Two companies quote a window cleaning and the numbers are far apart. One is cleaning the glass. The other is cleaning the windows: the glass, the frames, the sills, the screens, the second floor and the skylight, and leaving nothing running down the siding when they go. The word covers both, and the difference is why the cheap one has to come back. Here is what an exterior window cleaning should include on a Hudson Valley home, what actually comes off the glass and what does not, and when in the year to do it.
The Glass, The Frames And The Sills
The glass is the part you see through, and it should dry with no spots, no streaks and no drips on the siding underneath. But the film on a Hudson Valley window is not only on the glass. It is on the frame, where the pollen and the cobwebs collect, and on the sill, where the dirt washes down and sits. A clean pane in a dirty frame looks dirty from the driveway. The frames and sills are part of the job, and on a colonial in Fishkill with thirty windows, that is most of the work.
Screens: Where The Dirt Actually Lives
A window screen is a filter. Every breeze pushes pollen, dust and road film through it, and the mesh holds most of it, which is why a window that was cleaned last month looks hazy from inside: you are looking through the screen. Screens hold more dirt than the glass does. They come off, get washed, and go back on the same visit, and the difference from inside the house is bigger than the difference on the glass.
Hard-Water Spots: What Comes Off And What Is Etched
The white spots on the windows nearest the lawn are minerals from the sprinkler. Fresh deposits, a season or two old, come off. Deposits that have sat on the glass for years react with it and etch the surface, and etched glass is permanent: no cleaner, no pad, no process removes it, and anyone who says otherwise is going to scratch the pane trying. We tell you which you have before we start. The fix for the future is aiming the sprinkler heads away from the house, and getting the spots off while they are still on the surface rather than in it.
Second Floors, Skylights And Glass Railings
The upper windows, the skylights and the glass railings on a deck are the ones nobody cleans, because they are the ones nobody can reach. On most homes they are reached from the ground, without a ladder leaning on the siding, and they are cleaned to the same standard as the first floor. A contemporary home in Rhinebeck with a wall of glass, or a farmhouse in Millbrook with a dozen small-pane windows on the second story, gets the same result: every pane, top to bottom.
Why The Bucket-And-Squeegee Job Streaks
Tap water carries minerals. Dry it on glass and the minerals stay, which is the haze you see at an angle the next morning and the spots on the second floor where the squeegee could not follow. Windows cleaned with purified water dry spot-free, on the glass and the frames, on every floor. That is the difference between a window that looks clean from inside on day one and one that still looks clean at the end of the season.
When To Clean Windows In The Hudson Valley
Late spring, after the pollen has finished, is the first window: the yellow film that coated everything in May is gone and the glass stays clean for the summer. Fall, once the leaves are down, is the second, and the one that gets the house ready for the months you spend looking out at the yard. Homes under trees, near Route 9 or Route 52, or with sprinklers hitting the glass need the spring visit more than most. The one thing that stops a window cleaning is freezing weather.
Pair It With The House Wash
The windows are the last thing cleaned on a house, after the house wash has taken the algae and grime off the siding and frames, so nothing runs onto clean glass. Booked together, on one visit, the window cleaning comes in at a package rate, and the whole outside of the home is done at once. Most homes in Hopewell Junction and Wappingers Falls on our maintenance plans have the windows on the same two-to-three-year cycle as the siding, with a spring window visit in between.
Storefronts And Commercial Glass
A storefront is judged through its glass, and a plaza or office in Poughkeepsie or Fishkill has more of it than any house. Commercial window cleaning runs on a scheduled cycle, before open or after close, and is written into the same agreement as the building wash so the manager makes one call.
What It Costs
A window cleaning is quoted at a firm price in writing based on the number of windows, the stories and whether the screens and skylights are included. Paired with the house wash it comes in at a package rate. It is the least expensive thing you can do to the outside of the house and the one you notice every day from inside it.
Get The Windows On The Calendar
Send us your address and a count of the windows, or a photo of the front of the house, and you will have a firm number, usually the same day. Request a quote or call (845) 709-9443.
Exterior Window Cleaning FAQ
The outside of every pane, the frames and the sills, the screens washed and reinstalled, and the upper floors, skylights and glass railings reached from the ground. The glass dries spot-free and the siding under the windows is not left streaked. If a company only quotes the glass, ask what happens to the screens.
Yes. The screens hold more dirt than the glass does, and a clean window behind a dirty screen looks dirty from inside. Screens are washed and put back on the same visit.
Fresh mineral deposits from sprinkler overspray come off. Deposits that have sat on the glass for years etch into it and are permanent; no cleaning removes etched glass. We tell you which you have before we start, and the fix for the future is aiming the sprinkler heads away from the house.
Once or twice a year for most Hudson Valley homes: after the pollen finishes in late spring, and again in the fall once the leaves are down. Homes under trees, near a road or with sprinklers hitting the glass need the spring visit more than most.
Yes. Skylights, glass railings on decks and the glass on a sunroom or porch are part of the job and are cleaned to the same standard as the windows. Tell us what the house has when you request the quote so the number covers all of it.
After, on the same visit. The house wash takes the algae and grime off the siding and frames first; the windows are cleaned last so nothing runs onto clean glass. Booked together, the window cleaning comes in at a package rate.
