San Diegos Finest... Cleaning Windows

Elite Window washing turn up to start cleaning. Click to enlarge.

Recently, Salvatore (Tory) Marino of Elite Window Washing & six other companies from the Window Cleaning Resource forum gave away their time & expertise as a services donation on a sizeable project recently in downtown San Diego. The building is home of a non profit organization called "The New Children's Museum" of San Diego. The main purpose of the museum is to get young ones to embrace that creativity that they all have. They help them by encouraging their passion, and letting it take on its own form before they become adults. Providing sustained, educational experiences in a classroom environment is central to the Museum’s mission. The center provides thousands of students and families with access to in-depth arts classes and the opportunity to work directly with an artist.

Tory (center arms folded) & other window cleaning companies get the low down on the cleaning mission. Click to enlarge.

The crew get ready with the safety harnesses. Click to enlarge.

Tory of Elite talks to Trevor of Clarion. Click to enlarge.

Tory of Elite checks the walkie talkies with the Sky High boys. Click to enlarge.

Brian Crowder of SD Cleaning Pro's & Tory in the MEWP. Click to enlarge.

Tory & his company has been cleaning this building for the last 4 years since it was opened. The very first time he tried to use a waterfed pole on the south facing side where the main entryway door is.. problems started. But after it was finished, it actually looked better before the attempt to clean the glass. There's some kind of greasy film that finds its way onto the glass that prevents use of the wfp. Every year Tory & his crew have tried to find a solution to the problem, so that they can use the wfp's as a prescrub & then use various mixtures of soaps with a pure water rinse. Nothing worked! Plus, because of the odd shape of the windows on the east and west facing sides, drips and bleeding are still going to be issues even if they were able to use the wfp's. So, nose-to-glass has always been the way to tackle this beast.

Enjoying the work! Click to enlarge.

Are we there yet? Click to enlarge.

Showing the difficulty of access. Click to enlarge.

2 x 60 footer boom lifts (MEWPS) in tandem. Click to enlarge.

Tory takes a break at one of the museums entrances. Click to enlarge.

You get a feel for the job in this picture.. wfp wasn't possible because of the grease build-up. Click to enlarge.

You can't be a "basket-case" all your life - Tory takes his turn on traffic duty in downtown San Diego. Click to enlarge.

Tory said, "We've always had only one boom lift, but this year we had two of them which really made things move pretty quickly!" "However, when you have so much foot traffic in the heart of downtown San Diego, keeping everyone safe is not an easy task." "The truth is, it don't matter the color, size or shape of your barricades." People WILL walk right thru them WITH their kids. "This project had a curveball thrown at us too...every year the museum closes the day we clean." "This year it remained open, which means that families would be trying to view the exhibits the day we were cleaning." "Children, despite a parents best intentions, as many know, can escape the watchful eyes of the parent." "So this time instead of only one spotter for the boom lift operators, we used two + one man running traffic control."

The job at hand. Click to enlarge.

A little pole work saves on the ladders. Click to enlarge.

You take the high road, I'll take the low road. Click to enlarge.

Breaking out the Alaco "A" frames. Click to enlarge.

The detail cloth man. Click to enlarge.

Getting the angle. Click to enlarge.

Closed in. Click to enlarge.

Nice aerial view of window cleaners working. Click to enlarge.

No problem! Click to enlarge.

Tory was happy to say, "It went off without a problem at all." "We had 2 booms (60 footers) running in tandem on the east and west sides of the museum with one man running traffic control and another as spotter for the operators in the baskets." "All were equipped with 2 way radios & harnessed." Tory also added, "Zero incidents, zero near misses or injuries." "Both the director and the building engineer said this is the best quality work since my company has been cleaning the windows at this building." "Timing was record breaking! - This was completed in 8.5 hours!" "Every year, its completed by 2 teams of 3 members each, with only one boom lift." " This was a test for something that I couldn't prove as fact as far as quality and production for my Elite Window Washing."

Tory adds... "Someone who enjoys their work will:

• Solve problems/innovate solutions
• Produce twice as much 
• Take pride in the quality of their work 
• Follow direction with a better attitude 

We had a great time, and we all learned something from each other."

A job well done! Click to enlarge.