Odds & Ends: Window Cleaning News

A Green Certification on the Horizon for the White House? President Barack Obama intends to get the White House LEED certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) spokesperson, Christine Glunz, says the effort to get the White House to LEED certification includes energy and water systems as well as waste. She believes it is vital to consider toxicity and life-cycle when making purchases for facilities. CEQ is looking to reduce the carbon footprint of the White House by implementing computerized energy management systems, automatic light sensors that turn off in unoccupied rooms and low-flow water valves. Paints and sealers with low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), biodegradable cleaners and recycled equipment will all be used by White House groundskeepers and engineers, according to a White House spokesperson. Window films that will lower UV rays and save energy will also be added.

Australia is about to take a world lead in nanotechnology with the development of an amazing new instrument at a Melbourne research facility, writes Nick Gibson. Scientists at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication at Monash will shortly bring online one of the most powerful nanotechnology instruments in the world, able to write data on particles ten thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair. The new multi-million dollar electron-beam lithography instrument can write or mark nano-sized objects with such precision that it could write the whole of ‘War and Peace’ on a pin-head.
Scientists will use the new instrument for a variety of key applications such as banknote fraud prevention, micro-texturing of surfaces, manufacture of micro-fluidic devices and x-ray optical elements. End products of such technology already in use include better quality paints, car and window cleaning treatments and improved swimsuits. “Nanotechnology is key to the future and many exciting new discoveries are being made through its use and application,” says Darrell Todd, ceo of thinkingaustralia.com.

An internet game featuring a high-rise window washer on a cradle. This one from the dutch, features guessing the letters before King Kong cuts the safety line & the window washer falls to his doom. Based on the word game, known as hangman. It's in Dutch, but don't be put off, just choose lot's of V's, W's & P's! Click the picture or here to play.

German film fest: Cuci The Musical. The musical, based on Hans Isaac’s movie, is about four adopted brothers from a small window washing company called Cuci Cuci Services. They aspire to compete in the ‘’Window Washing Olympics’’ competition to win a contract to clean the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The musical takes centrestage at Istana Budaya in Kuala Lumpur from Oct 23 to Nov 8. Leading the cast are Afdlin Shauki, Hans Isaac, Awie and AC Mizal. Their dream is to one day be given the contract to service the exterior of the Kuala Lumpur Petronas Twin Towers. That opportunity comes with the Window Washing Olympics – a competition run by Citi Jasmin (Vanida Imran) – that awards the winner with the cleaning contract. Cuci-Cuci Services decide to take on the defending champ, Wira Maju, a company owned by Citi Jasmin's boyfriend, Wira (Harith Iskander). Romance soon blossoms between Citi Jasmin and Khai much to Wira's dismay. Made first into a movie, released in January 2007, Isaac in a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, said he had every intention to initially make Cuci into a musical, but at the time he didn't have the finances.

A magnificent church window, rumoured to have been designed by one of the world’s most famous architects, has been returned to its original glory. A painstaking £25,000 restoration job has been carried out on the eastern stained-glass window at St Mary’s, Staindrop. Legend has it that the window’s design was the work of Augustus Welby Pugin, who planned the Houses of Parliament with architect Sir Charles Barry. St Mary’s eastern window, which is about 25ft high, was installed in 1855. In the past, John Cory has also been credited with the design. “There wasn’t a great deal of damage, but it was dirty as the window cleaner didn’t dare touch it. Borderdale did a good job and it’s now very fresh-looking,” Mr Poole said. St Mary’s Church, one of the oldest in the region, was founded in 771.

Murder man friends joy at club closure: Ben Lund (pictured), who died following an assault at the Funktion rooms nightclub has shut down after being repossessed and locked by the landlord. Friends and family of the popular window cleaner, who lived in York Road, held a peaceful protest against the club reopening and many are now pleased to see it has closed down. Rachel Jordan, a friend of the Lund family who helped organise the protest, posted a message social networking site Facebook which said, "Hooray, well done everyone for all your hard work through your sheer love for our fantastic gentle Ben. "This couldn't have happened without you all."

Windex "all-in-one" Canned again! It comes with a cleaning head; a handle and one cleaning pad that the package says will clean 20 windows with just one pad and in one use. I have seen it priced from $16.99 at Walgreens up to $22 on Amazon. It’s simple to use, just attach pad to cleaning head, then spray the window and cleaning pad with a water hose, then wipe the window using the cleaning pad and then rinse again making sure no suds are left behind...when it's done drying you should have a streak free shine
The replacement pads cost $4.99. It does say one pad will clean 20 windows but you have to clean all 20 windows at once, because directions say when done cleaning windows throw away the pad. I also cleaned a window using some paper towels and vinegar and water.
I gave the Windex Outdoor All- in- One a thumbs down because after letting it dry there were tons of streaks on my outdoor patio window. The vinegar and water cleaned better then the Windex Outdoor All- in- One. What I did like about the Windex All-in-One is the pole. It was a lot easier to use the pole then get up on a set ladder to clean that window.

And again...Our testers are two Newton Public School employees used to washing all the windows in the district every summer. Andrea even asked us to test this, in hopes her job will get a little easier. Gary wets the windows on the school with the hose, and Andrea uses the wand to scrub the glass with the soapy pad. They rinse....and wait. As the water starts to dry, the two aren't happy. The water isn't streaking, but the tool does leave lots of individual water drops on the glass. That means one thing to Andrea: spots. That's exactly what they start to see all over the windows. Just to be sure, they ask the opinion of another school employee who says the results wouldn't pass her test. Although it is streak-free, the windows are spotty And to be acceptable, all three agree they'd have to wipe down each pane of glass. Does It Work? All three of them say "no."
When we called the company, S.C. Johnson replied if spots show up, wash again. If the pad isn't available, rinse again. And the company says the quality of water can determine the quality of the results. Gary says he thinks he gave the product the benefit of the doubt. He says the test was on a cloudy, mild day. According to him, if it spotted on a day like that, it would really be a problem on a hot day when the water evaporated faster. Next summer he says, he's reaching for his bucket of water and squeegee.

Only two days after he learned from his former boss Marc Mawhinney the lawn care company he was managing was folding - along with several other Mawhinney companies - Crowdis started his own. On Aug. 13, he opened Yard Pros, taking over many of the clients that were left hanging with the closure of Mawhinney Lawn Care. "I was left high and dry so I thought I'd put my talent back to work and start up a company again and try my hand at another career field." It only took him two days to launch his own yard care company and begin looking after - for free - the many customers who had paid Mawhinney for the entire season. "Nobody missed a beat when it came to mowing," Crowdis said. "Everyone still got mowed"¦I couldn't just walk away and leave them all just hanging there." Crowdis brought two of his former employees with him as well as his fleet of yard care equipment and soon found himself busy mowing, aerating, dethatching and fertilizing lawns. His company also offers spring and fall cleanup, window washing, bed edging and mulching, tree and hedge trimming services as well as driveway sealing and hot pour crack filling for driveways for both businesses and residences from Saint John to Sussex.

Owner of The Window Man professional window cleaning service since 1994 and Summit Haus Properties spec building since 1999, Hodges comes to Prudential with a lengthy background in new construction. His knowledge of home building coupled with his insights on property location and cost comparisons proves to be helpful in educating potential clients.

Another Resource for Fabricating Debris: You may want to bookmark this one. Its a quick link page to other sites on the same topic. Fabricating Debris is a defect found on tempered and heat strengthened glass when the tempering company fails to maintain proper housekeeping procedures. It has increased in occurrence with the higher demand for tempered products and creates a situation that is detrimental to maintaining the clarity of the glass for it's lifetime. Not heard about it? You will soon, Its fabricating debris!