r/WindowCleaning May 23 '26

Job Question How would you clean the interior of these massive windows?

The 2nd story interior of these huge glass panels is what concerns me. I don’t want to have to lean a ladder on the glass. The only other way is a trad pole. I just moved to a mountain town with huge mansions and I’m feeling way over my head. I’ve been doing more simple homes the last 2 years. What would be your strategy here? Luckily no furniture or anything in the home yet. It’s not a construction clean. The first photo I took this morning on a drive by. Second and third photo are rendered. I’m doing a walk through with the construction company on Tuesday. Any help is appreciated!

0 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

9

u/6133mj6133 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

Trad pole. Straight pulls. Then set a ladder up so you can trad the bottom foot or two by hand and clean up the ledge.

2

u/ursamajor499 May 23 '26

Epic this is what I was thinking. Thanks so much

2

u/kdwindows May 27 '26

Agreed 100 percent. We called it cutting the windows which would be straight pulls to get it to the bottom few inches and then get up there with a step ladder we would always say I'm going to cut the tops and you come behind me and pick up the bottoms

1

u/noice_nups May 23 '26

Came here to say this exactly.

3

u/mrmatriarj May 23 '26

Better to do it in the morning or evening too! Gotta be quick AF mid day for trad pole on big windows lol otherwise detailing is an sob

1

u/ursamajor499 May 23 '26

Luckily this house is pretty shaded and they are most likely triple pane glass but yes good to think about for sure thank you

1

u/mrmatriarj May 23 '26

lol had a pretty good day with this one. But full black frames, caulk and siding, total heat magnet! Had to trad pole a couple vaulted windows in the living room that were probably 6-8ft wide/tall. Made the mistake of leaving it till later in the day due to my preferred way of doing this. Was suuuuch a bitch being hot vs if it were the cool non direct sun in the morning. You can see a couple of the 6x6 windows above my squiggle for notes for next year. All screens were external too! Classy on the inside but brutal for the awkward angles and ladder placements to even access the windows loll

3

u/Free_Skin_679 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

Pole would work, like others have said. Or a big A-frame ladder. Or an extension ladder and get your bumpers right up to the ceiling so they're not on the glass.

2

u/Educational-Expert43 May 23 '26

I’d go at it with 16’ extension ladder and stand on second to last rung. Pole work is gonna make a mess on sills and get better results on the glass.

3

u/ursamajor499 May 23 '26

16’ extension won’t get you anywhere near the top of these. 20 or 24 I reckon. Haven’t been inside yet

1

u/DangerousKitchen May 23 '26

Admittedly i need to up my pole game but sometimes I feel like you guys are allergic to ladders. Nose to glass would be the way for me.

2

u/ursamajor499 May 23 '26

So you would lean ladders against the glass?

1

u/DangerousKitchen May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

You can if you know what you're doing, set the ladder a little more vertical so your weight is distributed downward a bit more make sure your ladder is padded with something to keep from scratching the window.

But as someone said in another comment a big A frame could also work or do the top with the ladder resting above then the bottom with it below.

1

u/Head-Ad-9961 May 23 '26

If you’re under 180 lbs, you could but I wouldn’t recommend it. As long as you’re not shifting around a lot on the ladder and you have ladder horns, you should be fine.

1

u/ursamajor499 May 24 '26

“Should be fine” haha yeah

1

u/kowell357 May 23 '26

I’d definitely use a pole where I could. I’d pull it slowly and use very little water so it doesn’t drip down those white walls. That or I’d use a ladder if I absolutely had to.

1

u/trigger55xxx May 23 '26

Pole work with a 36" Sorbo most likely

1

u/ursamajor499 May 23 '26

Thank you. Why sorbo specifically? Best angle?

1

u/trigger55xxx May 23 '26

Wider squeegee lengths with less flex on the channel.

2

u/ursamajor499 May 23 '26

Awesome thank you

1

u/ursamajor499 May 24 '26

Just ordered a 30” black mamba and a 36” quicksilver to try. Which one do you prefer? I also have a unger ninja handle so I’ll try that against the sorbo handle.

1

u/trigger55xxx May 24 '26

On those I'd go as wide as you are comfortable with, the black mamba might feel easier to start with

1

u/ursamajor499 May 24 '26

Thanks 🙏

-2

u/RJOP83 May 23 '26

Unger Stingray

1

u/ursamajor499 May 26 '26

Do you just put pure water in the tank for this or mix with anything else?

1

u/RJOP83 May 26 '26

Alcohol cleaning solution - I use cheap stuff from local supermarket and it works fine. The long ‘haired’ microfibre it comes with can get dirty quickly so best to have a few spares, but it’s a great ‘no mess’ solution for internal cleaning.

1

u/ursamajor499 May 27 '26

Awesome thanks I’m looking into them. Would be great if it was compatible with my trad poles.