I feel the same way about people's eye glasses. How can you see out of them when they're like that? Windows or glasses.

Judy - You must have walked by my house! Window washing is on my to-do list but never seems to make it to the top. I also need to power wash the house before I clean the windows.

I'm fortunate in that DH does windows! Perhaps not as often as we should but they do get done eventually.

I remember seeing a multi-million $ house on an open house. It had this balcony across the 3 story foyer with huge windows out the back...but you couldn't see the back because the windows were so dirty. (It wasn't the only thing that showed a lack of cleanliness! I even mentioned to the agent when no other customers were around that the owners should clean the house as no one wants to spend over a mil $ on someone else's dirt. She denied it was an issue. And the house didn't sell.)

Guilty. When we moved in, I spent weeks — WEEKS — in the fall and spring cleaning the double-hung windows, inside and out, including the self-storing storms, the tracks, sills, and screens. There were also storm windows screwed into the frames on the picture windows that DH took down, cleaned the inside (such a film that had formed between the panes), and put back up.

Since then I’ve done just the double-hungs once with my cleaning lady, and had the boys do the windows facing the front porch as their weekend job for years.

I have to say, almost all the windows are 8-over-8 true panes, and they are are true pain to clean! Especially on the outside when you have to continually move the self-storing storms out of the way.

Windows are difficult for me to do, thus mine need cleaning which I will eventually get to. It always seems that my son comes to wash the house after I get the windows done.

I have to use professional window cleaners as so many of mine must be cleaned while on a ladder. I'm guilty of letting them go for a long while between cleanings.

Guilty here as well. I do clean the inside of the windows but some are Jalousie windows which for one reason or another are not able to open. Others are above window wells and my ladder base/foot is not small enough to go into the well and the angle the ladder would make if outside of the wells is not safe. Tried it once and having a ladder slide out from under you is not something I want to repeat. Replacing windows is on my list of to-do's but have not decided on type or style.

I paid 600.00 to have our windows cleaned in December. We had a mild December with a lot of sun and we have those 80s floor to ceiling windows in our great room. Well worth it to me!

Not everyone has the same capabilities and resources. If it bothers you that much, perhaps you could offer to do the neighborly thing and wash their windows for them.

Rusty

Hubby and I did the windows religiously every spring and fall. They are sliders, so one half would come completely out, with screen, and the other half was stationary. He'd sit on the sill and use a squeegee to clean the outside of that one. And we live on the top floor of a triplex.

I'm not going to do that, but I do take the removable ones out and clean them. They're also very heavy! But I hate dirty windows.

My livingroom picture window hasn't been cleaned in a few years because the landlords don't have a ladder tall enough. I'm going to see if some of my friends have one tall enough.

It seems like this is a time when things like that have been neglected for a number of good reasons. A great many people are not comfortable with or have the means to be hiring a stranger to come to their home to work, may not be able to have friends or family over to help with the work, and many folks may be either too frail or ill to do such strenuous things themselves.

Keep in mind this pandemic has been ongoing for well over a year now...

I keep my curtains closed most of the time: that way you don't care. :) We put a deck in front of the living room window, so now I'm able to reach the outside of it. I clean the inside of it often as well as my front door as it's all glass. My house is 62 years old with windows in wood frames that don't come out so cleaning the outside is impossible. Mind you, in the summer I spray them off with the garden hose. LOL

In installed all new tilt in windows in my last house and thank goodness the new condo has them too. They are so easy to wash there is no excuse not to.

A question about the tilt in windows and window cleaning because most of the ones I have seen are single pane glass. This area really needs storm windows for winter and have wondered how people with the tilt in windows handle those for cleaning. Or do they simply forgo storms and screens both needed here.

Honestly never notice those things! Why would that bother you?

Judy I am looking to replace my windows so it is not a question of bothering me other than I refuse to live in a house that the windows can not be opened. I lived and suffered in an apartment that if you opened the windows bugs would fly in. Since it goes from 80 to mid or lower 30s in the same day windows with screens are a must in this area. Most screens sold in this area come with a storm window of some type.

A real estate concept often overused but sometimes applicable is " pride of ownership". This means homes are kept in good repair, painted when needed, houses and yards maintained with a clean and neat appearance at least with public facing areas, etc. Filthy windows are no different than mud spattered walls or flaking paint or other unattended maintenance visible from the street or sidewalk - they're unsightly and degrade the ambiance (and values) of the neighborhood.

Many neighborhoods have eyesores, sometimes it's modest homes that are rented and not owner occupied so the owners don't care as much as owner-occupiers. Unmowed lawns, untended plantings, and on and on. When houses like this are present in a neighborhood, ask a random neighbor which house needs attention - all will have noticed the problem ones.

Luckily, I can afford to have someone wash my windows (because I hate doing it) and I have a LOT of windows. I have them done 2 or 3 times a year; at least 1 time inside and out upstairs and down and in the seldom used rooms. The other 2 times I would have just the rooms that I actually live in done. Sometimes it's a waste in the winter to do the upstairs bedroom windows because it's dark when I get up and dark when I go to bed and I spend no time in my room except for sleeping. I don't have any window coverings on any of them, so I do like them clean when there is lots of daylight. They need it now because they haven't been done since the pandemic started. Now that I'm vaccinated, I won't mind having someone come in to do them.

I live in an 1840 farmhouse with 40plus windows. There are a dozen in the small sunroom I'm sitting in. I hate dirty windows, and these are not easy to wash. Husband is not allowed on a ladder anymore because of two falls years ago in separate accidents. He's a slow learner and both left him hospitalized, the first with two broken arms and a concussion and the second with a punctured lung and broken back. So he power washes from the ground and we take out the storms and I wash them all inside. In the fall we do the downstairs.

the first with two broken arms and a concussion and the second with a punctured lung and broken back

Eek!

maifleur03 I was responding to PO, sorry.

maifleur03

Thank goodness I do not live by some of you, we would be shunned.

The easiest way I've found to clean the exterior of windows for those with access to a hose:

https://www.amazon.com/Windex-Outdoor-Concentrated-Cleaner-Packaging/dp/B07114L91X

Why? You don't make an effort to be sure your house has a neat and well-maintained appearance as seen by neighbors and others passing by?

I use to have a window washer until he hurt his ankle and can't do ladders anymore. I went back to doing them myself. I also dislike dirty windows. In the spring I clean the frames, tracks, sills, screens and windows. In the fall just the windows and tracks. I have sliders. I bought a 25 ft extension pole and a combo cloth on one side and squeegee on the other side thingy to clean the outside. With only being home on weekends now I don't know when I am going to find time to do them. But I will. Next weekend is busy so hopefully the weekend after that.

I powerwash my house twice a year, spring and fall when the pollen (alabama glitter,as I call it) calms down. Windows get it then. I can't say I have ever stared at anyone elses house enough to notice dirty windows.

A neighbor had her windows cleaned by a company and they absolutely sparkled. I can only think they must have a supply of the old Glass Wax from 50 years ago.

I'm hoping my window washer is still in business; he's not young and every year before calling I'm afraid he will have retired. Mine are quite filthy, especially the screens. But first I need to spray the house down with the hose--wish it would warm up a little.

Graywings, my mother used to have glass wax - I can remember being assigned the many-paned glass doors to our music room. Metal can, pink liquid, followed by pink dust at the buffing stage.

I rarely need to do any windows or large mirrors, DH will take care of them and has his routine - wide soft telescoping handle brush, soft spray feature garden hose etc. Not the mirrors of course, those are original formula Windex and cloths. He washes the windows outside a few times a year, and has to pay attention to the sills which are dark brown and show pollen immediately on our single story home. He's not quite as good about getting those in the living and dining rooms on the inside...it's more than 27' stretch of floor to ceiling glass that can't be addressed with his garden hose ;0).

Maifleur, we have tilt-in double paned windows. I am betting now you can get triple paned that tilt. I can't see why not. With mine, I take out the screens before cleaning. No need for storm windows with the newer windows.

We had one wonderful window washer for ten years, then made do with incompetent people (who scratched paint and glass and left streaks). Last year we found another wonderful window washer/handyman. He'll be coming late this spring to do all four sides of our Pella windows (shades between the glass; interior screens). It's an $800 job; takes more than a day. We alternate years doing between the panes and just the inside and outside. Our windows and French doors are a highlight of our home. They need to be *clean*!

Our town's infamous building review board demanded we have 'true simulated small pane' windows. We got them to agree to let us have 'between the panes fenestration' everywhere not visible from the street. (No one has *ever* noticed the difference between the front and the others.) I think the members of that board should pony up to pay the window cleaner to do all those small panes.

I'm not quite sure how we will do our windows this year. We were getting so many bird strikes that we put up vertical lengths of fishing line every 2" on all our back windows. It helps the birds see the windows, and are practically invisible from the inside, but they sure won't accommodate a cleaning wand. I guess I will just buy some of that spray on and hose off cleaner.

I would much rather have dirty windows than dead or injured birds on my deck.

I managed to clean the inner and lower parts of 2 this week. the patio door (left side) and 1 of my bedroom windows. They are pup's patrol monitors. I wanted to be sure she knew what she was barking at (grizzly, bunny, kid playing across the road, Amazon delivery etc). at her level all I could see were her own nose prints.

When I wash the windows I end up with dead birds-big windows. I suffer the dirt for their sake.

Chisue, I grew up with Pella casements, with the interior rollascreens, and the bathroom windows have blinds-between-the-panes. But no grills. I was so spoiled. Btw, we are having to replace the glass in one (did you see my thread about the goose?) and the double pane was actually ONE piece of glass that wraps around itself like a flattish cylinder. How did they do THAT?

I went to an architectural review board meeting last year. The house under consideration at the meeting is a contemporary going in on the east side of town. The board members are so traditional they insisted on traditional grills in the windows. Of a contemporary, for goodness sake. At the time I thought they should just put fake grills on the outside and remove them when they got the COO and were all moved in! I’ll have to drive by and see what they ended up with.