Friday Night Window Cleaning News

After 12 years of professional window cleaning in the Tahoe/Truckee region, High Sierra Window Washers has become certified in window restoration. The restoration process removes fog and condensation from residential and commercial windows. “With our extreme weather conditions, the windows around here take a beating,” said Pat Snow, owner of High Sierra Window Washers. “I’d say about 75 percent of the houses I’ve been into have at least one window that’s been affected.” The absorbent material built into window frames eventually becomes saturated, showing fog or standing moisture between the panes of glass. During the defogging process, a drying solution is injected into the window, and a one-way valve is installed to allow moisture to continually escape. The process is complete in a few hours and results can be seen as soon as two weeks. Removing moisture increases insulation in thermal windows. High Sierra Windows offers a 20-year warranty against returning moisture. After training with and receiving his window restoration certification from Window Medics International, Snow’s business has become the area’s only dealer for window restoration. “The system [Window Medics] has come up with is really ingenious, but we can’t do miracles. If a window has been fogged for over a couple years or if there are dried mineral deposits, it may be too late. It’s best to get them as soon as you see any fog.” Snow opened High Sierra Window Washers in Tahoe City in 1996, and moved to Truckee in 2002. The business has grown to five employees, serving all types of commercial and residential window maintenance needs. High Sierra Window Washers offers professional window cleaning and window restoration. For more information visit http://www.defogit.com/. To contact High Sierra Window Washers, call 550-1370 or visit http://www.highsierrawindows.com/.

Analdyne Inc: A Remote Operated Window-Cleaning Device for High Rise Buildings: This invention permits the operator, using closed circuit television and remote controls, to perform the same cleaning operation on high rise building window outer glaze surfaces as is normally performed on ground level easily accessible windows. The cleaning operation being performed from any desired remote location, the well known hazards associated with performing the cleaning operation by conventional means are completely eliminated. Analdyne is interested in making contact with potential clients who may be interested in fabricating and exploiting this unique invention. All engineering experience of Analdyne Inc. will be made available to potential manufacturers.

BidMyAtoZ.com Announced as Finalist in SDVG PitchFest 2008, SAN DIEGO, Calif: an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of services on a platform that provides instant bidding, real-time online scheduling and tools for ongoing relationship management, has been selected as a finalist in the 2008 San Diego Venture Group PitchFest competition. BidMyAtoZ.com is able to do for services what eBay for physical goods by connecting buyers and sellers in a friction-free transaction marketplace. The internet made it easier for buyers of services to complete the first step of finding and evaluating service providers but thereafter it was back to the phones or email to get prices and schedule appointments. BidMyAtoZ.com condenses the process that typically takes hours and sometimes even days into a 5-7 minute online transaction. For service providers, the value proposition is equally strong with access to a performance based marketing channel and a full set of tools to manage their schedules, pricing, payments and customer relationships all online. BidMyAtoZ goes beyond existing lead generation, classified and review sites by adding the transactability together with relationship management tools. BidMyAtoZ.com launched it’s first service, BidMyCleaning.com in April 2008. First reported here.

Window film slows heat loss: A do-it-yourself window film promises to insulate windows and reduce the ultraviolet rays that can fade fabrics. Energy Film is a transparent vinyl film that adheres to the inside of a window with a spray of soapy water and the smoothing of a squeegee. The film is spectrally selective, meaning it reflects much of the sun's heat and UV rays while admitting most of the visible light. The manufacturer, Artscape Inc., says it will block 97 percent of UV rays and 70 percent of thermal solar energy. In winter it slows heat loss through the glass by 15 percent, compared with a single-pane window. The product comes in three sizes ranging from 24 by 48 inches to 48 by 84 inches. Sheets of film can be cut to fit a window, or more than one sheet can be used on a large window. The product is available at some Home Depot stores. Suggested retail prices range from $19.98 to $34.98.

Smithsonian Curator David Shayt, 56, an associate curator in the museum's work and industries division whose eclectic interests ranged from yo-yos to sundials, from the development of the ivory trade to the work of cymbal-makers, died Nov. 4 of multiple myeloma at his home in Gaithersburg. David Shayt summed up his impact on the world in less than 100 words.
"As a museum specialist at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History," he wrote in The Washington Post for a special millennium issue, "I have added to the national collections 91 packs of Crayola crayons, two electric barber poles, 44 shoe store foot-measuring devices, a Playboy bunny outfit, 46 eggs of Silly Putty, two McDonald's french fries scoops (left- and right-handed), 40 packs of cigarettes, nine cue sticks, 135 walking sticks, and a bullwhip used by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones." In the early 1990s, Mr. Shayt traveled to Guyana with a team of specialists to stabilize and repair the country's historic market clocks. In 2001, he was sent to dig World Trade Center artifacts out of New York's Fresh Kills landfill, including the door of a damaged fire truck.
He also persuaded a window washer who had been trapped in a World Trade Center elevator with five others on Sept. 11, 2001, to donate the broken tool that he used to dig through the elevator shaft wall. "It's collected not as a squeegee handle itself, but as evidence of life's affirmation," Mr. Shayt told The Post. "This is evidence of survival." See here for story.

Bogus window cleaner is banned from Airdrie, Scotland: A man who pretended to be a window cleaner to get into two female OAPs’ Airdrie homes has been banned from the town. Prisoner Con Irvine (30) admitted pretending to the two Forrest Street residents aged (81) and (79), to be a window cleaner to obtain entry into their homes by fraud on June 12. He also pleaded guilty to stealing a handbag and its contents from another house in Forrest Street on the same date.
Sheriff Tom Millar told the accused: “You have to stay out of Airdrie unless it is for a court apperance, preparation of reports or to attend your solicitor’s office.” He was also bailed to a Motherwell address and placed on a 6pm-6am curfew. A Drugs Treatment and Testing Order was ordered to be carried out. Sentence was deferred until December 17.

Nanotechnology sparks fears for the future: Nanomaterials are likely to kill people in the future just as asbestos did unless extensive safety checks are put in place, a Royal Commission report has said. The team of experts assessing the likely impacts of the emerging technology are worried that when nanomaterials escape into the environment they will damage people and wildlife but that it will be years before the effects are seen. Past generations have brought into general usage materials such as asbestos, leaded petrol, CFCs and cigarettes without adequately considering the potential damage and the commission fears nanomaterials will prove similarly dangerous. Only by introducing rigorous safety systems, including widespread monitoring and intensive research, can threats posed by nanomaterials be identified and countered, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution concluded. Nanomaterials are already used in a variety of products on the market including a range of clothes in Japan that have dispensed with dye because refracting nanomaterials provide the colours. A nanomaterial placed on the surface of the glass in the roof at St Pancras Station has been designed to keep it clean. It reacts with sunlight to break down dirt without the need for window cleaners to clamber up on the roof.
Many sun creams contain titanium dioxide particles, a nanomaterial which has been in use for years. There are about 600 different products using nanomaterials around the world and around 1,500 have been patented. The commission’s report, Novel Materials in the Environment: the case of nanotechnology, rejected an outright ban on the technology because of the huge potential benefits. A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: “As the Commission states, it has found no evidence of harm to health or the environment from nanomaterials, but the Government remains committed to researching their health and environmental impact.

Reports on Window Cleaning Contractors now Available in A.M. Best Co.'s Risk Assessment Products: New and revised reports for Best's Underwriting Guide and Best's Loss Control Manual are now available on CD-ROM and online at Best's Underwriting & Loss Control Center. As of this update, each report in the Manual now has a corresponding article in the Guide. New reports in the Manual include: Window Cleaning Contractors. If you are an underwriter or risk manager and need concise, in-depth answers to these and other questions search no longer! Best's Underwriting and Loss Control Center provides the answers in our underwriting and loss control reports. Each report provides detailed risk descriptions, on-site inspection or underwriting checklists, reports on hazards, safety measures, lines of liability and more. Reports also include what exposures exist under the various lines of liability -- along with methods a given insured could be taking to reduce losses.