Clean windows make a bigger difference to the look of a house than most people think, and with children or a dog around, they can get grubby fast: little handprints on the patio doors, nose prints on every window a squirrel has run past. If you’d like to tackle them yourself, here are five easy ways to make your windows shine using things you probably already have, plus a few tips to avoid streaks.
Before you start: what you need
- a bucket of warm water
- a sponge, cloth or window applicator (a small mop works too)
- a squeegee: a small one for small panes and a 30–45cm one for larger windows
- microfibre cloths, which don’t leave fluff behind
- a small brush for dust and cobwebs around the frames
- an old towel for drips
Move ornaments off the windowsill first and brush away loose dust and cobwebs.
1. Vinegar
A trusted way to get windows sparkling is water and white vinegar. Add two or three cups of vinegar to a bucket of water, apply it generously with a sponge or cloth, then squeegee or dry with a clean cloth.
2. A drop of washing-up liquid
For grimier windows, add four or five drops of washing-up liquid to a bucket of warm water. Go easy: too much soap is the main cause of streaks. For extra sparkle, rinse afterwards with clean water and a little vinegar.
3. Newspaper
Our grandparents swore by it. Once the glass is washed and dry, scrunch a sheet of newspaper into a ball and buff the glass. Wear rubber gloves if you don’t want ink on your hands.
4. Coffee filters
No newspaper? Coffee filters are lint-free, so they’re ideal for buffing the glass without leaving fluff behind.
5. Quick fixes for marks
Keep a spray bottle of water and vinegar handy for handprints and pawprints. For small stubborn marks, rub on half a lemon, with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda for extra kick, then wipe clean.
How to avoid streaks
- Stay out of the sun. Cleaning solution dries too fast on warm glass and leaves streaks. Wait until the window is in the shade.
- Don’t let it dry on the glass. Wet one window at a time and squeegee it straight away.
- Use more water and less soap. A weaker solution is easier to clear in one pass.
- Work from the top down. Start with the top of each window, and with upstairs windows before downstairs ones, so drips don’t land on glass you’ve already done.
- Squeegee properly. Pull it from top to bottom with the blade tilted slightly down, overlapping each stroke, and wipe the blade after every pass.
When to leave it to a professional
Downstairs windows are easy enough to do yourself, but please don’t stretch off a ladder for the upstairs ones. I clean most windows from the ground with a water-fed pole and purified water, which rinses the glass, frames and sills clean and dries without streaks, so there’s no detergent and no wiping. You can read about why window cleaners don’t use detergent any more and why most don’t use ladders, or see my window cleaning service in Wolverhampton.
