Window Cleaning Pictures & News

Show us your squeegee, Luigi! Mainly it means you should shoot a lot of photos through glass. Window washers are a demographic we’re going after in a big way. Is there really an audience for this stuff? Sure. It must be huge, judging from the number of window-cleaning-through-glass shots on our photo file. I hate to get pushy this early in my career, but I don’t think I want to shoot this sort of material. What’s a polite way to tell my editor? Just say, “I don’t do windows.” Top combo: A worker cleans the glass roof of a tunnel linking a building to a subway station in Chongqing municipality, China, October 28, 2009. A worker cleans the window of an office building in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, October 25, 2009. Lower combo: Assorted window-washing shots. Click to enlarge.

Tradie tumbles off Rudd's roof, Australia: A tradesman has been taken to hospital after tumbling from the roof of the prime minister's Brisbane home. The worker was cleaning gutters on the Kevin Rudd's Norman Park home on Monday when he fell. WorkCover Queensland is investigating the workplace accident and the tradesman is being treated at a Brisbane hospital. A spokesman for the prime minister told AAP the Rudd family are concerned for the injured worker. "This morning there was a terrible accident involving a tradesman cleaning the gutters at the Rudd family house in Brisbane," he said. "Following the accident an ambulance was called and the tradesman involved is now receiving medical treatment in a Brisbane hospital. "This was a serious accident and as is appropriate both the Queensland Police and WorkCover Queensland were immediately notified." WorkCover Queensland is now undertaking a full investigation into the accident.

Willis Tower looks to go green, from the rooftops on down: The building was completed as Sears Tower in 1973, the heyday of energy ignorance, which means the skyscraper has single-pane windows that leak around the edges and let in hot air in summer and cold in winter, lights everywhere and inefficient electric heating throughout. "Each old window is like a car driving around," Beardsley said. "And people don't think of it that way - it's just a window. But I think maybe we need to start thinking about it that way." When Beardsley visits Willis Tower, she sees structure, piping, interacting climates, the competition of forces. When she strolls onto the roof of the 90th floor, she doesn't talk about the view -- she talks about the elevator decking, the pressure of the wind, the movement of the joints, the grooves that allow the window-washing equipment to move up and down the facade. They expect to shore up Willis Tower's "skin" with new energy-efficient windows as soon as the last half of 2010.

Sanitation Strategies is pleased to announce it has been named an authorized distributor of the new Activeion Pro, the award-winning technology from Activeion Cleaning Solutions that transforms tap water into a powerful cleaner. Sanitation Strategies’ decision to distribute the Activeion Pro reflects its leadership position in the cleaning industry and its goal to help cleaning professionals ensure that their companies, their employees, and their customers have a safe, healthy option for cleaning—one that is free of harmful chemicals. A genuine breakthrough, the Activeion Pro is a versatile cleaner ideal for use on glass, stainless steel, wood, stone and marble as well as carpet and clothing. In fact, it can replace many general-purpose chemical cleaners commonly used for these types of surfaces. The unit, which retails for $299, can help professional cleaning companies save considerable money each year by eliminating the need to purchase a variety of general-purpose, window, glass and stainless steel cleaners. Also see here.

Austin News - Hormel Home new addition opens: Endres, who owns Endres Window Cleaning in Austin, said the expansion is "absolutely beautiful." He checked it out last week when he had a crew cleaning windows there, which his business has done for about the past five years. The addition dignifies the rest of the home, Endres said, and it gives another choice for hosting events.

FRIDAY 8:53 a.m., Jamestown — A man allegedly threw a rock through an elderly woman's window after his offer to sell gutter cleaning services was denied on Highway 108 at Golf Links Road.

Santa Rosa soccer coaches share Viking pedigree: Montgomery graduate Jon Schwan knows the feeling as the new Santa Rosa boys' soccer coach after two years leading the Vikings' junior varsity. The only blemish on his Panthers' league record is a tie with Montgomery. “It was a little weird being on the other sideline in the game at Montgomery. But I want to beat them bad when I go against them,” he said. “It gets to a point where you know you're ready for the challenge.” Santa Rosa's boys have been the biggest surprise, going undefeated in league and playing perhaps the best soccer in the North Coast Section. “It's all on the players,” Schwan said. “I was lucky enough to take this program over at the same time that a lot of players matured and developed.” But it was Schwan who sensed the need to challenge his players after the first practice to win the league championship and get back to the NCS playoffs — and they did convincingly. Schwan, owner of a window cleaning business, is a more low key coach who has a fiery side when needed.

Marc Saunders is relishing the prospect of taking on arguably the toughest job in local football - a little earlier than he expected. Saunders has been confirmed as the new manager of troubled ChromaSport & Trophies Peterborough League Premier Division club Oundle Town after the departure of previous boss Dan Dobson. Oundle are anchored at the bottom of the top-flight table after losing all nine league games to date and there is also a big divide between a struggling first team and a successful reserve side that have won every game this season in the Combination League. But Saunders is confident both things will change for the better. Saunders is something of a local legend have spent 14 years with the club. Saunders spent four years with Bristol City as a teenager and also played international football for Wales Under 15s. He moved to the Oundle area after buying a pub and now runs a window-cleaning business.

Entrepreneur Ben Giles, who turned a weekend window cleaning round into a successful business employing nearly sixty people, is now targeting police forces around the UK offering a unique crime scene cleaning service. But crime scene cleaning is providing Ben with a niche market opportunity enabling him to expand the business considerably after winning contracts from police authorities around the UK. This service can range from clearing up after road traffic accidents or murder scenes, to extensive cleaning and sanitising operations following natural deaths when the body may have decomposed.
The demand for this service, which requires extensive expertise in a range of areas, has been so considerable that Ben has established The National Academy of Crime Scene Cleaners to develop UK wide standards and accreditation. He explained: “The Academy provides training for cleaning companies throughout the UK to ensure their staff have the necessary expertise and ability to undertake this highly specialised work. To date 140 companies in the UK have been trained and Ben is tendering for contracts from forces around the country including Northern Ireland. News about the Academy has reached as far as South Africa and Ben now has his eye on extending it to Europe. “There’s nothing like this training available in Europe and if I don’t take advantage of this opportunity then someone else will.
Ben set up Ultima Cleaning after leaving school at sixteen when he decided to turn what was a Saturday window-cleaning round into a thriving business and attributed the success of his company to his `fantastic staff – from the humblest cleaner to my dynamic managers’ whom he thanks. He still maintains his domestic window cleaning contracts with more than 2000 homes in the area using his services.

As Kenny Campbell works at First Christian Church in Joplin, he is on familiar ground. Or rather, high above it on 30-foot scaffolding, restoring the luster of a large rose window on the church's south side. Thirty-two years ago, Campbell worked on these same windows. He has a deep respect for the historic stained glass, with its vivid daffodils and roses, flowing vines and the flying dove in the center. Campbell proudly notes that the original glass in the church came from the Wissmach factory in West Virginia, where Louis Tiffany bought much of his glass. "It was the first church I had ever done," remembers Campbell. "You build a little stained glass window, it's no problem. A 10-foot or a 29-foot-across window, now that's a little different animal."
Campbell started repairing and releading the large stained glass on his own. The storm had blown out and broken several of the panels. Plus, there was a lot of restoration to be done on the historic windows, which had been around since the church was built in 1901. It was a lot for one man to do, and at one point Campbell enlisted his wife to help him refire and paint the glass. She even traveled to Kansas City to take classes in the art of stained glass restoration. "I wouldn't have had any career in church restoration if it hadn't been for that job," Campbell said. "It gave me the experience to continue." The work launched Campbell's career in church restoration.
However, around 1994 Campbell was forced to retire. He had contracted ocular histoplasmosis, which robbed him of most his center-field vision and depth perception. Campbell was told he got the disease from pigeon droppings, which were plentiful in the eaves and bell towers of churches. He settled into a new career selling linens to nursing homes and assumed he wouldn't take a restoration job again. Read more..

‘Babe Ruth of bank robbers’ Willie Sutton dies at age 79: On this day, Nov. 2, in 1980, Willie Sutton, the “Babe Ruth of bank robbers,” died at age 79. Sutton is best known for saying he robbed banks “because that’s where the money is.” But in his memoir, Sutton dismissed the story, claiming that the reporter ginned up the quote to make better copy. Sutton said he robbed banks because he loved it. “I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life,” he said. During bank heists, Sutton donned disguises, playing a window washer, police officer or postman. He had a flair for the dramatic, and the banks were his stage. Some gangsters claimed that Sutton made Jesse James and John Dillinger look like amateurs.