Answers From a Window Cleaner

Ask a Window Cleaner By THE NEW YORK TIMES

This week: Andrew Horton, who has been a window cleaner for more than two decades and knows the secrets of the trade and safety practices, responded to readers’ questions about his career. Mr. Horton, 54, has worked on landmark buildings all over the city, including the Empire State Building, the Twin Towers, the Hearst Building and dozens of others. He said he was always content with his job until one day, hanging off the 86th floor of the Empire State Building with just a belt tying him to a window, he decided that he should rethink his livelihood.

Mr. Horton now runs New York City’s main safety training program for window washers at the building service workers union 32BJ, teaching future window washers how to reduce risks and promoting safety while working a thousand feet up in the sky. “What’s more important up there?” he asks. “Prevention, prevention, prevention!” Mr. Horton was born and raised in New York City. He is married, has two sons and lives in Queens. He enjoys fly fishing and is a youth basketball coach at his parish.

Answers From a Window Cleaner: Following is the first set of responses from Andrew Horton, who has been a window cleaner for more than two decades and knows the secrets of the trade and safety practices.

Do you avoid looking down at the street far below?
The scaffolding is my office. As with any job, I get caught up in my daily work, so I don’t have time to look down. My job is to clean windows, not look at pedestrians.

What is the scariest experience you have had?
Back in 1993, I was up on a building on 72nd Street and the scaffolding dropped about 15 feet. Before I realized what was happening, it was over. They say that you never hear the sound of a bullet coming at you, but what I heard that day was my heart pounding in my chest.

What is the most important safety tip for the individual window cleaner?
Inspect your equipment daily. We have a saying: Respect yourself and your equipment, inspect yourself and your equipment and protect yourself and your equipment.

What was the most interesting thing you witnessed happening inside the space you were cleaning?
When I first started my career, there was a large party taking place in one of the penthouse apartments on 72nd Street on the East Side. As we came down on our scaffolding and into sight, everybody there started taking pictures of us. My partner and I didn’t even know that we were witnessing a wedding until everything was over. We didn’t get cake, but I guarantee you that it stuck in their minds, as it did in ours. Strange things happen when you work outside!

What’s the highest window you have ever cleaned?
The 102nd floor of the World Trade Center and the 82nd floor of the Empire State Building.

How did you start washing windows in the first place?
I was a painter looking to change professions and I found an ad and thought it would be interesting. But once, hanging off the 86th floor of the Empire State Building with just a belt tying me to a window I said to myself, “There’s got to be a better way to make a living!”

Did you listen to music or radio while washing, or do you listen to the birds and the wind? Did you ever answer your cellphone when you were up there?
For safety reasons, music and cellphones are not allowed up in the scaffolding, but some of us listen to our own music in our heads.

Who trained you, and what was the most valuable lesson/advice they shared before you began work?
I learned from an old window cleaner who’s still alive today, Dimitrius Ganadakis. He still calls me student, and he will consider me his student for the rest of his life. If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have continued window cleaning. He showed me to be proud of my trade.

Please tell me the basic supplies I need to clean the inside and outside of my home’s windows. By supplies, I mean squeegee, applicator, brush type, cleaning solution (commercial or homemade) and any secret ones you have.
Hire a professional window cleaner so we can stay in business. Just kidding! It’s important to wash it with cold water, not hot water, to get the best shine. Hot water, especially in the winter, can break the glass. Mix any kind of dish detergent with a little ammonia and scrub with a camel hair brush. Use an 18-inch squeegee to clean it off. Your windows will come out spectacularly clear.

Answers From a Window Cleaner, Part 2: Following is the second set of responses from Andrew Horton, who has been a window cleaner for more than two decades and knows the secrets of the trade and safety practices.

Which building did you enjoy being outside of the most? I bet though the views from all of them must have been amazing.
The observation deck of the old World Trade Center was amazing. I especially loved the view from up there in the mornings. It was absolutely beautiful. Being up there alone — before the tourists arrived — was something special. I’m hoping the new World Trade Center will bring smiles to people’s faces again.

In our apartment building, the windows are cleaned professionally once per year. According to the window cleaners, if you don’t do this, the windows could brown. Is this true? Or was this just a sales tactic?
It is true. If your windows are not cleaned often, at least an average of four times a year, the sun will bake the dirt onto the glass and ruin them.

What is the most common mistakes people make when cleaning their windows?
Error No. 1 is soap. People tend to put too much soap in the water because they think it will be easier to clean the windows. But it actually makes it harder because too much soup greases the glass. Less is more.

Are there any women window washers in the city that you know of? I always see men.
Yes: Carol Alvarado, who was an apprentice of mine. She is now a journeywoman.

What is the most dangerous thing about the job?
Wind. We have to get down off the scaffolding if the wind is above 25 m.p.h., but even 15 m.p.h. is dangerous.

Answers From a Window Cleaner, Part 3

How long does it take to wash all of the windows of a typical office building?
The Empire State Building takes forever! It takes about four months to complete with only three full-time men. And once the guys finish the job, they have to start all over again. Can you imagine? But the average New York high-rise building, let’s say, a 50-story building, takes about 30 to 40 days, with one drop per day from the roof to the ground. Of course, it also depends on the type of scaffolding you are using and how many windows there are.

Do you rinse the windows?
Absolutely, we rinse the windows.

You mentioned using cold water in one of your responses – how do you get the water up there on tall buildings?
Each roof has a water outlet, so we don’t need to transport it from an inside source. But we have to make sure that we have enough water with us on the scaffolding to finish the job. If you’re about to finish a job and you run out of water, you need to go all the way back to the top, which is a waste of time and energy. So when you fill up your bucket on the roof, you have to make sure you put enough water to do the whole drop. It’s like measuring ingredients for baking. No union window cleaner runs out of water on the scaffolding.

How do you have to carry the supplies up the scaffolding to the high floors?
We bring everything up on an elevator. But on the roof, we have an area with lockers where we keep our equipment, such as harnesses, life lines, hard hats, window-cleaning tools and anything else we need to do the job.

How long does it take to erect the scaffolding?
Most New York high-rise buildings have permanent scaffolding, so to set it up can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes.

What’s the best way to wash indoor windows?
Pretty much like washing windows outside. Same technique, but you need to be much more careful and cleaner. You have to use less water than outside. Make sure that you have clean water and clean tools and you are good to go.

Do you use a different mixture on windows that face the river? Just wondering if being by the water impacts how dirty the windows get and if you need to change the cleaning formula?
Yes, definitely. Any windows facing the water are going to get filthy, so we use a heavier dose of soap and ammonia.

Have you met window washers from other countries? Are their jobs different in any ways that surprise you?
Yes. They may speak different languages, but they use the same techniques. As a New Yorker, I should point out the difference between New York State and everyone else. We have the only approved apprentice training program in the country, at union 32BJ’s training center. We also have the strictest rules in the country. Rule 21 of the state law is specifically for window cleaners’ equipment and the protection of the public. New York has the highest buildings and the highest standards.

Window Cleaning Titbits

Ask a Window Cleaner: This week, Andrew Horton (pictured), who has been a window cleaner for more than two decades and knows the secrets of the trade and safety practices, will be responding to readers’ questions about his career. Readers who would like to ask Mr. Horton a question should do so in the comments box below. His first set of responses will be published on Wednesday. Mr. Horton, 54, has worked on landmark buildings all over the city, including the Empire State Building, the Twin Towers, the Hearst Building and dozens of others.
He said he was always content with his job until one day, hanging off the 86th floor of the Empire State Building with just a belt tying him to a window, he decided that he should rethink his livelihood. Mr. Horton now runs New York City’s main safety training program for window washers at the building service workers union 32BJ, teaching future window washers how to reduce risks and promoting safety while working a thousand feet up in the sky. “What’s more important up there?” he asks. “Prevention, prevention, prevention!” Mr. Horton was born and raised in New York City. He is married, has two sons and lives in Queens. He enjoys fly fishing and is a youth basketball coach at his parish.

Bogus window cleaner stole from great-gran: A low-life who posed as a window cleaner to fleece an 81-year-old great grandmother has been locked up for five years. Serial criminal Philip Lamb (pictured) has spent 10 years of his life behind bars after carrying out distraction burglaries time and time again. Just weeks after getting out of prison for his last offence, he turned up at the home of a trusting pensioner and pretended to be there to clean her windows. Lamb tricked the 81-year-old into making it clear where she kept her money and when her back was turned stole £500 of her savings from her bedroom.
The victim, from Jarrow, had answered a knock at her door in the middle of the afternoon on April 21. Standing there was Lamb, who lied that he was there to clean her windows and she agreed. He asked her for a bucket and water and came into the lady’s hallway while she went to get the materials. She came back to the hall and Lamb told her the bucket was overflowing and when she went to check it he followed her into the kitchen. The devious thief then set about finding where she kept her money, first asking to borrow 10p to ring his girlfriend then asking her to change £5 from coins into a note. The old lady, trying to be helpful, went to her bedroom and took £5 from a box where she kept her savings. Lamb then went outside and made an excuse that he had to leave and when the pensioner went back into her bedroom she realised £500, which had been in the box was missing.

Why the glass is half empty at Pilkington: Pilkington was once a national treasure. From its St Helens base in England's northwest, it was a pioneer of the wor ld of glassmaking. Now, that same cradle of innovation is an operational outpost of a disparate Japanese empire. The Merseyside town is these days better known for its rugby league side rather than its iconic manufacturer. Britain's biggest glassmaker has all but slipped from public view since succumbing to a £2.2bn takeover by Nippon Sheet Glass in 2006. But the company has recently attracted some unwanted attention after hitting customers with massive price rises of 134pc in the space of a year. Pilkington last week wrote to its customers with the latest bad news - it is imposing a third huge hike in its tariff in 12 months, raising the cost of its most popular product by 20pc from July 19. Why the price hikes? The company has previously indicated that they were essential.
Founded in the Lancashire town in 1826 as a partnership by members of the Pilkington and Greenall families, it became a leader in the field in the 1950s when it invented the Float Glass Process. This was a method of producing high quality flat glass by floating molten glass over a bath of molten tin, which eradicated the costly job of having to grind and polish plate glass to make it clear. This success and pedigree inevitably attracted takeover interest. This is why Pilkington had to fend off advances from BTR Industries in early 1986, before succumbing to NSG in 2006.

Finding the Right Bus: The first prospective Double Decker PDX bus was discovered in Boise, Idaho. Based on the description, photographs, and price, it seemed like a deal worth pursuing so Metcalf, 23, and Thompson, 22, flew to Boise the weekend before midterms. What they found was a disappointment. The next bus they found was sitting in a parking lot in Osage Beach, Missouri. It was a green, 1959 Bristol Lodekka being used as a billboard for a real estate broker’s business. After serving Londoners for nearly 30 years, the vehicle had been shipped to Chicago where it was used as a tour bus. Eventually, it was retired and sat idle for a decade before the Missouri owner purchased it. There were aesthetic flaws and it needed mechanical work but most of the bus’s original interior was intact. The owner was asking $50,000. The partners negotiated and in the end, Thompson says they were able to purchase the bus for “a really good price.” They won’t reveal what they paid.
Thompson and Metcalf say they approached a number of credit unions, national and regional banks for a business loan, with no success. Although they had saved some money from past businesses (a mobile car detailing company and residential window washing service) the entrepreneurs had to secure private financing to purchase the bus and to complete the complicated renovation.

ABM Janitorial Services Inc, the wholly owned subsidiary of ABM Industries Inc. (ABM - Analyst Report) completed the all-cash acquisition of South Carolina-based janitorial services company Diversco Inc. from DHI Holdings Inc. The acquisition will expand ABM Industries’ janitorial and security businesses within key regions across the country and among key client segments. Diversco provides janitorial, security guard, yard and grounds, window washing, maintenance and repair services across the United States. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, Diversco generated revenues of $79.3 million. ABM Industries expects the Diversco operation to be integrated by the end of the year. Given Diversco’s strong manufacturing and industrial client base in the Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, the acquisition offers ABM Industries a wider geographic reach. Diversco's business also complements its operations infrastructure and national presence.

Filth-obsessed genius creates car art from rear-window grime: We're far too lazy at Car Tech to ever clean our cars, but it turns out that's a good thing - some genius with a paintbrush has devised a way to turn rear-window grime into incredible pieces of art. That man is Scott Wade, an artist who paints using using dirty cars as his canvas. Rather than the usual dirt-art clichés - oddly shaped genitalia, "clean me", "if the Prius is a-rocking, don't come a-knocking" - Wade creates entire masterpieces you wouldn't dream of washing away. Wade, from San Marcos, Texas, uses an unusual technique. Ironically, he thoroughly cleans each car window before he begins his work. Once dry, he applies dust (plenty to hand in that part of the world) to each windscreen, grabs his trusty paintbrush and begins. Once done, he takes a snapshot for posterity then washes away all trace of his work. Reverse graffiti.

Medical marijuana for sale in Ferndale: More than 50 Michigan cities, townships and counties have passed ordinances limiting or banning medical-marijuana dispensaries, the term used in other states for shops that sell to doctor-approved patients. But a few communities are moving toward treating medical marijuana like any new industry. In a squeaky clean storefront sharing a building with a screen printer, a fitness studio and a window cleaning firm, Clinical Relief did a brisk business in packaged medical marijuana and in foods that have it as an ingredient -- from candy bars to soda pop. Each client signs a form promising not to resell the medical marijuana.

NEW YORK -- Every Fourth of July, Coney Island stages an event featuring two of America's biggest loves: hot dogs and competition. The two pastimes merge Sunday afternoon by the Brooklyn boardwalk for the annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. In recent years, a crowd favorite is New York window washer and nude model Crazy Legs Conti, the star of a 2004 documentary whose dreadlocks bounce as he dances and speed-eats.

As with many objects of pop-culture nostalgia, the 1980s hit TV show "The A-Team" is more fun to reminisce about than to actually revisit. All that said, the new big-screen version makes the original look like "The Wire." If you've never felt an appreciation for the charisma of George Peppard, for instance, you'll understand that, for better or worse, he inhabited the role of Hannibal Smith, while Liam Neeson, in the same part, is just doing an impression - and a bad one. Cue the action set pieces: an escape from a U.S. Army base in Germany, during which the boys parachute from a demolished transport plane while inside a tank; an assault on an office tower involving shoulder-launched missiles and the old fake window-washer ruse - see minute 2:04 here on the official trailer.

Shortly after Robert De Niro and Mayor Michael Bloomberg affixed a sticker supporting the 9/11 Memorial to the front door of De Niro’s Locanda Verde restaurant last week, the sticker disappeared. After DNAinfo's inquires, a new sticker appeared Thursday evening — not on the door, but on a side window, behind a pine tree and several bushes. Only if passersby look past the shrubs and through the branches can they see the blue, black and white sticker, which is not much bigger than a playing card, from outside De Niro’s restaurant. Its message reads: “We Support the 9/11 Memorial. Forever Changed. Forever Connected."
De Niro, who is a board member of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, installed the sticker in a ceremony with the mayor as part of the memorial’s “Signs of Support” program, where local business owners get a sticker to place in their windows in return for making a donation. The purpose of last week’s photo-op was to encourage other businesses to do the same. A manager at Locanda Verde, who did not give his name, said Thursday afternoon that the sticker put on the front door last week was never intended to be permanent, because it was stuck to the outside of the door, where it was subject to wear and tear and window-washing.

MCCC takes strides towards a more energy efficient campus, including replacing the windows of the Life Science building. On May 7 the maintenance crew of MCCC began replacing the 39-year-old, two-story curtain walls due to costly damages resulting from leaking and also the potential of future hazards. The project also goes along with other renovations being done to make the college more energy efficient. According to the director of the Physical Plant, Jim Blumberg, many people were unaware of the reasons for this work. “Most people have been asking me if it’s just for aesthetics,” Blumberg said, “But we should have replaced the windows ten years ago.” Some of the problems caused by the water intrusion include damage to computers, desks, carpet, drywall, the surrounding wooden framework, and costly lab equipment. Extended exposure to water damage can also lead to mold or rotting wall systems, both wood and brick. “Water can get into the walls, into the ceilings, places you don’t see, so then air quality becomes an issue,” Blumberg said. “We haven’t had any, thankfully, but you don’t want anything to develop.”

It could have been a volunteer window cleaner! UCLA students, alumni team up with Clean Carwash Campaign to boycott car washes, fight for worker rights - During the summer of 2008, Aura Lopez, a worker at Best Way Hand Car Wash in Los Angeles, was standing on the wheel of a truck while washing its window when she fell and landed on a metal key. The fall damaged her spinal column. She should have been using a ladder, but she said the owner told his workers he did not have the money to buy more. UCLA students, alumni and university labor programs have been incessantly fighting alongside the CLEAN Carwash Campaign for the rights of car wash workers like Lopez. Best Way Hand Car Wash and Celebrity Car Wash declined to comment on the claims because of lawsuits they are facing. Vermont Hand Wash and Lawndale Car Wash refused to comment. Five Star and Magic Wand were unavailable to give a response.
According to campaign members and car wash workers, industry owners have been exploiting their employees for years. Instead of taking Lopez to the hospital, the owner took her to a family clinic. “They didn’t have the adequate doctors to treat me there. When my sister told my employer she was going to take me to a general hospital, he said he wasn’t going to make himself responsible for me,” Lopez said. The hospital Lopez was treated at informed her that she had the right to press charges. Fearful of losing her job, Lopez initially refused to do so. However, she filed a lawsuit after realizing her employer would not pay the bill two months after her injury. The lawsuit has yet to see its full way through. Since the accident, Lopez said she suffers constant pain, and she was recently told she needs surgery. Unemployed since the incident, Lopez cannot afford to undergo the operation and is relying on either her insurance’s coverage or the lawsuit to cover the charges.

Pfizer Inc. volunteers assisted the Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut in Niantic with some large improvement projects earlier this month. Forty Pfizer employees worked at the museum on June 10 and 11 and washed all the windows and weeded the museum's gardens. They also scraped, sanded, and primed the exterior of the building in preparation for a fresh topcoat. Some of the volunteers are planning to return to the museum on their own time to complete the paint job. In addition, the Pfizer volunteers brought their own ladders, paintbrushes, and window-cleaning supplies, saving the museum additional costs. Christy Hammond, the museum's executive director, said similar work would have cost the museum between $25,000 and $30,000 with outside contractors.

Tips for selling your house this summer: If you are counting on selling this summer, then take some advice from agents who look at homes 24/7. We may be in the middle of the selling season, but it is still a tricky market and, they say, small details make a big difference in encouraging people back up the path for a second viewing. “Think about how you would want to present yourself on a first date,” says Edward Church, partner at Strutt & Parker in Canterbury, “and do the same for your house – all buffed up clean and shiny, and smelling nice.” People are always drawn towards windows – a plus in the height of summer when they can look out onto your carefully tended garden, so make them a real focal point. Apart from ensuring the glass is sparkling (well worth paying a window cleaner), clear junk off window sills and keep curtains pulled well back to make rooms seem lighter and bigger.

Village cricketer Steve Witham has scored the world's quickest century in a one-day game - off just 35 balls. Steve's ton included nine sixes and nine fours. He was finally out for 110. He took the record off Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, who hit 100 off 37 balls against Sri Lanka in 1996. Steve, 38, from Sudbury, Suffolk, was captaining his club's second team against Clacton. The window cleaner, who once hit six sixes off one over, said yesterday: "I was hit in the groin by the first ball so I decided to do as little running as possible." Team mate Louis Brookes said: "Steve is a big hitter and he was on really good form that day."

Skyscraper plan cut down to size: An ambitious plan to build a glass needle skyscraper that would have been Cardiff’s tallest building has been axed, the Echo can reveal. The iconic £50m development, earmarked for land next to Cardiff Central Station, would have housed more than 100 luxury apartments. Officially named Seren – the Welsh word for star – by developer Urban Solutions, the 32-storey needle would have stood alongside two smaller blocks containing luxury hotel rooms. They would have been run by a company called Doubletree , which is part of the Hilton group. But after years of delays and the onset of the worst economic downturn in 60 years, London-based Urban Solutions has scaled back its plans. It has submitted a proposal to Cardiff Council to build two hotels on the derelict site. Instead of acres of gleaming glass, the buildings will have white metal cladding, according to documents lodged at City Hall.

Rivals Gareth Potts and Adam Davis are on course to meet in the final of the Foster's World 8-Ball Pool Championships. The two friends have battled through to the last eight of the £25,000 tournament at Blackpool's Imperial Hotel. Victory over Ely window cleaner Harrison will earn Davis a shot at former champion Mick Hill or Gareth Hibbott.