slow downour rinse so, as we're coming
down, the water will evaporatereally quickly.
On the on the south side, youcan see it steaming up, right.
So you gotta, you gotta, payattention to that.
Um, if you have a two jet brush, which is pretty standard, or
(23:59):
four jet brush and I mean bythat is you gotta, you gotta
brush it this is the brush headyou'll have a jet coming out of
the middle of the bristles,those types of brushes.
You have to lift off the glassand you have to zigzag and rinse
the dirty water.
Now, to do it properly, youcan't do a big zigzag sorry,
maybe moving my hands too quick.
(24:19):
You have to actually go inch byinch, which takes a long time.
So that's out of all of theglass.
AC Lockyer (24:26):
You can't miss an area.
Denver Klassen (24:27):
You can't miss the spot, otherwise you'll have
spots within the beach pattern,within the zigzag, if that makes
sense.
So there are products out there, there's companies out there
and I have my favorite.
I don't know if you want me toplug one here, but I have my
favorite and it's reach it.
I love the reach it brushesbecause they're light, they're
(24:50):
agile, you can do a lot of stuffwith them and, um, they're easy
to train a crew with and thebrushes, if you get the right,
one, can adapt to mistakes,right, but which has made it
very easy to rinse, so you don'thave to pull the brush off and
zigzag.
And I know Unger I believe itwas, or Tucker has come up with
(25:12):
a rinse bar.
They followed Ritchit.
Ritchit came up with a rinsebar that comes on top of the
bristles and you can actuallyscrub your window and as you're
scrubbing, you're alreadybringing the water down, you're
already rinsing, because thewhip, the pure water, is above
the bristles, right, and thatmakes it so easy to teach and
(25:34):
the results are fantastic.
There are times we have to liftup the, the brush just to do a
final, uh little touch-up rinse,but we get very, very few
spotting fallbacks.
AC Lockyer (25:48):
So the other thing that is really really huge
positive on doing the water-fedpole is these poles are 25, 35,
all the way up to 65 feet long,so you can clean second-story,
third-story, all the way up tofifth-story windows with the
water-fed pole technique, whichmakes it a lot safer, right yeah
(26:10):
, I've got as high as sevenstories.
Denver Klassen (26:12):
Wow, I'm not a.
I'm not a fan of it.
It's, it's actually quitenerve-wracking.
Um, but four stories and down.
I've.
I've got a team of uh, youngladies that are on my, on my
team as well.
They're doing four stories anddown, right, and it's a lot of
shoulder work, a lot of upperbody.
Um, you get the right carbonfiber pools, a light brushes and
(26:33):
it's, it's amazing what you canget done yeah, very cool.
AC Lockyer (26:40):
Well, you know, certainly there there's a lot of
stuff that you can do.
We went through threetechniques.
I mean literally you can.
You can take and have a fivegallon bucket with a pole and a
scrub brush on it and clean yourwindows.
Make sure it's a soft scrubbrush, rinse them off with
regular water and if you're ahomeowner, take out your blower
that you use to blow off yoursidewalks and blow all the water
(27:01):
off your glass quickly.
Make sure you don't get too farahead of yourself.
Do each window at a time andthat will give you a spot-free
clean.
You could use the mop andsqueegee technique, which will
certainly work, which is thegood old school solid window
cleaning.
That's the classic windowcleaning.
And then the latest techniqueis certainly the pure water
(27:23):
window cleaning with the brushesand the poles and the reverse
osmosis zero TDS water to beable to do the windows.
You have a lot of options outthere.
So I hope this has helped youguys envision that if you're
going to start cleaning thewindows on your facility, you
can get equipped for that.
You can call somebody likeDenver.
Any of our soft wash systemspros are happy to take a phone
(27:47):
call, coach you through it, helpyou tackle some of these
smaller projects yourself.
But if you get tired, if youget weary, if you have too many
windows and you go, help youtackle some of these smaller
projects yourself.
But if you get tired, if youget weary, if you have too many
windows and you go, this is forthe birds, what are they going
to do?
Denver, if it's for the birds?
Yeah, if it's for the birds,they're like that might be an
(28:08):
American saying, like if they'rewore out and they don't want to
clean their windows anymore,who are they going to call?
Denver Klassen (28:19):
Well, they can call a referral market, like a
referral partner, another windowcleaner right, somebody who
actually specializes in that?
Yeah, yep, and I'm more thanopen to phone calls.
I've coached probably half adozen of your affiliates in
window cleaning in one way oranother.
And uh, I'm, I'm open to phonecalls answering questions.
AC Lockyer (28:34):
That's just what I love to do, yep because
eventually we may get thebusiness from that customer,
because sometimes people justget to the point where they
don't want to do it Now.
So if you guys are interestedin engaging somebody like Denver
, you can go to oursoftwarsystemscom website and
click the locations button.
Or just go to softwarsystemscomwebsite and click the locations
(28:55):
button, or just go tosoftwashesystemscom forward
slash locations and you'll seewhere Denver is.
Or any of our other up to 150softwash systems pros and right
now eight countries and twoterritories and growing around
the world to take care of your,any of your window cleaning
needs.
Or you can visit The Wash LifeStore or any of our distributors
(29:17):
to possibly get set up tohandle doing the window cleaning
yourselves.
If you'd like to even rent alittle pure water window
cleaning unit cart to clean yourwindows, we'd love to help you
do that.
But in the long run, trust me,you're probably going to say,
nah, let's just engage the pros,like the soft wash systems pros
(29:39):
like Denver up there in Canadawith Denver's Window Cleaning.
Hey, Denver, this was great man.
There's a lot to what cleaningwindows.
I mean.
The time we took today justdidn't justify it no, I, I
didn't talk a long time, a longtime.
Hours about cleaning windows.
We didn't get even into tinside or you know there's all
(30:01):
kinds of things.
You know different coatings onwindows.
What do you do if you scratchglass?
I mean there's so much to talkabout.
But having clean windows, Imean those windows are the movie
screen to your life, and havingclean windows on your home and
your building allows light in,makes people happier, and we're
getting ready to come intospring here and it's going to be
(30:24):
beautiful outside, so we wantto get all that beautiful light.
Denver Klassen (30:27):
Yeah, it is one of the most neglected parts of
my home, but it is one of themost expensive packages when
you're building a home.
AC Lockyer (30:34):
Oh yes, i It's nothing to put fifty to a
hundred thousand dollars plusinto windows on a home.
So absolutely well, Denver,thank you so much for being on
the show with us today.
Denver Klassen (30:49):
t's you my pleasure.
Thanks for the invite all guys.
AC Lockyer (30:53):
So tune in next time for any of the surface
substrates, any things that youneed to clean around your
property or your homes.
We are the place to talk aboutthe surface, the stain, the
tools, the techniques and thechemicals to take care of
cleaning all of those things.
This is AC Lockyer.
We'll see you at the nextpodcast.
Hey guys, it's AC Locker here and the tools,
techniques and chemicals thatyou're going to need to clean
the exterior of your building.
If you're a homeowner, propertyowner, engineer, maintenance
director, any of those types ofjobs we want to help you be
successful.
Taking care of the surfaces onyour building.
Taking care of the surfaces onyour building.
(00:48):
And this week I've got DenverCross and he's from Denver's
Window Cleaning and you're up inCanada.
What's the specific city thatyou're in?
Denver Klassen (00:52):
We're in a small town called Steinbeck in the
province of Manitoba in Manitoba.
AC Lockyer (00:58):
So, Madeline just moved in and zoomed in and did
the cool Google thing andeverybody can see all the
licensed affiliates we have inthe world.
It just zoomed into yourlocation there, which is very,
very cool.
It's kind of neat to thinkabout that.
We're over 150 licensedaffiliates now in eight
countries and that's just prettycool.
So this week we're talkingabout Windows and people
(01:23):
probably think to themselves ah,window cleaning, that's pretty
straightforward.
Denver Klassen (01:32):
I get that comment a lot.
AC Lockyer (01:38):
You get that comment a lot.
How many years have you beencleaning windows Denver?
We're going into our 19thseasonth season, so basically 19
years, and when you're talkingabout windows we're not just
talking about the glass surfaceright, correct.
Denver Klassen (01:53):
Yeah, there's a lot of different features or
different areas of the window,like the, the frames, the sills,
the screens, the glass itself.
Um and uh, you got interior andexterior.
You got to think about the.
You open the casements.
You got to look into that andclean the, the insects and the
dust out of corners and crevicesthere's a lot of things that
(02:14):
you got to figure.
Yeah, there's a lot.
AC Lockyer (02:16):
There's a lot to it, yeah and so, yeah, when you
look at the basic window, youhave have the glass portion of
the window, you have a gasket,you have a frame, you have, you
know then, the casement, youhave the sill, you have a screen
, storm windows.
You guys got storm windows upwhere you're at.
Denver Klassen (02:37):
Some of the older houses do, but the windows
are built a lot better thanwhat they used to be.
AC Lockyer (02:46):
Before we had double-planed gas-filled glass,
people used to hang a window onthe inside and a window on the
outside.
You'd have a gap, sometimesthis wide, between the two and
you'd have to get in there andtry to clean that with, like, a
bottle opener or a bottle brushor something like that.
Denver Klassen (02:58):
It was absolutely miserable yeah, no,
our old, our old storm windowswere actually on.
They were hung on hooks at thetop and then you could have
toggles that held them in placeon the sides, so you could swing
them out, swing them out,unhook them and bring them right
down.
AC Lockyer (03:13):
Wow, In Virginia here in the United States, they
literally install a window onthe outside, install a window on
the inside and you can raise orlower them.
But when you raise that windowup, you still have the other
whole half of the window on theinside that you've got to clean
out and and window cleaners justabsolutely hate yeah I haven't
seen that too much, but I haveseen, yeah, yeah all right cool.
(03:36):
So let's let's let's break intothis a little bit.
What are the different types ofwindow cleaning?
Because window cleaning hasgotten very sophisticated over
the years.
I mean most homeowners.
When they go to clean theirwindows around their home, they
grab Windex, they grab theirpaper towels and they will clean
the inside of their windows.
Maybe on the outside they'llget a bucket with soapy water
(03:59):
and a brush and they'll scrubthem on the outside and rinse
them with water.
And that's how most homeownersthink about cleaning their
windows.
But there's even now, in asmany varying types of windows
there are, there is almost asmany disciplines now on how to
clean windows.
But I really want to focus onthe top disciplines.
(04:21):
So why don't you introduce usto some of the techniques for
cleaning windows or disciplines?
Denver Klassen (04:29):
Well, you mentioned the mom and pop, the
homeowner style.
But then there's thetraditional window cleaning,
which is the mop and squeegee,and that goes back to, I think,
the Depression era when peoplestarted cleaning windows and
that was one of the industriesthat just they kept busy and
because shops wanted to keepyour place looking nice.
(04:49):
So that's just basically a.
We call them a scrubber.
Here in the us they call them amob, yeah, applicator.
Some people call them anapplicator.
It's just basically a handle.
It looks like a letter t with asleeve on it and you soak that.
You scrub the window, scrub theglass and then you got a
squeegee which is a very softrubber in a metal channel with a
(05:11):
handle on it, and you just pullthe dirty water off the glass.
AC Lockyer (05:14):
That's your traditional method and and so
there's there's a real techniqueto that.
I've seen people take the themop first and the mop almost
kind of looks like lamb's hair.
You know, it's really nice.
You soak it in your bucket andyou apply the soap in the water,
you scrub the window and thenyou take out your squeegee.
(05:34):
But I've seen people have themop in one hand, the squeegee in
the other and follow each otherand come down the glass and
it's really incredible to watch.
They actually have windowcleaning competitions and
there's actually a person whoholds the world's record on the
fastest window cleaning ever ona two foot by two foot lot to it
(05:56):
and different types of rubber,different elastic elasticities
of rubber, the size of thechannel, the different mops, and
then you come back and finishoff with a microfiber towel.
(06:17):
I mean the buckets that theycarry on their side and all the
tools.
Describe some of that stuff,because it's fascinating to see
an old school window cleaner atwork well, you have your the
buckets.
Denver Klassen (06:30):
Which would you come along?
What used to come with like afive gallon pail?
You dip one into the scrubberor the applicator, then flip it
over.
You're going to dip the otheryeah, um, but now they come in a
bucket that's about 20 incheslong, so you can actually just
do one, one dip and, uh, your,your applicators, all wet, um,
so then, um, the whole part ofthe squeegeeing.
(06:51):
Squeegeeing is the, is the thesecret?
Anybody can wet a window, aslong as you scrub, and
thoroughly, and make it wet.
The trick is the squeegee andum, if your technique is wrong,
you're going to leave a lot oflines, and I see a lot of
startups, a lot of people whosay I'll do it myself.
Um, just after they're done,you, just you can see a lot of
(07:13):
the streaks that they leave.
Right, and most traditionalwindow cleaners are artists.
Um, you gotta be able toseparate the artist from the guy
who can do it really well andyou want to make a living at it.
AC Lockyer (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, so literally I've seen people do
different techniques with thesqueegee and so real, real
newbies, amateurs, might do whatthey call the pull technique,
where you go to the top of theglass and you pull the water off
.
You go to the top of the glassand you pull the water off, and
then you wipe off your squeegeewith your microfiber towel and
you go to the corners, wipe it,wipe a few of your streaks off
(07:49):
and that's okay.
But what is the real way, thereal technique, to squeegee a
window?
Denver Klassen (07:58):
uh, some call it the 'S' like the letter S
technique, or this is worldtechnique.
Um, you know, as you talk to,and it basically is just
following a pattern, just aswirling pattern, and then
bringing the dirty water down tothe bottom.
Then you do what's calledclosing out.
You just press your squeegee upagainst the bottom of the frame
and you bring that, that dirtywater, right to the bottom and
(08:22):
it lands and runs onto the silland you can soak up the dirty
water there.
So it's, it's fun to watch.
Um, people always pause and thewhen you're doing that, they'll
.
They'll stop eating if you'rewashing windows at a restaurant,
or they'll they'll pause on thestreet when you're doing a
storefront, and the main commentwe get is oh, can you do my
glasses, or can you do my house,or that looks, that was
(08:45):
complicated things like that.
AC Lockyer (08:47):
So it is entertaining, yeah it's funny, I
call it the dark arts of windowcleaning.
You know it's you.
You mentioned the artist sideof it.
There's a lot of people thatare just very, very wound up and
and and proud of the way thatthey clean windows.
But it takes a long time.
If you're trying to scale awindow cleaning company or
(09:07):
you're trying to you're afacilities manager and you
bought a bucket, you bought aT-bar with a scrubber strip on
it, you bought some squeegeesand channels and rubber and
you've equipped your team withsome trad poles and all of the
accessories and kooch them onfor window cleaning and then you
go to train a janitor how toclean windows.
(09:28):
It doesn't always go well.
How long does it really take totrain somebody to clean windows
where you can turn them looseon a route?
Denver Klassen (09:40):
When you do that method you talked about, which
is the, the pull down, thestraight pull method, um, I
could have somebody beingproductive in in two days, yes
you know.
But when you train that theswirl technique um, it takes a
lot longer.
So when I do train the straightpull technique, I have a
(10:00):
mandatory move they got to do.
First, is they got to do what'scalled a dry line at the top of
the window if they're pullingstraight down Right, or a dry
line at the bottom.
They got to create a smallspace like an inch wide, so they
can put a clean squeegee in andthen pull it across.
Or, if they're pulling down,they put a clean squeegee in and
pull it down Right, becauseotherwise they're going to pull
the dirt from the top and createsome streaks and then it'll
(10:23):
catch and it'll look cleaner atthe bottom than it will at the
top.
So that's the artist side of me,trying to train my people to be
somewhat artistry, if that's aword.
And then An artisan, yeah,there we go To deliver a fine
product, right, right, and sothe customer's thrilled, and
(10:44):
then we have what we have in ourshop.
We call it our Miyagi window Ifyou have ever watched the
Karate Kid.
Mr Miyagi.
Wax on, wax off.
AC Lockyer (10:54):
So that's….
We've already talked about thatseveral times in this podcast
series.
Have you, okay?
Yeah, Mr.
Miyagi is very popular.
Denver Klassen (11:07):
It's a great analogy, right?
Yeah, and uh, um, we actuallyhave the window set aside.
We say, okay, you're on for themiyagi window.
We, we make them do it over andover and over.
Yes, yeah, it's muscle memory.
AC Lockyer (11:15):
Then they say, okay, you're right-handed, switch to
your left hand, which will causea lot of frustration, right,
but, but we, we get both handsgoing in the squeegees so they
can both squeegee and scrub witheither hand and that's
important, because when you'reon a ladder and you're cleaning
a window over here with yourright hand, you don't want to
get down and move the ladder soyou can just clean the next
(11:35):
window with your right hand.
You want to place your ladderonce and clean this direction
with your right hand and turnaround and be as proficient with
your left hand to be able toclean the window yeah, yeah, we
actually have a contest in ourshop for fastest time on that
miyagi window, and then they geta, a gas card or something.
Denver Klassen (11:54):
Yeah, get to a pizza shop or something like
that.
Um, yeah, we do that everyseason.
AC Lockyer (12:02):
And so for people, now that you're you know, you
can go to your local Wash Lifestore or any of our distributors
are out there and you canpurchase some of the great lines
that are out there, likePhantom Window Works or Unger Ed
Array.
You know there's many, manywindow cleaning companies out
there that make great products,many, many window cleaning
(12:22):
companies out there that makegreat products, and you can go
and purchase your T-bar, yourtrad pool, your squeegee and
channel and rubber and all thetools you need to clean the
windows.
But there is a little secretyou just don't put a squirt of
dishwashing detergent in thewater and clean the window.
You can put too much soap inthe water.
You can put too little soap inthe water.
What is your standard mix thatyou like to use for squeegeeing
(12:45):
the window?
You can put too much soap inthe water.
You can put too little soap inthe water.
What what is your standard mixthat you like to use for
squeegeeing the windows?
my ratio to start is about atablespoon of soap per gallon of
water, and then you can tweakit as you go.
Tablespoon is minimum and, uh,you can tell if you have enough.
If you get a nice glide, yoursqueegee will glide across the
glass.
But if your squeegee isbouncing or or squealing
(13:07):
sometimes it makes a squeaky,squeaky sound then you'll
probably need a little bit moresoap.
So we start with about atablespoon so the soap's acting
as your lubricant.
Because when you, when you go with your, your mop
or your scrubber and you scrubthe glass and you mop it all
down, you need that little bitof something to break the
surface tension on the glass sothat your squeegee not only
(13:30):
removes the water but doesn'tshatter, because if it shatters
then of course you leave morestreaks and spots and everything
lasts.
So you know, the product thatwe use is a product called
Phantom Levitate.
We call it Levitate, that'sGilson Phantom's Levitate.
But you also kind of want yoursqueegee to levitate on the
glass.
So you get a good squeegee andso, yeah, you need about a
(13:53):
tablespoon is about right pergallon and then you go up or
down, depending on if you havereally hydrophobic glass or if
you have hydrophilic glass.
Depending on if you have reallyhydrophobic glass or if you
have hydrophilic glass.
Why don't you explain to peoplea little bit about, just really
quick, about hydrophobic versushydrophilic glass?
Because they're going toencounter that out there.
Denver Klassen (14:19):
Well, hydrophobic and hydrophilic this
is the way that the glasspushes away or repels water or
holds on to water.
Now, I'm always under theimpression that hydrophobic
glasses when my water sheets offreal nice and nice and smooth,
it's hydrophobic.
And I've been in debate withpeople who say, oh, that's
hydrophilic.
So I just know there's adifference.
Right, I'm not science-y inthat way, other than I can see
(14:39):
the difference, I can teach thedifference, and it depends who I
talk to.
They'll debate me on what.
Which word is which.
Um, so you might even knowwhich word is.
Is where the water repels realnice, well, I think it's not
only that there's a preferencething.
AC Lockyer (14:55):
Some window cleaners like hydrophilic glass and some
like hydrophobic glass.
So the key to it, the way it'sbeen explained to me and I got
us one of my mentors, steveblythe, with jay racenstein
they're an over 100 year old Ithink they're 115 year old
window cleaning supply companynow um, is phyllos, where hydro,
(15:16):
hydro, water, phyllic orphyllos is the greek word for
loves.
Okay, so glass that loves water, the water will sheet across
the glass and will come down theglass as a sheet of water.
Yeah, it plays on the glass, itloves the glass it, it mates
(15:36):
together well with the glass.
Hydrophobic is hydro, water,phobic is fear, is when it beads
up and the water repels theglass like it's scared, like
it's pushing that water awayfrom the glass.
So when you get glass that thewater beads up on and stands up
on, it's hydrophobic fears glass, um, if it's hydrophilic, then
(16:00):
the glass loves the water, andso that's the difference between
the two.
And if you're doing mop andsqueegee hydrophilic, where that
you get a sheeting action onthe glass is just the absolute
best because then your squeegeedoesn't shatter, you don't have
to use as much, so you don't geta lot of residue on the glass.
It just goes a lot better,would you agree?
Denver Klassen (16:22):
I do agree.
I do agree.
But when it comes totraditional methods, I honestly
don't really pay attention ornotice it that much, and I don't
even teach my my crews about itthat much.
It's when we do pure waterwindow cleaning that you can
really see it yes, you know.
AC Lockyer (16:38):
So you're not.
You're not what I woulddescribe as a window cleaning
snob.
No, I've seen some windowcleaning snobs.
It's crazy.
Yep, so you mentioned purewater, window cleaning.
That is something that's justreally come to prominence the
(17:01):
last 20 years in the industry,especially the last 10 years.
It's really become common inthe window cleaning industry to
use pure water.
So let's describe thattechnique, because if you're a
novice or you're trying to trainand scale your company quickly,
the water fed pool might be theanswer for you.
So describe that process.
Denver Klassen (17:19):
Yes, Well, pure water.
Window cleaning is the art ofputting dirt into clean water
and rinsing the dirty water offand then letting the remainder
of the liquid, pure water that'son the glass, just evaporate
and dry up.
Then your window is leftspotless.
So the key there is to get purewater.
(17:42):
You've got to get a reverseosmosis system with a particle
filter, ro filter and a DI resinto polish the water.
In some areas of the countrythere's more or less of these
items.
I'm in a pretty hard water areaa lot of iron deposits so I've
got to use my particle filter,my DI filter I mean my RO filter
(18:03):
and my DI resin to bring mywater down to zero parts per
million or as close to zero as Ican.
AC Lockyer (18:09):
So let's talk about that real quick, because pure
water is not soft water.
There is a huge distinctdifference between the two of
them.
Soft water is water that hasbeen softened, usually by using
a mineral like salt Okay, usinga mineral like salt okay.
(18:31):
And pure water is zero tds.
Tom, well, it actually standsfor total dissolved solids.
I was gonna go tom day, sam,but no, it actually stands for
total dissolved solids and soit's zero tds.
So in florida, here, our wateris somewhere between usually
between 320 and 350 TDS, andthat means that when you take
the water out of the tap from acity, well water could be even
(18:52):
higher, 500, 600.
But when you take that tapwater out of the house and you
were to rinse your windows evenmaybe after scrubbing them with
a scrub brush and soap and water, and rinse them, they went dry
with spots, or what are calledmineral deposits on the glass.
Now, what's your TDS in yourarea?
Do you know?
Denver Klassen (19:10):
In summer, between three and 500.
Depends which well I tap into.
AC Lockyer (19:16):
Yep, yep.
And so you're in a similarsituation.
What we have here?
We have a lot of silt orsediment in our water too.
Especially if people have awell, they have well water.
You absolutely have to have thatfourth stage or that sediment
filter on your pure water cart,but what we're doing is we're
making zero tds water.
What that means is is in thewater molecule the hydrogen and
(19:37):
the oxygen, okay, hydrogendioxide in that molecule and the
molecules are all stackedtogether and make water, is if
you are able to remove anydissolved solids in there and
and get zero tds water, thatmakes for lack of a better term,
the water hungry for minerals.
So when you spray the water onthe glass and you agitate it
(20:01):
with a brush, it'll, withoutsoaps, without chemicals.
Pull that dirt off the glassand you agitate it with a brush,
it'll with out soaps, withoutchemicals.
Pull that dirt off the glassand bring it into suspension on
the on inside of the water soyou can remove it from the glass
.
And then you, and then so youexplain kind of the technique
because you, you just don'trinse it.
There's there's like threethings you do.
(20:22):
Go ahead and explain.
Denver Klassen (20:25):
Purified water, zero TDS water naturally wants
to get dirty.
Yes, there's definitely atechnique to washing windows
with purified water.
My technique is we start withthe frames.
We got a lot of vinyl frames inmy area, so vinyl, plastic
frames and they tend to breakdown, get a lot of oxidation.
(20:46):
Frames in my area, um, soplastic, vinyl plastic frames
and they tend to break down, geta lot of oxidation, especially
if they're self-facing.
And when we agitate the frame alittle bit, some white looks we
we call it bleeding.
It looks like it's just running.
It's oxidation, it's chalk yeah, it's chalk.
Yeah, it's running down thewindows.
Right early on, when I startedtraining pure water, my guys
would wash the windows, wash towash the frames and then they
(21:07):
leave and let the waterevaporate and then customers
would call me back why is mywindow so hazy?
Yeah, are you a little milky runspots?
I had to change my trainingtechnique, yes, so our method
now is we wash all the frameswith a bristle brush, whether
it's a boris air bristle or apadded brush.
We like to use bristles that getinto all the crevices and get
(21:27):
the bugs and s out dirt and dustas much as we can within the
crevices of the frame, and thenwe'll go around the house or the
building and do the frames.
Then we'll come back to windownumber one, now that the water
hasn't had a chance to drip out,and then we'll concentrate on
the glass without touching theframe again, because all that,
that chalky water, um, has had achance to run down, and so we
(21:53):
can just focus on the glass andthen scrub and rinse the glass
with pure water, and once we doa final rinse on the glass, we
leave it alone and then let theremainder pure water which is
the last thing to touch yourglass let it evaporate.
And then you gotta remainderpure water which is the last
thing to touch your glass let itevaporate, and then you got an
almost perfect result, whetheryou're on ground level or I can
(22:13):
be confident up to 65 feet.
AC Lockyer (22:17):
Now when we were talking about hydrophobic versus
hydrophilic, a lot of peoplethat are doing pure water
because they'll come in.
I like to kind of pre-wet theglass first, try to rinse any
dirt, because we have a lot ofsilica sand here and if it gets
caught in the brush it'llscratch the glass.
So I'll rinse the window first,get silica sand off of it.
I'll scrub all the framesreally good, and I have a frame
(22:41):
scrubbing brush becausesometimes that oxidation gets
caught in it.
I have another brush on thepole.
I'll flip it around then andthen I'll do the glass portions
and I'll lift the pole off theglass and I'll rinse it down
with the spray bar or the jetsor anything else to then make
sure that there's only purewater left on the glass and then
(23:01):
, if it's hydrophilic it'll havea sheeting action and it will
dry 100% spot free.
But if it's hydrophobic you maystill get some droplets or
spotting, you know littledroplets all over the glass and
if they dry with the sun, ifthere's any minerals left of it
at all, they'll dry as spots.
How do you avoid when you havehydrophobic glass and you do get
(23:26):
some droplets of water on theglass after using a water-fed
pole and and scrubbing thewindows, how do you avoid those
spotting?
Well, if it's a really hot day.
Denver Klassen (23:38):
We slow down our rinse so that, so that we don't
rinse faster than what we couldbring the dirty water down,
right.
Um, so we have to slow downour rinse so, as we're coming
down, the water will evaporatereally quickly.
On the on the south side, youcan see it steaming up, right.
So you gotta, you gotta, payattention to that.
Um, if you have a two jet brush, which is pretty standard, or
(23:59):
four jet brush and I mean bythat is you gotta, you gotta
brush it this is the brush headyou'll have a jet coming out of
the middle of the bristles,those types of brushes.
You have to lift off the glassand you have to zigzag and rinse
the dirty water.
Now, to do it properly, youcan't do a big zigzag sorry,
maybe moving my hands too quick.
(24:19):
You have to actually go inch byinch, which takes a long time.
So that's out of all of theglass.
AC Lockyer (24:26):
You can't miss an area.
Denver Klassen (24:27):
You can't miss the spot, otherwise you'll have
spots within the beach pattern,within the zigzag, if that makes
sense.
So there are products out there, there's companies out there
and I have my favorite.
I don't know if you want me toplug one here, but I have my
favorite and it's reach it.
I love the reach it brushesbecause they're light, they're
(24:50):
agile, you can do a lot of stuffwith them and, um, they're easy
to train a crew with and thebrushes, if you get the right,
one, can adapt to mistakes,right, but which has made it
very easy to rinse, so you don'thave to pull the brush off and
zigzag.
And I know Unger I believe itwas, or Tucker has come up with
(25:12):
a rinse bar.
They followed Ritchit.
Ritchit came up with a rinsebar that comes on top of the
bristles and you can actuallyscrub your window and as you're
scrubbing, you're alreadybringing the water down, you're
already rinsing, because thewhip, the pure water, is above
the bristles, right, and thatmakes it so easy to teach and
(25:34):
the results are fantastic.
There are times we have to liftup the, the brush just to do a
final, uh little touch-up rinse,but we get very, very few
spotting fallbacks.
AC Lockyer (25:48):
So the other thing that is really really huge
positive on doing the water-fedpole is these poles are 25, 35,
all the way up to 65 feet long,so you can clean second-story,
third-story, all the way up tofifth-story windows with the
water-fed pole technique, whichmakes it a lot safer, right yeah
(26:10):
, I've got as high as sevenstories.
Denver Klassen (26:12):
Wow, I'm not a.
I'm not a fan of it.
It's, it's actually quitenerve-wracking.
Um, but four stories and down.
I've.
I've got a team of uh, youngladies that are on my, on my
team as well.
They're doing four stories anddown, right, and it's a lot of
shoulder work, a lot of upperbody.
Um, you get the right carbonfiber pools, a light brushes and
(26:33):
it's, it's amazing what you canget done yeah, very cool.
AC Lockyer (26:40):
Well, you know, certainly there there's a lot of
stuff that you can do.
We went through threetechniques.
I mean literally you can.
You can take and have a fivegallon bucket with a pole and a
scrub brush on it and clean yourwindows.
Make sure it's a soft scrubbrush, rinse them off with
regular water and if you're ahomeowner, take out your blower
that you use to blow off yoursidewalks and blow all the water
(27:01):
off your glass quickly.
Make sure you don't get too farahead of yourself.
Do each window at a time andthat will give you a spot-free
clean.
You could use the mop andsqueegee technique, which will
certainly work, which is thegood old school solid window
cleaning.
That's the classic windowcleaning.
And then the latest techniqueis certainly the pure water
(27:23):
window cleaning with the brushesand the poles and the reverse
osmosis zero TDS water to beable to do the windows.
You have a lot of options outthere.
So I hope this has helped youguys envision that if you're
going to start cleaning thewindows on your facility, you
can get equipped for that.
You can call somebody likeDenver.
Any of our soft wash systemspros are happy to take a phone
(27:47):
call, coach you through it, helpyou tackle some of these
smaller projects yourself.
But if you get tired, if youget weary, if you have too many
windows and you go, help youtackle some of these smaller
projects yourself.
But if you get tired, if youget weary, if you have too many
windows and you go, this is forthe birds, what are they going
to do?
Denver, if it's for the birds?
Yeah, if it's for the birds,they're like that might be an
(28:08):
American saying, like if they'rewore out and they don't want to
clean their windows anymore,who are they going to call?
Denver Klassen (28:19):
Well, they can call a referral market, like a
referral partner, another windowcleaner right, somebody who
actually specializes in that?
Yeah, yep, and I'm more thanopen to phone calls.
I've coached probably half adozen of your affiliates in
window cleaning in one way oranother.
And uh, I'm, I'm open to phonecalls answering questions.
AC Lockyer (28:34):
That's just what I love to do, yep because
eventually we may get thebusiness from that customer,
because sometimes people justget to the point where they
don't want to do it Now.
So if you guys are interestedin engaging somebody like Denver
, you can go to oursoftwarsystemscom website and
click the locations button.
Or just go to softwarsystemscomwebsite and click the locations
(28:55):
button, or just go tosoftwashesystemscom forward
slash locations and you'll seewhere Denver is.
Or any of our other up to 150softwash systems pros and right
now eight countries and twoterritories and growing around
the world to take care of your,any of your window cleaning
needs.
Or you can visit The Wash LifeStore or any of our distributors
(29:17):
to possibly get set up tohandle doing the window cleaning
yourselves.
If you'd like to even rent alittle pure water window
cleaning unit cart to clean yourwindows, we'd love to help you
do that.
But in the long run, trust me,you're probably going to say,
nah, let's just engage the pros,like the soft wash systems pros
(29:39):
like Denver up there in Canadawith Denver's Window Cleaning.
Hey, Denver, this was great man.
There's a lot to what cleaningwindows.
I mean.
The time we took today justdidn't justify it no, I, I
didn't talk a long time, a longtime.
Hours about cleaning windows.
We didn't get even into tinside or you know there's all
(30:01):
kinds of things.
You know different coatings onwindows.
What do you do if you scratchglass?
I mean there's so much to talkabout.
But having clean windows, Imean those windows are the movie
screen to your life, and havingclean windows on your home and
your building allows light in,makes people happier, and we're
getting ready to come intospring here and it's going to be
(30:24):
beautiful outside, so we wantto get all that beautiful light.
Denver Klassen (30:27):
Yeah, it is one of the most neglected parts of
my home, but it is one of themost expensive packages when
you're building a home.
AC Lockyer (30:34):
Oh yes, i It's nothing to put fifty to a
hundred thousand dollars plusinto windows on a home.
So absolutely well, Denver,thank you so much for being on
the show with us today.
Denver Klassen (30:49):
t's you my pleasure.
Thanks for the invite all guys.
AC Lockyer (30:53):
So tune in next time for any of the surface
substrates, any things that youneed to clean around your
property or your homes.
We are the place to talk aboutthe surface, the stain, the
tools, the techniques and thechemicals to take care of
cleaning all of those things.
This is AC Lockyer.
We'll see you at the nextpodcast.
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