Window Cleaning News

Solar power in the Coachella Valley takes another leap forward today and Friday as two commercial-scale projects come online, both using the latest technology. C.J Orlando of A+ Window and Gutter Cleaning uses an extension device to clean one of Granite Construction's concentrated solar installations.

Frank Gagliardi: Medina Sun 'Person of the Week' - Frank Gagliardi, a family man with many interests, certainly stays busy and happy. Serving as a Cleveland firefighter for 26 years, Gagliardi has found himself in plenty of unique situations. He loves helping people, as well as recounting interesting stories to his family. He once carried two people down a 110-foot aerial ladder from the old Bond Court Hotel when it was on fire. Gagliardi’s family — wife Marie, son Sam, 17, and daughter Mary, 15 — enjoy his sense of humor and excitement. “If there’s even a glimpse of sun he will be out on his motorcycle,” Mary said. He’s also a big fan of the Browns and the Tribe, and the latter is definitely making him happy these days. He also enjoys playing poker. Mary professes that he’s “amazing” at the game.
When he’s not cruising on his bike, helping others or watching Cleveland sports, Gagliardi puts in time at his business, Squee-Gee Clean, a window-washing company he started in 1990. All of that keeps him pretty busy and he enjoys every moment. He and his family also look forward to winter, when he covers their house in Christmas lights and displays a dazzling flying Santa Claus that also impresses the neighbors.

The window washer was out Friday morning at Towson Commons, hanging by straps before the big glass panes out front above the entrance to the AMC movie theater, which will go dark in a week. There's a big red-white-and-blue "FOR LEASE" sign hanging up on the building facade now, and those who do business around the center of the county seat are waiting for the owner's next move.

Downtown Vernon merchants are getting in to the spring spirit. The annual Spring Clean-Up and Sparkle Day takes place Wednesday. “The event gives businesses the opportunity to make the downtown area more visually appealing for customers,” said Earl Hansen, with the Downtown Vernon Association. There will be two main areas of activity occurring during the event.  The first part will see merchants with brooms, dust pans, window cleaner and scrub brushes cleaning the front of their building and their sidewalk area. “Merchants are also being encouraged to think green and place a planter outside their store or do a new window display,” said Hansen. The second part of the program is the placement of hanging baskets on the lampposts in heart of the downtown area. “That’s  a true sign of the start of spring,” said Hansen.

Smoke from a huge Everglades fire is likely to hang over South Florida for the next two days or so, prompting health officials to urge people to limit strenuous outdoor activities. An absence of wind or rain has created conditions that will allow the smoke to linger at least through Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Although the smoke is most likely to affect vulnerable people such as children and the elderly, health officials urged everyone in areas with smoke to avoid outdoor exercise that would draw air deep into the lungs. Early Wednesday, however, South Floridians were being spared the pungent odor of smoke because winds were blowing from the east. But that wind pattern can change.

Wood smoke can carry fine particles of as many as 200 chemicals, capable of traveling far into the respiratory system. "Why expose yourself to that?" asked Dr. Mike Feinstein, program director at the American Lung Association office in West Palm Beach. "It's similar to secondhand cigarette smoke.""It's terrible," said Randy Feinman, 44, of Miramar, as he began his job of washing windows shortly before dawn at a Dunkin' Donuts on Broward Boulevard. The professional window cleaner suffers from allergies and said because he works outside most of the day, he is concerned about his health. "Usually I only get sick when I get a bad cough, but in conditions like this, well, it really doesn't help," he said. "It's worse today than yesterday. I hope it doesn't get even worse."

It ain't easy, keeping the species going. Especially if you're a bird. Of all the threats and dangers breeding birds have to contend with, storms rank right up there. When the first egg she laid was knocked off the ledge by her mate -- accidently, it's presumed -- members of the Canadian Peregrine Foundation leaped into action to provide the young, inexperienced pair with safer accommodations. They hired a window washer to rappel down from the roof and set a special nest tray on-site. After filling it with gravel lowered to him in a bucket, he gently placed the second egg inside, then disappeared down his dangling rope. Quest and Kendal, the peregrine pair, watched the 15-minute operation from a roof across the street, then carried on nesting.

Bogus window cleaners are burgling Warwickshire homes: Burglars posing as window cleaners around Warwickshire are being sought by police. The county’s force is asking for people to help them identify the group, who are believed to be all men and possibly Eastern Europeans. They are reported to have touted for window cleaning work, but no ladders or buckets have been seen. Anyone who thinks they have seen this group or who may see them in the future with or without a silver BMW 1 series, is asked to contact Pc Louise Parker on 415000, voicemail 10653. The car’s registration number is particularly valuable information Pc Parker is seeking. People can also pass on information anonymously by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Redmond mom develops trash can cleaner: It's the final frontier in the battle against household germs: Your trash dumpster. Redmond mom Emily Wiewiorka has developed a new steam sterilization service to keep your trash can clean and germ free – Steam and Clean. The company’s green truck grabs dumpsters and steam cleans them, inside and out, leaving behind sparkling clean trash bins. “Garbage cans are the single-most unhygenic part of any home -- a thousand times dirtier than the toilet,” says Wiewiorka. “As a mother, I’ve grown increasingly wary and concerned about the germs and bacteria that grow in these areas and have always hoped to find a service like this one. When one never emerged, I created it myself.” Wiewiorka spent 8 months and $300,000 developing this trash truck, which recycles all of its water and purifies it to near drinking water standards.

The service is currently available in the Bellevue-Redmond area but Wiewiorka plans to expand later this year from Everett to Tacoma and Redmond to Seattle. Each service will be timed to immediately follow normal trash pickup so that cans may be conveniently cleaned at the curb. The cost for this every-week service is $3 per can, per week. Additionally, homeowners can opt to have the outsides of their windows cleaned  monthly at a cost of $60 with no limit on the number of panes. The process involves no chemicals and leaves each window spotless. The company also offers cleaning of sidewalks, walkways and even the exterior of homes to improve curb appeal. Wieworka admits some people may not see the need in sterilizing dumpsters, but she’s optimistic that the germ-conscious will appreciate the service. She says trash can sterilization services are standard in the U.K., where she is from. “The economy is down but more and more people are spending time at home,” she says. Story from previous blog here.

Tom Zupancic has opened Fish Window Cleaning, 195 Lehigh Ave., Unit 13A, Lakewood. The business provides window cleaning services to commercial and residential customers in Howell, Jackson, Neptune, Manasquan, Point Pleasant Beach, Brick Township, Lakewood, Asbury Park, Toms River, Belmar, Mantoloking and Seaside Heights. Before opening his business, Zupancic worked for Credit Suisse, where he managed regional and global IT teams. Fish Window Cleaning has 239 locations in the United States and is the largest window cleaning company in the country. 

David Essex makes EastEnders debut... 37 years after first No1 music hit. David Essex in 1974 - the year he released no 1 hit Gonna Make You A Star on the left and, right, on his window cleaning round in Becton, east London nine years beforehand.

Adam Ant has been many things in his time. King of the wild frontier, dandy highwayman, Prince Charming, Goody Two Shoes. In his prime in the 1980s he was Britain’s biggest pop star and was voted the sexiest man in America by viewers of MTV. But fame can also take its strain. When an attempt to forge an acting career in Hollywood foundered, he suffered a series of breakdowns and, at his lowest ebb, he was sectioned and spent six months in psychiatric care. Today he seems in fine fettle. Now 56 years old, he’s just days away from a long promised comeback tour and the signs are encouraging. “I love it when kids of 16 years old say, ‘I love you – my dad had it round the house’,” he says. He got into Gene Vincent the same way. He remembers how gratifying it was to hear a window cleaner outside his house in 1981 singing Stand and Deliver. “He changed the lyrics; I didn’t mind – it means you’ve reached people.” He was delighted when they used Goody Two Shoes in the film Shrek 2 and when Robbie Williams covered Antmusic. “That paid the rent for a few months.”

Lyndon Fire Department To Begin Billing For Services: Some Jefferson County residents are about to be billed for services provided by their local fire department. The Lyndon Fire District will begin sending out bill for some services in the next couple of months in an effort to make up a budget shortfall. They said it is a last resort, but unless the cap on taxes collected in the district is raised by the legislature, it is their only option. "Without the program there's going to be a reduction in services or a reduction in personnel. We have cut to the point that there is nothing left to cut," said Lyndon Fire Major John Stich.

Already at minimum staffing levels, Stich said the district is in a dire financial situation, looking for ways to make a more than $100,000 shortfall. "What we can do today, to keep the trucks going out the door and keep it properly staffed is we can look at cost recovery methods on certain types of runs," Stich said. Beginning July 1, the Lyndon Fire District will be billing for services where they say the services provided exceed the basic cost of providing that service.

The rescue of two window washers hanging off the side of a Hurstbourne Park office building Tuesday after their pulley system failed would generate a bill between $1,900 and $2,000. "That is a special rescue and had we utilized extra types of resources on that, then that would have been the type of call where we would have been billing for the cost of the extra service," Stich said. The bill for a typical motor vehicle accident where spill clean-ups are involved come in just under $400. Major structure fires at homes and businesses with substantial damage result in bills well over $500. Story from previous blog here.