How to Prepare for a Window Cleaning Visit

Most people who ask how to prepare for window cleaning expect a long list of chores. The honest answer is that fifteen minutes of clearing is plenty. Unlock the side gate, take the fragile things off the sills, move whatever sits right against the glass, and have a plan for the dog. The rest is our job. Here is what helps on a Twin Cities house, and what you can leave alone.

Why a few minutes of clearing is worth it

This is not about making the work easier for us. It is about the panes you are paying for actually getting cleaned. Working around a sofa or a row of plants is not the same as cleaning behind it. Blocked glass is the glass that gets missed, and that is the pane you notice in February, when the low afternoon sun comes straight through it.

Outside: give us a clear path to the glass

We clean exterior glass from the ground, with purified water through a water fed pole that reaches up to 40 feet, so no ladder goes against your siding. The pole needs an open line to the window and a few feet of room to stand.

A walk around the house the evening before covers most of it:

• Unlock side and back gates, and leave them unlocked for the whole visit
• Pull patio furniture, grills and planters a few feet away from the house
• Coil up garden hoses and move anything leaning against the siding
• Switch off automatic sprinklers for the day, so clean glass does not get spotted that evening
• Tell us about any window that is painted shut, cracked, or has a fogged seal

That last one matters most. A fogged pane is a failed seal between two layers of glass, and no amount of cleaning touches it. Better to say so before we start than leave you wondering afterward why one window still looks hazy.

Inside: clear the sills, not the room

Inside is where a few minutes of prep makes the biggest difference. Take the small things off the sills and the ledge below the window: picture frames, candles, small plants, anything breakable. Slide over a lamp or a speaker that sits right against the glass.

Blinds and shades we raise and set back the way we found them. A valance or a curtain on a tired rod is worth taking down yourself if you are particular about how it hangs. Heavy furniture stays where it is. We do not drag a bookcase across a wood floor, so a window behind one is a two person job for before we arrive.

If you want the tracks and sills detailed at the same time, say so when you book. Our guide to cleaning window tracks and sills shows what that involves if you would rather do it yourself.

Pets, kids and the couple of hours we are there

Dogs are the main thing to plan for. A stranger moving along the outside of the house with a long pole is a lot to ask of a dog that watches the yard, and an anxious dog at the glass slows the inside work down. A closed door, a crate, or a walk during the visit solves it. Cats are worth a thought too, since interior work can mean an open sash upstairs.

Kids do not need to be anywhere in particular. The rinse water that lands on the lawn is purified water with nothing added to it.

What you do not need to do

Do not pre-clean the windows. It is the thing people apologize for most often and the least useful way to spend a Saturday. Nose prints, cobwebs in the corners and dead bugs on the sill are all part of what we are coming to deal with.

Leave the screens in place. They come out, get cleaned, and go back into the openings they came from, which is what goes wrong once a stack of them is in the garage. If you are putting screens away for winter anyway, our guide to cleaning and storing screens covers the order to do it in.

And do not move anything heavy or climb anything on our account. If a pane turns out to be blocked by something that cannot move, a built in cabinet or a wall mounted television, we will tell you that window was skipped rather than let you find it later. The same goes for a sash that is painted shut. Forcing an old wood window in a Highland Park bungalow turns a cleaning into a repair, so we leave it alone and say so.

When to book, with winter coming

If the outside has not been done since summer, the calendar is the thing to watch now. Once water stops behaving outdoors, exterior work waits for a thaw, and our guide on how cold is too cold to clean windows covers where that line falls here. Interior glass, frames and sills can be done in any month.

We clean windows, inside and out, in St. Paul, Minneapolis and the suburbs around them, and the work is backed by the Gleam Guarantee. You can request a free quote online or book a free 10-minute consultation. Learn more about our window cleaning service.