Month: April 2021

It’s a task no one really wants to do: gathering the towels, the paper, the glass cleaner, and  some gloves, and getting to work scrubbing down the windows. Whether it’s just a little haze or  so covered in dirt and grime that it’s impossible to see through, however, cleaning your windows  is an important part of both your home and personal maintenance routines. 

Dingy, dirty windows are universally seen as the primary indicator of an unkept home. Meanwhile, a clean, streak-free window helps beautify a home, leaving a virtually unimpeded view of the outside world. It makes living and workspaces larger and can help people feel more  connected to the beauty and openness of the outside world. 

On the side of home maintenance, the less you clean your windows the more likely you’re  inviting hard-to-remove grit, salt, and other contaminants into your home and into your window frame itself. Over time these pollutants and begin to eat away at the frame and the window screen  with rust and rot, slowly damaging your home over time and making cleaning them exponentially more difficult and more costly. 

Finally, studies have shown that light is an imperative in living a healthy, happy lifestyle.  Being in rooms lit by the natural glow of the sun aids in productivity and aids in the production of  vitamin D, which helps fight diabetes, depression, and chronic conditions like pain. When the  clearness of windows is impeded, this in turn impedes the healing power of the sun and reduces  its effectiveness. 

When it does come time to get those windows spotlessly clean and clear, sometimes the  process can take a little while but overall isn’t too complicated: oftentimes, soap, warm water and  a towel will handle the job nicely. But in some environments and conditions, this may simply not  be enough. Windows that are constantly sprayed with water from a sprinkler or fountain, or those  in homes near the ocean, for instance, often become encrusted with hard water and salt stains, and  these can be extremely difficult to remove by conventional methods. There are, however, some  clever options available to help you beat these stains. 

One easy and classic home remedy for this is to prepare a 50-50 solution of water and  vinegar, applying a towel (note that this may make the towel smell like vinegar permanently, so  use one specific to chores) in the mixture, and letting the towel sit against the affected parts of the  window for a couple of minutes; likewise, you can drape the towel over the entire window if you  have an adequate ledge or surface. The natural acidity of vinegar helps break down the minerals  left behind by hard water and salt, giving you an easier time to then wipe the towel against the  spots to rub them away. Continue this process until the stains are gone, then finish up by drying  with a rag and cleaning the window with glass cleaner for a further shine. 

There are commercial sprays available which may have more potency should the above  method not treat all the stains to your liking, and in some cases a bristle brush can be used to scrape  away the toughest buildup; just be careful not to work at it too hard or you may risk cracking or  breaking the window entirely.