Starting From Scratch - Taking Scratches Out Of Windows

Mark Strange - famous for his tool-talk videos has ventured into the realm of renovating glass using  the GlassRenu glass restoration system. Mark shows you step by step, as a complete novice how he learns to renovate the window. It's great watching a professional who has done this everyday - but even better is watching someone starting out & showing the mistakes that he makes on the job. GlassRenu even have an iphone app' out that you can refer to when you are on the job. I'm sure you will enjoy this series which could be a great window cleaning add-on if you have a market for this sort of work. Prices for the systems can be seen here.

The GlassRenu Scratch Removal System is the industry’s premier solution for removing scratches and acid damage of any size and depth from all types of glass. With GlassRenu, you’ll be able to repair 75% - 95% of the glass panels you previously had to replace – in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost with the Patented Dry Grinding System.

Window Cleaning Add-Ons

Sweeps are cleaning up again: Chimney sweeps conjure thoughts of sooty-faced kids and their equally filthy mentors, smoky skies in Victorian England and more shocking still, Dick Van Dyke’s awful cockney accent in Mary Poppins. But the job is enjoying a revival as demand for the service is growing among the trendy and the cash conscious. As a manager of a big toy store which boasted, among other things, a huge play park for youngsters, Martin Tradewell had job security . . . but he was looking for an alternative. He was getting tired of the one-hour commute to work each day and there was another thing. “I hate kids,” he laughed. So he looked to work closer to home in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, starting first as a window cleaner. “A lot of people associate window cleaners with chimney sweeps and when they kept asking about doing their chimney I looked into it.” That was in 1996 and by 1997, after being trained by the Guild of Master Sweeps, he was fully qualified. His company, The Dales Sweep, as the name suggests, covers the Dales from Durham down to Yorkshire and he’s a busy man.

“When I first started up I spent nearly three years of doing both window cleaning and being a chimney sweep. Now I’m just a chimney sweep full-time. There’s a lot more work out there now. Demand has probably gone up by a third in that time.” It’s not just Martin, 46, who is benefiting. Despite the recession and job insecurity it seems that being a chimney sweep is one of the few growth industries. It’s been quite a turnaround in fortunes for the job. The 1956 Clean Air Act, which enforced the use of smokeless fuels in many areas, may have been good for the environment and the quality of life of millions, but it proved devastating to a centuries-old occupation often passed down from father to son. But today the National Association of Chimney Sweeps say their members are dealing with ever-increasing demand while there has been an influx of new trainees.

There are a number of reasons. Thanks to soaring gas prices, sales of wood-burning and multi-fuel stoves rose 40% in 2008 as homeowners attempted to cut their bills. And it’s not just an economic motive driving it. At the other end of the pay scale, the opening up of fireplaces has become a trend statement among the better off who purchase character properties and seek to restore or mimic the building’s original features. Whatever the reason the result is the same – more chimneys needing to be regularly cleaned and more business for the small, self-employed army of sweeps across the country. Now we’re in autumn, with winter fast approaching, it’s the busiest time of the year for chimney sweeps. They expect business to be particularly good as the memory of last year’s bitter winter is still fresh in the memory.

The father-son tradition is beginning to emerge again, too. As a lad Richard Lawson helped his chimney sweep father Bob, but after his dad died he eventually ended up in a completely different job, working as a sheet metal worker with the Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend. Then, about six years ago he decided to become a chimney sweep again and his son, also called Richard, has followed him into it, both now running their own businesses. Richard senior said: “There’s a lot of work coming from people from all walks of life. Wood-burning stoves are the most popular. More and more people are drifting back to solid fuel and reopening fires that were once closed up years ago.” Opening up fires again requires planning permission and isn’t something anybody can do. Richard is qualified to do it through Hetas, the Government-recognised body which oversees the work.

Richard, 49, of Hexham Chimney Sweeps – his 25-year-old son runs Ryton Chimney Sweeps – doesn’t use the traditional brushes, instead doing the cleaning work with the power sweeper. Meanwhile, Martin uses the brushes. “I’m a bit of a traditionalist. Even then, when I turn up at first the customer says you’re not what I expected.” Gone are the days when sweeps looked like a black-faced dancing Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, and he says he’s as clean at the end of the day as he is at the start. While the basic principle of putting a brush up a chimney is the same now, there are different vacuum cleaners to control the mess. So in more ways than one it could be said they are cleaning up. A Victorian tradition held that it was lucky for a bride to kiss a chimney sweep on her wedding day. And it seems that Lady Luck is smiling on them again today. Or, in the words of Dick Van Dyke: “Chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cher-ee! A sweep is as lucky, As lucky can be.”

The Cleaner: Brent Riddle makes tragedy disappear, one bloody sponge at a time. Brent Riddle got the call. He was only 16, a high schooler in Bothell. On the other end, he heard his friend Andrew’s mother. He’d watched Andrew recede into depression and isolation lately. Andrew didn’t have a father in his life. Now, Andrew put a gun to his head. He’s in the hospital. The house is a mess. Blood all over. Do you think you could come over and take care of it? “I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do it,” Riddle says now, almost 20 years after the incident. “It was pretty serious. He had dragged himself from room to room [before] his sister found him.” Riddle didn’t really know what he was supposed to do. He brought over bleach and spray bottles, 3M pads, demolition gear. He wiped down the floors and walls, cut out sections of carpet and linoleum, threw away some furniture. “It was kind of a rude awakening, to see that firsthand,” he says. But, looking around the house, he was glad he’d been there. “There’s no amount of money that could put you in the position to clean up your brother, your loved one, your father,” he says. “That’s kind of, in a nutshell, how we got started.”

A few years later, Riddle and his brother launched a company called Med Tech, to do the kind of work nobody in their right mind would volunteer for. The company moved to Spokane in 2000 and — like about half a dozen similar companies in the area — responds to grisly, gross and tragic calls for help across Washington, Idaho and Montana. Like the call Riddle got from a Whitman County jail. An outgoing inmate in solitary confinement had smeared feces all over his cell as a kind of farewell present. Or the hoarding case on the West Side. A woman with some mental problems had been living there for years, he says, before she suffered a heart attack and the state intervened. There was stuff — just stuff — everywhere. It took eight trucks to carry it all away. Mice and rats ruled the place. On her bedroom floor, he found the outline of a dead dog. “You’ve never seen anything like it,” he says.

But most of the 10 to 20 calls he handles each year are suicides. He’ll get a call like the one in 1991 about his friend. (Incidentally, Andrew, whose name has been changed in this article, survived). But now, when he goes to work, he shows up with a trailer full of tools and chemicals. Usually, a family member will let him into the house. Sometimes they come in with him. Sometimes they ask him to remove things they don’t want the rest of the family to see. He says he tries not to look at family photos in suicide cases. “I don’t like to put a face to the person who’s left this world,” he says. “It doesn’t make me uncomfortable, but it makes my job harder to do.”

Still, Riddle will take extensive pictures, for insurance. Then he puts on his full get-up. Police have already gone over the scene, so he’s not concerned about evidence (although an overlooked bullet will prompt a call to the local precinct). He just sets to work, picking up the pieces (“I’ve picked up all kinds of things that I’m not going to go into detail about”), killing any lingering organisms, spraying, wiping, scrubbing. He’ll tear up carpets and sub-floors, pull up trim and bust down drywall. Then he’ll start to put it all back together again: new floors and carpet, fresh coats of paint — often in sunnier, more vibrant shades than before. Then he takes more pictures.“The ‘afters’ are amazing. ‘Did that happen here?’” he says. “The ‘before’ is something that would make somebody sick to their stomach.” Not him, though. Riddle says he tries not to bring the emotional toll of his work home with him, that he’s found a way to shut off the pain, for the most part. He credits his Christian faith with helping him to put the person’s death in perspective. “I know there’s life after death,” he says. “Or I hope there is. I like to think that those people are still around.”

It’s not always so easy, though. “That’s not saying I’ve not cried on the way home from a job. I’ve had to pull over and just, you know, cry,” he says, pausing. “The hardest jobs have been the ones where fathers have left their children and their wives behind. The sole provider of the home, things are too tough and they end up leaving this world. I see what it does firsthand because I deal with the wives and the children. I see the kids’ rooms. That’s the most difficult. “

But that, he says, is why he does what he does: to help those families move on. “I have a soft spot in my heart, so I’m able to befriend these people and not only do the job but to comfort them and give them a peace of mind,” he says. “I love people. I want to help people. If I need to sit and have coffee with somebody before a job gets done, I will. I know what it takes to recover and heal and go through the grieving process.”

In the United States ABRA is an international non-profit association of crime and trauma scene recovery professionals who are dedicated to upholding the highest technical, ethical and educational guidelines of the biohazard remediation industry. ABRA offer the members a central voice and the common bond of fighting the same industry problems and overcoming the same obstacles. ABRA keeps up on industry developments and changes, then acts as a central hub for the accumulation and distribution of industry related information.

In the UK, there is a window cleaning forum run by Chris that's called SCSF which specialises in this kind of work with related clean-up operations. I know no other forum that specialises in this field. A fairly new window cleaning forum, it carries views & opinions on todays window cleaning news, resources & information. I urge you to sign up & take a look! The forum logo is "The scsf...run by cleaners...for cleaners and new starters in the industry"

Special discounts & offers are commonplace here, they are offering a discount for the conference featured at the foot of this blog. The price has been reduced to £99+VAT and Benchmark Certification is now on board offering CPD point certificates through the forum.

BRADI (Bio recovery and Disaster International) was formed as a group of technical experts who will each head up special interests groups (SIG’s) to work towards development of standards. BRADI aim to achieve this by including all stakeholders and providing the wider industry with a route to respond and have input. Through peer review and regular update via the SIG’s these standards will remain relevant and recognised as “Industry Best Practice”. Includes:

Death  & Trauma scene

Environmental cleans

Crystal Meth lab

Cannabis lab and illicit drug factory

Sewerage and flood biological contamination

Sanitation and  odour destruction

Asbestos removal (non Licensed subject to 2006 regs)

Oil spill and general decontamination

Toxic Mould removal and prevention

Contamination or health threat investigation and clearance

Outbreak and infection control

Fire and Flood restoration  and drying                            

CBRN decontamination or support services

Ventilation and kitchen duct cleaning systems

Graffiti and stone cleaning

Insurance damage restoration building companies

                                  

Window Guards - Window Cleaning Add-On?

Marlborough company creates window guard for child safety: Marlborough — Each year in the United States, 15-20 children under the age of 11 die from window falls and nearly 4,700 sustain injuries due to unguarded windows, according to Children’s Hospital Boston. These statistics troubled Remi Doiron, the owner of Integrated Dynamic Metals Corp. (IDM) in Marlborough. The Northborough resident was getting tired of reading story after story about young children being injured or killed from window falls. He read about a 3-year-old from Ipswich falling out of a second-story window, a 10-year-old from Boston plunging 18 feet and a 2-year-old from Springfield who climbed on the back of a sofa and fell out of a window to his death.

Doiron decided to take action. After conducting research and meeting with child safety product groups, he founded a company called Looking Glass Window Guards in January. The company moniker is also the name of its product. "Kids shouldn’t have to pay for mistakes that could easily be preventable," says Doiron. "All it takes is a second for the worst to happen." Looking Glass Window Guards have four steel bars designed to prevent children from pushing through window screens. "Unlike other windows guards, Looking Glass Window Guards have a unique quick-release feature," says Doiron. "By depressing a lever on top, the guard pivots open - important for fast escape in emergencies. Most guards have to be removed completely from the window. "(This feature) is simple for adults and older children to work, but too difficult for creeping babies and toddlers to navigate. The swing pivot also allows for easy window cleaning."

Doiron adds that Looking Glass Window Guards fit all standard, double-hung casement, custom and hard-to-fit windows. The guards are available in white, black, almond and custom colors. For more information, visit www.lookingglasswindowguard.com. Doiron recently discussed the product and IDM with Daily News staff writer Bob Tremblay.

QUESTION: How did you come up with the product’s name?
ANSWER: In a review panel, we tossed around ideas. We discussed kids’ curiosity of looking out windows and wanted them to be able to view the outdoors safely. Therefore, we came up with Looking Glass Window Guards.

QUESTION: Has IDM moved?
ANSWER: We are in our third location. Originally the company was in Merrimack, N.H., with 6,000 square feet of space. We then moved to a 10,000-square-foot facility in Marlborough. In January 2007, we purchased and now occupy a 30,000-square-foot space still here in Marlborough.

QUESTION: What does IDM do?
ANSWER: IDM manufactures precision sheet metal products for a diverse clientele in the aerospace, government, medical and high-tech industries.

QUESTION: What is the cost of a Looking Glass Window Guard?
ANSWER: It is currently priced at $49.95 for a standard size - 25 inches by 36 inches. Other sizes include 14 by 25, 36 by 58 and custom (58 inches plus).

QUESTION: Any future plans?
ANSWER: We are currently developing guards for casement windows as well as guards for sliders and stairs.

QUESTION: Any news to report?
ANSWER: Look for us at the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas the week of Oct. 10-13.

INTEGRATED DYNAMIC METALS CORP.
Address: 66 Brigham St., Marlborough
Owner: Remi Doiron
Founded: 2001
Employees: Approximately 10

Children’s Hospital reports that about 18 children ages 10 and under die annually from window falls. Another 4,700 children ages 14 and under will require treatment each year for window fall-related injuries. Looking Glass Window Guards can help keep your toddler safe by preventing window-related falls. Steel bars prohibit your child from pushing through window screens. Our quick-release safety feature allows for fast, easy removal in case of emergency. Looking Glass Window Guards follow all ASTM safety standards.

Features of Looking Glass Window Guards

• Unique, quick-release safety feature for fast escape in emergencies.
• Fits all double-hung casement and sliding windows, custom and hard-to-fit windows.
• Swings out for easy cleaning.
• Installation is simple and easy.
• Available in white, black, almond or custom color.
• Made in the USA.

Doiron shares the following Window Safety Prevention Tips:

• NEVER depend on screens alone to prevent falls.
• Make sure there is no furniture placed near windows that kids can climb on.
• Never leave children unsupervised.
• Open windows from the top whenever possible.
• Properly install window safety guards.

Looking Glass Window Guards Easy Installation: Click here.

Window Cleaning to Gutter Cleaning

Those boys from Window Cleaning Resources talk in this weeks edition about gutter cleaning (the perfect winter window cleaning add-on) & DI/RO storage for winter. Also Jaret the 11 year old superstar is mentioned + more. This video contains a parental guidance certificate!

This is Jeff Brown from Reflections Window Cleaning, you may also remember him from his sign making business. This Video was shot using a digital still camera set on video mode, so not the best quality. The video is to help those interested & to see what is involved with gutter cleaning using the Telescopic lance. Jeff adds - Reflections window Cleaners and the Water Fed Pole Training Academy except no responsibility for injury caused by using this type of equipment and they recommend you work with an experienced operative to gain experience before attempting to use any high pressure equipment.

Here's the pitch from Gutter Sense: - Cleaning a gutter with your bare hands can cause painful scratches and cuts. And climbing a ladder to reach second-story gutters is just asking for trouble. Instead keep your hands unscathed and your feet on the ground by using Gutter Sense, the easy-to-use rain gutter cleaning device!
This clever gutter cleaner tool features large polycarbonate "tongs" that will grab 14" of leaves or pine needles from flat-bottom gutters when you pull on the 12'-long braided rope included. Then just dump the debris in a trash bag or compost pile! You'll need to add your own threaded broom handle or extension pole to this gutter cleaning device, or get the Gutter Sense and Pole set (sold separately), with telescoping steel pole that gives you 4' to 16' of extra reach. Also on HSN shopping channel.

Remember the Looj? I remember they peaked in interest for a while but you still needed a ladder to stick them up there in the first instance. And of course they didn't fit UK gutters. Then of course if you could flip your gutter...

A Cumbrian entrepreneur has thrown his future into the gutter with a business venture he thinks will beat even the credit crunch. Former window cleaner Geoff Harney (pictured) has launched Cumbria’s first earth-bound guttering cleaning service. The 32-year-old has discovered a system which allows him to remotely view a gutter, then thoroughly clear it, without leaving the ground. He uses an ‘Omnipole’, which features a camera that relays images to a hand-held monitor so he can see what’s lurking before he starts the cleaning process. The pole then becomes a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking up the detritus and delivering it to a unit on the ground.

Knife Sharpening as a Window Cleaning Add-On + Other News

David Lipkind had spent the last 15 years working as a self-employed window cleaner on the Mendocino Coast until he really started feeling the economy's downturn earlier last year. Lipkind decided he needed to add with something he could bring with him to his client's homes to his existing business especially if he was already going to be doing windows there anyway. After looking in the phonebook and asking around, Lipkind settled on a sharpening business, a need in the community no one was filling. Offering people an alternative to throwing out old knifes was a great way to help people in a sagging economy, he decided. When resharpened, old knives are as good as new, but at a fraction of the replacement cost.
During winter 2008, Lipkind traveled to San Luis Obispo to apprentice with a master sharpener. "He really took me under his wing," Lipkind reminisced. "I was able to learn the basics of sharpening, I learned about metals, abrasives, techniques, and much more. He filled me with confidence and sent me on my way." During the late winter and early spring months, Lipkind was able to practice and hone his skills sharpening knifes and scissors for family and friends. Once he felt confident in his abilities, Lipkind ran an ad in his hometown paper and received calls for jobs. Business started picking up nicely. After a few steady months of work, Lipkind stumbled onto the idea of setting up a booth for his mobile sharpening service at local farmer's markets. He contacted market managers, and most seemed eager, even excited, to have Diamond Edge Mobile Sharpening Service at their sites.
Lipkind also enrolled longtime friend Paul Schulman to apprentice with him and partner in the business. The two started regularly attending markets, sharpening everything from axes to knives to scissors. "We keep expanding the direction of our business depending on what people bring to us and ask us to sharpen," explained Lipkind. Currently Diamond Edge can sharpen kitchen knives including paring, boning, serrated and Santoku styles hunting knives, scissors, loppers, shears, axes, mauls, hatchets, shovels, pick axes, hand scythes, hand pruners, pocket knives and machetes. Lipkind and Schulman do not sharpen saws or chainsaws due to the extensive, immobile setup required. Diamond Edge also will sharpen animal clipper blades like the Oster A5 styles when they return to the August 13Willits Farmer's Market. Salon shears also may be added to the ever-extending list of sharpenables. Along with regular sharpenings, Lipkind and Schulman also can provide a range of corrective and resculpturing options to save client's blades, including fixing broken tips, bolster adjustments and smoothing out blade nicks and cracks. "We can get out almost anything," laughed Lipkind.
Persons interested in having blades sharpened may bring their items to the market; expect about a half hour wait if arriving mid-market. Cost is determined by blade length for knives and scissors; many standard-sized items have set pricing. Diamond Edge attends several Mendocino County farmer's markets and can be found in Willits the second Thursday of the month; in Ukiah the second Saturday of the month; in Laytonville the second Monday of the month; in Boonville the third Saturday of the month; in Mendocino the fourth Friday of the month; and in Gualala the fourth Saturday of the month. "We really want to express our appreciation to the community and the positive response we have received from members," Lipkind explained. "We look forward to seeing you at the next market."

Vietnam War buddies find each other after 39 years: Winfred "Bub" Cooksey moved to Hot Springs Village in 2001. He runs a window washing service and is kept pretty busy. Over the past 39 years, Cooksey has tried to find a buddy who closely served with him in Vietnam. Unbeknownst to him until recently, his friend, Larry Popour of Phoenix, Ariz., had been doing the same. On June 28, their efforts were rewarded, and the two men met here in the Village for a quick reunion as Popour was making his way from Arizona to a family reunion in Michigan. It was the first time they had seen each other since leaving Fort Benning, Ga. in 1969 - 40 years and one month ago.
The two friends spent their entire one-year tour of duty together and returned home. Arriving back in the U.S. was not a pleasant experience for Cooksey. At O'Hare airport in Chicago, other travelers called him a baby killer. "The college kids didn't like us," Cooksey said. Popour was spared the experience. He returned to Detroit late at night. Both men were exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange. It was used as a defoliant in Operation Ranch Hand from 1962 to 1970.
The defoliant contained a poisonous substance called tetrachloridibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) which has been linked to several health problems for Vietnam veterans. Its purpose was to kill vegetation and, thereby, expose enemy positions and movements. By war's end, according to Veterans Administration numbers from October 1981, 18.85 million gallons of the herbicide were used, mostly during the time period of 1967 to 1969. Popour is now feeling some of the early effects of Agent Orange and has the first stages of leukemia. Talking about being sprayed with the chemical, Cooksey said, "It was like walking through a fog," as a light mist fell from the C-123s overhead.

HARLOW - Bogus window cleaner steals pensioner's purse in Pittman's Field: ESSEX Police are appealing for witnesses following a burglary at a home in Pittman's Field, Harlow. The burglary occurred around 11am, when a man knocked on the door of a home belonging to a woman in her 80s, stating he was a window cleaner and was collecting payment from local residents. The man gained entrance to the woman's home and while she was in the kitchen he is believed to have removed her purse from her handbag. The suspect is described as a white man, aged 18-20 years, 5ft 6in tall, slim build, short mousy/blonde straight hair possibly with highlights, wearing a blue grey/green T-shirt possibly with a yellow stripe.
Officer investigating, PC Brian Eagling said: "There was a lot of roadworks going on at the time so I am hoping someone may have seen this chap in the area. I would like to remind residents to always check peoples ID thoroughly and close the door on them whilst you call the person's company to check. If you are in any doubt, don't open the door and contact police immediately." Anyone with any information should contact detectives at Harlow police station on 0300 333 4444 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Euphemisms add layer of nonsense: It's a living language. But sometimes it's dead on arrival when people toss around euphemisms and gobbledygook. If a hospital charges $58 for a "thermal therapy unit," what is the patient getting for the money? Answer: an ice pack. Suppose a patient spots an "optical illuminator enhancer" entering his room. Should he be alarmed? No. The visitor is a window washer.

Police hunt abusive 'window cleaner': Police are appealing for witnesses after a woman shop worker was subjected to a vicious verbal assault in a crowded Totnes business after two days of alleged harassment. When a member of the public tried to help her, he too was subjected to a tirade of abuse including alleged homophobic comments. The incidents happened in the China Blue complex in Station Road, Totnes, at around 3pm on Tuesday . Police claim the man, who was aged 30 to 40 years, was aggressive and demanding, made threats and at one point lunged at the shop worker and attempted to grab her.
The man, who was white, of slim build, with a goatee beard and spoke with a Liverpool accent, had first met the women when he turned up at China Blue last Friday looking for window cleaning work. The woman discussed possible guttering work at her home but later telephoned the man to tell him there was no job. He then turned up at China Blue on Monday on five different occasions to try to talk to her. He showed up twice the next day and on the second occasion became abusive and offensive. PC Sharon Unsworth pointed out that the shop had been packed with people on the Tuesday afternoon and said she wanted to hear from anyone who had witnessed the incident.

Let the pros come to you: Dwight Kennedy of Lake Oswego spent most of his career as a metal refinisher working with his hands, but when emerging from retirement he decided to lend a hand instead. “Retirement for a lot of people means quitting. I didn’t want to quit. I’ve worked hard all my life and I like it,” said Kennedy, 74. In January, Kennedy started Remodeling & Repair Referrals, a company that connects homeowners with home improvement contractors and professionals. Kennedy finds pre-screened, licensed and insured home service professionals for homeowners at no charge. The contractors pay Kennedy a commission for work secured.
Whether new to the area or just beginning to search for qualified professionals, Kennedy said his company does the research for you. He spent four months checking licenses, valid insurance policies, customer references, Better Business Bureau and the Consumer Affairs records of local companies – in various fields such as remodeling, decking, painting and plumbing – and that list grows each week.
“I’m really lucky; I never had to work for a big company,” Kennedy said. “I’ve always been my own boss.” Kennedy said he got the idea to start a referral business after his wife read an article about Debra Cohen in Good Housekeeping a year ago. Cohen started Home Remedies referral service in New York and made $125,000 in a year, working about 30 hours a week. “I’ve dealt with people all my life in a service-oriented way,” Kennedy said. “I can tell what a contractor thinks of a customer.” That’s why Kennedy interviews each contractor after they pass his background check. “I want to find out (about) the person, not the job. They’ve got to be conscientious and concerned for the customer,” he said. Lake Oswego resident Dwight Kennedy started his company to put homeowners in touch with qualified contractors. Remodeling & Repair Referrals has connected locals with professionals in fields such as appliance repair, carpentry, carpet installation, gardening, heating and ventilation, lock installation, painting, roofing, tile installation and window cleaning.

Robots: The good, the bad and the ugly: The robots are coming and we’re all going to die. That’s what some of the recent media stories would have you believe. Noel Sharkey, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield, recently suggested that we are in danger of becoming a victim of our own success when it comes to robotics and AI. Quite literally. If we don’t carefully monitor what we’re doing in the field of military robotics, innocent people could be hurt. Of course, media momentum gathered and now there are probably people panic-buying bread and long-life milk and heading speedily to their nearest bunker to hide from these death hungry bots.
“Outside of the ethical issues, I see robotics technology being a great benefit to the human race in [many] ways. The standard robot used in the manufacturing and automotive industries is outnumbered nowadays by service robots about five to one. These are robots that do the three Ds – dull, dirty and dangerous work like cleaning sewers, domestic duties like vacuuming and window cleaning – even picking fruit and pumping gas,” he added. High Speed robotic hand video from the same article.

This summer, in Korean film industry, a new film has come out! Director Jo Min-ho has appeared at the press release for the film, "A Million." Out of 100,000 applicants for a survival game show organized by an Internet broadcasting company, just eight are selected to participate in the event. The group? which includes 26-year-old documentary producer Han Ki-tae (Park Hae-il), 24-year-old pizza delivery girl (Shin Min-a) and 28-year-old window washer Park Chul-hee (Lee Min-ki) ? is then taken to the location of the show: a deserted island near Perth, Australia. The game begins, and the eight participants must go through the sea, desert, forest and rivers to cross the finish line. But seven days later, Australian police find just one person alive. What happened in the past week during this mysterious survival game?

AIG Chief - Loud Voice and a Listener's Ear: When Robert Benmosche takes over American International Group Inc. on Monday, he will be its fourth chief executive in 14 tumultuous months. He will also be the most decisive, direct and tough leader to run the battered insurer since Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg's nearly four-decade reign ended amid an accounting scandal in 2005. Mr. Benmosche, former colleagues say, is willing to upend cozy corporate traditions and make unpopular decisions. His strong personality could be just what AIG and its majority owner, the U.S. government, need to manage the company. But he could also clash with his many overseers, including in Congress, which hasn't shied from offering opinions about how the company should be run. He has a soft side. In 2007, Ken Karlewicz, owner of Mr. K's Window Cleaning, was providing an estimate for Mr. Benmosche's home northwest of New York City, when they began chatting about the window cleaner's passion: running a photography program for kids. Out of that conversation came a nine-day stay by the teacher and five students this past October at Mr. Benmosche's villa in Dubrovnik, Croatia, with breathtaking views of the Adriatic Sea. More at a previous blog.

Grandview Village President Tracy Houser says he is stepping down as village leader to take care of his ailing father and the family business. Houser said the last village board meeting he attended was July 7, when police officers told him his father had suffered a stroke. “Unfortunately he suffered two strokes to the brain,” Houser said. His father, James Houser, owns Houser Window Cleaning. “That’s been in business for 54 years,” Tracy Houser said. “I’m the only person who can take care of it.” Houser said the past few months have been draining on him, because his father is still in the hospital and is paralyzed on his left side. “The trustees of the village have been super, super good about it, and they understand that if I did resign there wouldn’t be any hard feelings,” he said. “They realize that family comes first. I’ve got to take care of my dad.”

Royal Albert Hall Becomes Bomb Proof: Window Cleaning Add-On

Baekert protects the Royal Albert Hall with window film: The Royal Albert Hall is an instantly recognisable world famous venue. Unfortunately, in the current climate, that also means it has to be protected from any potential terrorist attacks. Key to this is making the venue's 188 windows blast proof, which is why the Hall has installed Armorcoat, an innovative product by Bekaert (manufacturer of Solar Gard) that affords protection to all of the venue's internal and external glass.
Having a world wide reputation as an iconic concert venue can have its downside. That kind of profile can also translate into becoming a potential target for terrorists. "Obviously, as with any public building these days, security is extremely important to us and it's something we take extremely seriously," said the Royal Albert Hall's Operations Director, Amanda Squires. "It's always something that's at the top of our agenda - we are totally committed to ensuring the safety of all of our visitors, patrons and employees. The installation of Armorcoat clearly plays a key part in that because, in the case of anything happening, it prevents any injuries by fragments of glass."
The film was installed less than a year ago by one of Bekaert's accredited installers, Invicta. "If we do our job right then people don't know what we've done - it's a clear product that just goes straight onto the glass itself," said Bekaert's Sales Manager Ian Penfold. "The problem with blasts is that 90 per cent of injuries and damage aren't caused by the blast itself, but by flying glass."
Armorcoat is an adhesive film that is cut to size by the installer and easy to affix. Last year the Hall took the decision to remove the existing film from all external windows and replace it with new 175 micron Armorcoat film to meet Home Office specifications for bomb blast protection, as well as replacing all the old film on the internal glass to meet Health and Safety Executive duty of care requirements.
"We had originally installed protective film at the Albert Hall about 12 years ago for bomb blast purposes at the time of the IRA's bombing campaign in London," said Bekaert's Armorcoat affords protection to all of the venue's internal and external glass. Invicta's Sales Director Steve Thompson. "This was an upgrade to the new Home Office bomb blast standard specification, which is 175 micron film - the old film was 100 micron. We replaced the film on all the external windows and doors and we also went a stage further and put film on all the internal glass in the corridors."
"If somebody were to bring a bomb into the building, being a contained space it can obviously cause a lot of damage," he continued. "It's a risk assessment thing. It's less likely these days that you'd get the big vehicle bomb outside - it's more likely to be a case of someone trying to bring in small explosives in a rucksack and explode them inside. Most injuries in a bomb blast are caused by the flying shards of glass and that's something that we can quite easily reduce - the film holds the glass together and stops it spraying around, which is what causes damage. Glass can travel at huge speeds in an explosion and embed itself in walls and furniture, so it's an obvious risk to human life."
Clearly, installing protective film on this kind of scale was always going to pose logistical problems at a venue as busy as the Hall, but Invicta managed the contract with a minimum of disruption. "It was a very complex process of planning dates around when the work could be carried out and co-ordinating lots of different departments because we pretty much have a show every day," says Amanda Squires. "By the end of 2007 we had had more than 360 shows, so you can see that we don't get much down time to keep the building looking lovely - and the Albert Hall is not the kind of building you can ever allow to look shabby."
"We worked around their performances, so if they had a matinee for example we'd work to suit their hours," says Steve Thompson. "It was all done over a couple of months with no problem at all. The film comes in a roll and it's cut to just over the size of the glass. The glass is then thoroughly cleaned, the liner on the back of the film is pulled off, it's sprayed with water, positioned, trimmed and affixed. It's a fairly easy process but we have to train teams of installers - it's not a DIY job. It doesn't cause any great disruption to the people in the building, unlike if you were re-glazing, which is a major disruption to the day to day workings."
"Invicta worked closely with us and came in and did a full reconnaissance beforehand," says Amanda Squires. "There are 188 windows involved in the project so it's clearly a major job. The work had to be scheduled around performances and meetings, not prove disruptive in any way or interrupt performances or people's enjoyment of the Hall, because we're here to give people a fantastic show experience."
The films have a ten year warranty, and are tested at the end of that period to see if renewal is necessary. "It means we don't have to worry about it for the next ten years," says Amanda Squires. "Once it's been installed - apart from the normal routine of window cleaning - it's very straightforward, so you don't notice it from a maintenance point of view either. It's very easy to maintain - there's no lifting or peeling or anything like that at all. You wouldn't know it was there."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's a large and constant deand for Armorcoat at the moment. "The demand is across the board, in London and across the country," says Ian Penfold. "That's for both government buildings and other major organisations - in fact, the Government has its own standing order."

So would the Albert Hall install the product again? "Yes, absolutely," says Amanda Squires. "I'd certainly recommend it to other organisations. It's lived up to its expectations, and the installation and ongoing maintenance have been very good. We're very satisfied with the product and very satisfied with the service we had from the installation contractors. We've had no issues at all." Also see here for more information.

GlassRenu - Repairing Scratched Glass

Don't Replace — Renu! The GlassRenu Scratch Removal System is the industry’s premier solution for removing scratches and acid damage of any size and depth from all types of glass. With GlassRenu, you’ll be able to repair 75% - 95% of the glass panels you previously had to replace – in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.

Patented Dry Grinding System: Developed in the field by the company founder, GlassRenu is a patented dry grinding process that “renews” the original clarity and luster of glass by removing even the most severe damage without distortion. The GlassRenu process is unique among all other scratch removal or wet polishing systems. It’s easy to learn and easy to master. Repairs are performed quickly - without all the mess and set-up of other systems. Users on three different continents tell us that their results are so amazing, many of their customers can’t believe that the glass was repaired and not replaced. Below - before & after photos.

GlassRenu History: Born out of an industry need for a fast, affordable and easy-to-use process to repair glass surfaces damaged from scratches, pits, chips and acid, GlassRenu completed initial research and development of its patented Dry Grinding System and preliminary field testing of its proprietary RenuDisks in late 2006. Throughout 2007, the company expanded testing and development, resulting in the introduction of its comprehensive Contractor Grade System in the United States in June. The system was heralded as an immediate success throughout the industry and orders for systems poured in from around the country. In the Fall of 2007, the company appointed its first European Dealer and began to ship systems internationally in limited quantity. In 2008, demand for the GlassRenu Scratch Removal System continued to escalate, with the introduction of the process into a wide range of commercial, municipal and industrial applications, including: graffiti removal, construction repair, transportation & marine safety, glass & furniture manufacturing, and facility maintenance.

Does GlassRenu work on tempered glass?
Yes. The only difference between tempered and traditional glass is that it has been heat treated for strength and safety (it breaks into small pieces). GlassRenu is used extensively on tempered glass in storefronts, home windows and doors and the results are the same as with traditional glass—clarity with no visible distortion.

I’ve tried other systems with limited success. What kind of guarantee do I have that GlassRenu actually works?
GlassRenu is unlike any other commercial system on the market anywhere in the world. GlassRenu repairs scratches and acid damage, removes fabrication debris and hard water stains from all types of glass faster, cleaner and at a lower cost per repair – without distortion. We stand behind our products by offering the industry’s only Product Performance Guarantee – if your GlassRenu System doesn’t perform as promised, we’ll buy it back within the first 30 days of ownership.

Window Cleaning Add-On - Security Film

With this in the news today & in todays desperate society, I'm sure it could be of interest to many professional window cleaners: -

Film could allow removal of security bars on Main Street, Arizona: Pictured left, a local business owner inspects a sample of glass using Armorcoat. The film keeps broken glass held together so as to deter easy entry to a facility, and avoid injury. The campaign to remove the bars from the windows comes from Main Street Revitalization consultant Maralan Hutchins, to make downtown more appealing and windows more open to window-shoppers. With the bars, cleaning windows is also a much more problematic chore. Representatives Aaron and Ron Rumfallo with Queen Creek company Advanced Window Films gave an overview of the product they sell from renowned window film manufacturer, Armorcoat. According to Aaron Rumfallo, the product is used worldwide but picked up in popularity after Sept. 11, 2001; it has been used to retrofit all Washington government building windows to make them more resilient to blunt force.

The film comes in various tensile thickness, which Aaron suggested 8 mil and thicker for commercial storefronts. Showing a short video, business owners saw a presentation demonstrating how the windows with film stand up to different weapons such as a baseball bat or 2x4. Samples of glass tempered with the film were also passed around, showing the criss-crossed webbing of the broken, but unpenetrated, glass. The film is designed to keep the window from breaking apart, and slow down a criminal.
"I want to make this clear to everybody right now. There is no guarantee, just like any other security product, that it's going to stop everybody from breaking through. Just like the current security bars - I've seen bars ripped out of the walls with a chain and a vehicle. Nothing is a 100 percent. The product is not designed to stop glass breakage...what it does do is hold that glass together. It's an invisible barrier. Consider it an invisible peace of mind." According to the FBI's Unified Crime Report, almost 70 percent of burglaries are performed through breaking a window or forced entry through doors. With the film, windows are equipped to stand an incredible amount of force, and would take many repetitive attacks before it could be penetrated. Even at that, it would take much more work on the would-be thief's part to pry a hole big enough in the glass to gain entry. "Most criminals if they don't get in and out in less than a minute, they start making mistakes and their adrenaline gets pumping - and so, they're gone," Aaron explained. "They want to get in and out to the easiest target. In most cases they'll try to break in a couple times. They'll take a few blows to the window and realize that they're raising all this noise and exerting all this effort, and most move on."

Cost of the installation of the film is approx. $6-8 a square foot, and $5-6 a linear foot for the attachment apparatus. A group rate is "totally negotiable," Aaron added. According to Hutchins, the city has been working with El Paso Gas Corp., which could be donating a sizeable amount to help cover costs of the window project. The only downside to that would be that should an attempt at breaking the window be made, the cost would be back on the storeowner to replace the window, and a reapplication of the film. But several storeowners were critical that the film would help at all. Western Auto owner Lupe Galaviz recounted how she and her sister and co-owner Janie Rodriguez had to resort to plexiglass several years ago after constantly replacing glass windowpanes. Other business owners have had the same experiences, replacing countless windows, broken the majority of the time by rocks.

Armorcoat is a strong, resilient film that helps protect people and property from the hazards of broken glass. Manufactured by Bekaert, a world leader in window film, Armorcoat has met impact requirements for some of the most stringent tests in the industry and has been field tested for over 20 years. Armorcoat is made from only the highest quality materials, such as tough, high tensile polyester and ultra-strong mounting adhesives – available in thicknesses ranging from 4 to 14 Mil, with thicker films offering greater protection.

There are many other manufacturers, including the range from Bekaert also 3M, DIYwindow security & Shatterguard.

Window Cleaning Add-On - CCTV Inspection

Plants twining themselves into window frames & guttering is a home owners nightmare. This news report from "Property News" tells of how problems & inspections are important: ...

"A quick check around your property now could save a lot of time, hassle and money later, warns house doctor Peter Fall. The weather of late has not been the most conducive to getting things done outside the house, but there have been some dry and relatively mild days. When you do venture into the garden, the ground is too wet to walk on and the footpaths slippery with moss and algae growth. So you need to take care. Despite this, we should take advantage of the normal winter die-back of the plants to inspect our buildings and boundary walls and fences and, if necessary do some simple maintenance. I’m thinking about the plants we encourage to grow up our walls and fences. Many of these are deciduous and shed their leaves. Now is a good time to look through their bare branches at the walls behind and, if need be, cut them back away from windows, gutters and roofs.

The final winter point is a plea to check the gutters again. This is particularly after the heavy winds we’ve had lately. Many houses we are currently inspecting seem to have never had their gutters cleared but some owners claim to have cleared them last year and they have filled back up again. If you have a window cleaner get them to check and they are probably the best to do the job. If not it’s a task for an able DIYer with a long ladder or your local jobbing builder."

Which takes us to the Water Fed Pole Training Academy. One of the topics in the "gutter cleaning section" shows you how to make your own inspection equipment & where to buy the tools at very little cost. How it works: For a call-out, a fee is charged for the client to view there gutters or problem areas from the ground via cctv/water fed pole. If the client decides to use your services the fee is redeemed on actually having your gutter clean performed by the window cleaner there & then. Here are a few pictures to show you the equipment. Just click to enlarge or join up to the water fed pole training academy & see where to get the equipment for yourself.

Its 2009! - Happy New Year

Happy New year Folks. Millions of people are expected to brave sub-zero temperatures to welcome in 2009, in what is forecast to be the coldest New Year’s since the mid-1990s. The credit crunch will cast a further chill over 2009 & planning for them could make or break your business this year. Keeping ahead of the game with additional services can double or triple your income from some customers instead of only doing the windows. So is diversifying the key to your business? Or making your business more lean & economical sound in the current climate? I would agree with those who say to broaden their offering, increasing opportunities. Just be sure you don't spread yourself out so much, to where you lose your effectiveness at your main business.

There are a few add-ons you could look into, the first featured product is Rainflow. It is provided by window cleaning resource over in America & can be a hefty income producer. See the videos below for more info'. Also see previous blog on gutter cleaning.

Some more window cleaning hints & tips from Tony (Mr. Squeegee) & Mark..

Installing Christmas Lights as a Window Cleaning Add-On

A Greener Charlottesville - Holiday Lighting with a Green Twist: As the holidays get closer more and more people are firing up the Christmas lights but they are also raising the electric bill. Putting up the Christmas lights around your house is often times a fun family tradition but can also bring on some holiday headaches. A local company is making the process easier and with a green twist. Jim Harshaw, owner of Albemarle Window Cleaning says, "LEDs have sort of come to be the new thing in Christmas lighting and five years ago they were more or less unheard of in Christmas lights." LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes were first invented in the early 1900s but have gained big popularity in the past few decades because of there use in telephones, calculators, and TVs. Now the LED technology is making holiday lighting more energy efficient. "The roof line lighting, that we're doing on a house like this, uses one thirty second of the power." A traditional incandescent mini bulb, the kind that you usually see on a Christmas tree, uses about a half a watt per bulb. LED holiday lights only use 4 hundredths of a watt per bulb.
Not only do the LEDs use less energy but they last much longer. "The incandescents that we use are professional grade, or for instance the ones that you can buy at Walmart are usually about a 1500 hour bulb for the incandescents. The LEDs are around 100,000 hours they say." Albemarle Window Cleaning designs and installs outdoor holiday lighting for homes and businesses across Central Virginia. But this year they have started uses high efficiency LEDs and offering a carbon off-set. Harshaw says, "Someone brought to my attention all of these Christmas lights we install, and we've done probably about a hundred homes over the past 2 or 3 years, and that's a lot of lights and that's a lot of energy." At the end of the year Albemarle Window Cleaning will buy all of the carbon off sets for the lights they use, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the holiday season. If your looking to invest in some LED Christmas lights know that they do cost more up front but are well worth the investment, both for your wallet and for the environment. Video here.

Christmas Decor, the United States largest professional holiday decorating firm is spearheading the effort to spread the use of LED (light emitting diodes) lights with its 375 locations in 48 states.

One guy has a business that tells you everything you need to know in order to make over $15,000 in your first year hanging Christmas Lights. He also has a number of different websites to go through; Christmas Light Kit, Missionary Money & Christmas Cash.

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This display (below) was the work of Carson Williams, a Mason, Ohio, electrical engineer who spent about three hours sequencing the 88 Light-O-Rama channels that controlled the 16,000 Christmas lights in his annual holiday lighting spectacular (from Christmas 2004). His 2005 display includes over 25,000 lights that he spent nearly two months and $10,000 to hook up. So that the Williams' neighbors aren't disturbed by constant noise, viewers driving by the house are informed by signs to tune in to a signal broadcast over a low-power FM radio station to hear the musical accompaniment. The rough quality of the video has led some viewers to believe it was put together in stop-action form from still photographs, but that is an artifact of the high compression used in the clip circulated via e-mail. Mr. Williams has posted instructions for recreating his "Wizard in Winter" sequencing, and another of his choreographed Christmas light music. Carson's Christmas display proved so popular that it was featured in a Miller Lite beer commercial in December 2005. But so many people had been flocking to see it that it caused a traffic jam in his subdivision. There was a car accident in the subdivision and the police couldn't get to the scene because of the congestion. So he decided to shut it down.

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New Bird Control System Add-On

Pigeonglide™ (Patent Pending) is making a real difference to the environmental, humane and effective control of birds. The angled frame makes it impossible for the birds to land, they fly off to find somewhere else to nest and roost. The system is ‘bird friendly’, no birds are injured of killed, they just simply cannot land. Installed on more than 100 bridges with 100% success, pigeonglide has proven to be far ahead of any other bird control system in performance and cost effectiveness. Below is a picture of the fitted system - I can't see it! I don't want to see the price either!

Pigeonglide™ is fabricated using marine standard stainless steel (grade 316) giving an installation a life expectancy of at least 20 years. It requires very little maintenance and compared to other systems it is very cost effective when assessed over that period. In addition, the system has been designed to allow easy access, minimising time and cost for maintenance of structure and survey inspections.