The Best Window Cleaner ever.
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I’m happy to be sharing The Best Homemade Window Cleaner with you. It has won us over. After years of filmy residue, we can see clearly now. The film is gone.
For years and years, we battled trying to get the exterior of our windows clean. They just never looked crystal clear. A filmy residue and often chalky streaks would remain once the windows dried. We tried a variety of window cleaners from homemade to store bought concoctions, as well as using newspaper instead of paper towels with not much success.
That all changed when we learned about the best exterior window cleaner ever.
We had been working on updating a bathroom and ordered some new mirrors. While the glass guys were here installing the mirror, my husband, Randy, got to chatting with them, as he usually does, about how their business was going. During their conversation he happened to ask them what they use for cleaning glass. Did they have any professional tips or tricks? Yes, they did!
They shared a simple recipe for what they have found to work. They swore by it. We had already tried just using a simple combination of vinegar and water, but they learned a trick from a commercial window cleaner: add a little dish detergent to the vinegar/water mixture. Really? That simple? It was new to us, and it sounded much too easy.
So we tried it (or should I say Randy tried it) right away. Randy set out just to test a few windows and the next thing I knew he had worked all the way around the house, and was already working on some of the upstairs windows as well. There was an immediate difference, and so much easier than what we had tried in the past.
It was so bright inside we had to wear shades. I crack myself up.
The mixture below, is super simple and used with a soft bristle brush and hose. That’s it. No more piles of used paper towels, no ladders, just clarity. I’m planning on trying the same mixture on all kinds of things outside that need de-grungifying.
Keeping the shades on. The future is definitely gonna be brighter around here, y’all. Happy cleaning!
How to Make The Best Window Cleaner
The Best Window Cleaner
This simple mixture will help wash exterior windows to a sparkly clean.
Materials
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon dish detergent
Tools
- bucket
- scrub brush
- optional extension pole
- water hose
- optional sprayer attachment
Instructions
- Combine water, white vinegar and dish detergent in a bucket. Increase amounts as needed.
- Using a soft bristle scrub brush on an extension pole handle thingy, dip the brush in a bucket of the solution, and scrub it on the window.
- Before it has a chance to dry, spray/rinse it off with clean water. Be sure to rinse thoroughly. A hose fitted with a sprayer attachment is helpful.
Notes
The solution could be made and used in a spray bottle, but we found working on lots of windows, the bucket and scrub brush worked great.
To avoid the need for a ladder (because ladders are the most dangerous tool in the box) Randy used an all-purpose extension pole with a threaded end that enables you to attach different brushes, rollers, etcetera. (Similar to this one.)
Use a soft bristle scrub brush. A sponge mop may also work.
This definitely works for outside windows, where you can safely rinse with water. I have yet to try it indoors, but if you do, make sure you can rinse with plenty of water. Perhaps one spray bottle of solution, and a separate spray bottle of clean water?
Again, be sure to rinse thoroughly, and before the solution has a chance to dry on window. It’s helpful to avoid windows directly in the sun, so they are not hot and don’t as quickly.
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I also use vinegar and dawn to wash windows. It works wonders and inexpensive. Next, to avoid streaks in the sunlight, dry the windows with old newspapers….yes, that is right, newspaper. You get your hands somewhat dirty, but it washed right out. But the magic is no streaks!!!! Believe me, it is worth trying.
I must say that NOTHING works on my car windows.. I have tried vinegar, alcohol, dish soap and water, Windex, a mixture of vinegar, alcohol, corn starch and water and NOTHING works. I have a sticky, splotchy residue on 3 of the windows and not a single solution works. If I lightly rub with my fingernail, it comes right off, but I don’t have a whole day to spend on windows. So irritating. NOTHING WORKS 🙁
Have you tried using Barkeepers Friend? I have used it to clean shower glass that had soap scum and hard water stains and it took everything off very quickly.
I have not.
So many water spots, it makes the windows look dirtier than they were.
I use a teaspoon of white spirit, and a spray of wd40 into 3 cups of water, It works every time.
I had high hopes for this, but sadly, it was a bust! Thankfully, we only did 1 window to try it out. Followed the directions to a tee, but it still left little dots all over the window which were super hard to get off. Back to good ‘ol Windex for this gal!
you should try sprayaway with a microfibre cloth
This is similar to the solution I use cleaning windows in homes and businesses. There’s 2 things to think about before following everything that’s stated here. 1. Rinsing the windows with a hose will leave water spots on your windows if you have issues in your area with hard water. The only time I rinse windows with water is when I use my waterfed pole that is attached to a water filtration system that softens hard water and then it leaves the Windows spot free. 2. NEVER clean windows in direct sunlight. It will leave streaks and residue 99.9% of the time. Hope this helps.
Like ants before Winter, trying to quick clean outside windows before it gets too cold.
Thank you for your
cleaning recipe!!
We are doing the same thing over here. Happy cleaning!
windows look great but the mixture stained my acrylic stucco. %^*#%!!
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Pretty amazing how adding a little bit of soap can make such a difference! Thank you so much for sharing these tips.
do you need to use a bucket and a house or cn you just use a spray can
This window cleaner is great I used it today to do the Windows on the outside with some help from my two dogs haha needless to say my dogs love playing in the water so by the time I was done with the 4 season porch with has Windows from top to bottom and ten Windows on the house the dogs and I where wet from top to bottom also the dogs and I think this window cleaner is a keeper the dogs and I thank you never had so much fun doing Windows
Hi, We tried this solution today and it did not work for us. It left like a white film on the the windows that was apparent about an hour after we finished. We followed all of the directions so I am not sure what happened. Just wanted to share our experience in case others had the same problem.
Thank you for your post. This is excellent information. It is amazing and wonderful to visit your site.
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Great article! We always advocate as well as use non-toxic cleaning solutions, including vinegar-based solutions, and recommend the same to our customers in the UK when they want to do maintenance cleaning.
Just one recommendation: try not to apply solutions to windows that are in direct sunlight as that will dry up the solution quickly and risk leaving streaks/water spots before you’re able to finish cleaning the window properly 🙂
All the best from Birmingham, UK,
windowcleaningnearme.co.uk
Hi
So amazing post here we found, I like it and appreciated your works.
Thanx for your kind info.
It is useful post. I am visiting the blog first time.. Thank you Amy Johnson. You may also like this blog Home Design
I want to make sure that I get my windows cleaned properly. It makes sense that I would want to try out some different combinations. If it doesn’t work, I might have to see if I can get a professional to help me out with this.
Very helpful article about window cleaner. Thanks for share
Artem Sadomskiy. When I met your father Evgeniy he told me he wanted to kill Artem in his sleep 🙁