Latest Window Cleaning News

Window cleaner catches pensioner, 68, looking at child porn: A pensioner could face jail after his window cleaner caught him looking at child porn. Simon Mountford (pictured), 68, of Preston, denied making indecent images of children, but was found guilty by the jury at Hull Crown Court. The widower was arrested by police in November 2008 after a window cleaner was polishing his bungalow's kitchen window and saw him looking at child porn. During his trial last week, Mountford denied downloading the images and blamed hackers for putting them on his computer. However, the jury convicted him. Detective Sergeant Rebecca Handley praised the window cleaner for coming forward to police. She said: "The window cleaner was doing his rounds in Preston and had gone to clean the windows of Mountford's home. "He could see him in the room sat at the computer and could see the monitor and at first he thought he was looking at adult porn. "Then he realised he was looking at children. "A warrant was issued for his arrest and police seized three computers and numerous hard drives. "Upon examination of his computer 67 encrypted files were found. "These were large files and the activity on the computer gave the belief these files contained indecent images. 

"If it hadn't been for the window cleaner he might never have been caught." Mountford refused to give police the passwords to enable them to open several encrypted files and, as a result, he was also charged with failing to disclose information. The trial came five years after Mountford was found not guilty at court of possessing indecent images of children. When he was 63, Mountford was arrested by police under Operation Ore after his credit card details were linked to American child porn sites. However, the jury believed his story that a virus corrupted his computer and he was found not guilty. The jury in his most recent trial were told Mountford had faced allegations of making indecent images of children previously. After just 45 minutes the jury found him guilty of one count of making indecent photographs of a child and seven counts of making indecent images of a child, which related to videos. The images found ranged from level one to level four – five being the most serious. He was also found guilty of failing to disclose protected information. Mountford will return to Hull Crown Court next month to be sentenced.

Clogged gutters could mean bigger problems: WEST KNOXVILLE, Tenn (WVLT) - You have to admit, Fall is a beautiful time in East Tennessee, but as the leaves change and fall- they could pile up in the wrong places. Chris Cox of Sparkling View says, "Clogged gutters can rot wood in your walls of house and flood your basement. So there is a lot of damage water can because of your gutters are clogged with leaves or granules from your roof." Chris Cox owns Sparkling View- a window and gutter cleaning service. He says homeowners should check their gutters and make sure they are clear of debris.. Cox says, "The real easy way to tell is if it is raining and you have a waterfall in front of door or gutter. Or if you see leaves sticking out, you have a problem you need to get it checked out." If you're not sure how often you should be checking, that depends on your yard. According to Cox, "If you don't have many trees, I recommend you get it checked once a year. We actually have some customers we do once a month, cause they have so many trees." His best advice, check and clean your gutters once in Autumn as the leaves fall and in the Spring after the trees bloom.

Makeover memories from the 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' build in Neenah - Geof White, Kaukauna: It was a Wednesday afternoon in August when I received the phone call. “Would you like to clean the windows for us at the ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ house in Neenah on Friday?” My reply, “What time do you want us there?” This was an honor. I was familiar with ‘EMHE.’ And the concept is great. A television show based on generosity. We had the opportunity to join all the other companies that came together and donated to the home, to the family. The TV crew was there to get things done. Everyone was hustling, contractors, TV people - everyone. My guys were excited to be there. It was a nice break from the normal work day. For the week before we were there, the house had 200 contractors stepping on each other trying to finish their various projects. But on Friday, the day the family came home, only three contractors were allowed near the house: cleaning crew, window cleaners and decorators. The house was amazing. Four-thousand square feet, laid out nicely with this cool hand scanner in the kids room to enter. I was impressed by what a good job all the other contractors had done. It was top quality and didn’t seem rushed at all. The seven of us arrived at 7 a.m. to clean the windows. It was like a set for a sitcom with all the cameras and Ty Pennington running around. One of my guys asked Ty to take a picture. Ty said “Sure!” and just kept running. Funny. We finished around noon and waited for the family to come home so we could yell “Move that Bus!” Honestly, it was a job that brought my employees together. It gave us a chance to all work together on something different and something with a cause. A great experience.

CareerCast celebrates Halloween with list of 10 scariest jobs: Next on the list is broadcast tower technician, which would be a nightmare for those with acrophobia (fear of heights) or astraphobia (fear of thunder and lightning). Other jobs to avoid for those who prefer to stay firmly planted on the ground are window washer, high-rise welder and high-rise construction worker.

NATO frustrated amid Somali piracy deluge - "When we come across a boat with ladders on board, we can be sure they are pirates," says a senior member of Nato's anti-piracy task force. "After all, there are no known window-cleaning operations in the Indian Ocean." More often than not, when the international warships capture these pirates, they disarm them, leave them enough fuel to get back to Somalia and set them free. The pirates have even on occasion managed to get their engines overhauled courtesy of some naval expertise.

Nazi Youth? Comfort to know we're being watched - I have recently had an experience that made me aware of the importance of great neighbours and a great police service. On this particular Thursday, in anticipation of heavy rains and the possibility of clogging, overflow and leakage into our basement, I had the brilliant idea of quickly cleaning out a portion of the eavestrough on our two-storey home. I climbed out the second storey bedroom window and over the roof, and did a quick clean out. I was unaware that there were two children on their way to school who witnessed my scrambling over the roof and back through the window, into the house.

With great training and wonderful responsibility, they noted the house number and then reported it to an adult, who called 911 to report what they'd seen. Within 20 minutes there was a patrol car outside of our house, an officer asking questions at the front door and one checking the back of the house. Thank you, both to the bright and conscientious children for taking the time to report suspicious activity, and to the police officers for their speedy response. Sometimes it is a great comfort to know that we are being watched. Dan Sigler.

Last February at the Casino, Chicago’s elegant private club tucked behind the John Hancock Center, an exceptionally festive party brought together Chicago’s A listers. The occasion was a birthday celebration for Neal Zucker, civic philanthropist and chief executive of Corporate Cleaning Services, a window-washing company. Neal Zucker is a leader in Chicago's philanthropic community, helping raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for civic organizations, beautification projects and not-for-profit groups.

Exhibiting their timber window products at Grand Designs Live is already proving to be a success for Dempsey Dyer Ltd, a UK manufacturer of timber window, door and conservatory solutions. Held at the NEC in Birmingham earlier this month, the show was opened by Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud on the 8th October and ran for three days. Exhibiting from a modest stand of just 3m x 3m, Dempsey Dyer were able to showcase only a selection of their high performance timber window products. Three unique products were chosen including a flush casement window, a Stormproof window and a fully reversible window.

The chaplain to the Chilean president who led prayers for the 33 trapped miners was formerly a postman in Cornwall, it has emerged. Chilean-born the Rev Alfredo Cooper, 60, delivered mail in the UK after his family moved to Par, near St Austell, in the early 1970s. But Mr Cooper later moved back to his homeland and led prayers at the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago for the 33 men after the San Jose mine collapsed. St Austell resident Don Double, 76, got to know the chaplain, who also worked as a window cleaner, when they both attended church together. He said: ''He is an outstanding man and I have a lot of respect for him. Alf still comes to visit me at my home when he is in St Austell. Chilean-born Mr Cooper was a postman in St Austell in the 1970s after his family moved to Cornwall, where they still live. He spent four months delivering mail in St Blazey and Par and also worked as a window cleaner. He was appointed chaplain to the president Sebastian Pinera in January.

The family of a Whitchurch window cleaner who hanged himself at a mental health hospital say they feel he was let down by staff and the NHS. Anthony Porter, 52, of Parkwood Close, was admitted to Callington Road hospital by his family on Friday, June 13, 2008, an inquest heard. He had cut his wrists with a knife at home the day before and his family believed the hospital would be a safer place for him. But two days later he was found dead in the en-suite bathroom of his room at the hospital. Assistant deputy coroner Terry Moore heard that staff nurse Rachel Hawes found Mr Porter hanging at 8.50am.

Through tears, family turmoil and now a possible life sentence, former Inkster narcotics cop Scott (Rex) Rechtzigel says he did what he had to do. Pressed by defense lawyers in a high-profile 2005 drug case on whether he knew the prosecution's star witness, Chad Povish, before he was stopped driving a car carrying 47 kilos of cocaine, Rechtzigel said, "No." It was a lie designed to protect Povish's life and hide the fact that he was a paid informant who set up the drug sting. The prosecution and judge knew about it. The defense did not."The first line of a law enforcement officer's oath is a promise to safeguard lives," he said. "I think that's what I was doing." Rechtzigel is no longer a police officer, and he recently lost his civilian administrative post. He does have a window washing and cleaning business. It's quite a change from his role as sergeant of the Inkster Police Department's special investigative unit, which in 2005 made an astonishing 47-kilo cocaine bust. "I had no idea we were going to get that much," he said. "Informants often exaggerate.... I really didn't believe it till we opened the duffle bags."

The diary of “Edna Fry (Mrs)”, the alter ego of Stephen Fry, who has long delighted her Twitter followers with demure yet dirty snatches from a parallel world in which Fry is a window cleaner whose principal interests include football and “special videos”. Here, though, while Fry’s literary cross-dressing is sweet and funny, it is only patchily successful. The 140-character limit on tweets rewards epigrammatic wit, and Fry’s best one-liners are polished until they shine. What works less well is the attempt to shuffle them into a plot.

Imagine shattering a large stained glass window, cleaning each one of the roughly 3000 pieces of glass that comprise it and then putting it all back together to go on show at one of Canberra's most prominent churches. That was the task of stained glass artist Gerry Cummins and his partner Jill, who have spent the past three years restoring seven stained glass windows from the heritage- listed St Andrew's Church. Cummins said the church, in State Circle, was built in 1934 during the Depression with materials that were of poor quality. ''A lot of corners had been cut during the construction and the windows couldn't cope with the very cold weather or the heat,'' he said.

''Some of the glass had started to break and in some areas the glass had started to fall out, the windows were prodigiously buckled.''We removed the windows, which took about a week each time with a team of four or five, then crated the windows and took them up to our studio in Queensland where we took rubbings of the windows, documented them and then totally dismantled them.'' Cummins and his wife then began carefully cleaning every individual piece of glass with cotton buds, under magnifying lenses to make sure they weren't damaging the glass. ''Then we set about reconstructing the windows, using top-rate internationally approved leads, put the windows back in the crates and brought them back here to install them,'' he said.The restoration of the windows has been 20 years in the making and is part of a multimillion-dollar restoration program being carried out at the church.

Santa cart thieves might have ruined Christmas: A festive treat for children in Worplesdon is at risk of being ruined by thieves this year. For the past five years, Theresa Smith has used her 14-year-old pony to pull a cart around on Christmas Eve, delighting passing children by giving out sweets from Santa. But now the event is in jeopardy after thieves broke into Pitmore Farm in Worplesdon on October 4 and stole the two-wheel exercise cart complete with brown padded seat. They also took several horse rugs, bags of haylage, a Honda generator, a chainsaw, a hedge-cutter and window cleaning ladders.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Myrtle Beach hoteliers who have to keep their pools running all winter long for snowbirds are having to replace their glass enclosures with safer ones. The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reported Sunday that a federal ban on certain pool enclosures will be enforced starting Nov. 1. The enclosures help keep outdoor pools warm enough to be used year-round. Federal law prohibits communities in the National Flood Insurance Program from using hard-structure pool enclosures - often made of glass - in the floodplain. Myrtle Beach hotels have been using the enclosures for more than 30 years. The Federal Emergency Management Agency raised safety concerns in 2007 and the city changed its ordinances and has begun inspections to make sure the vinyl or Plexiglas structures are in place by the deadline.

Solarmotion is a controllable shading system that is programmed to automatically adjust with the movement of the sun to reduce solar heat gain and glare to save energy and maximize daylight. Solarmotion shading systems offers two product lines: Solarmotion controllable sunshades & Solarmotion external (retractable) venetian blinds. The Solarmotion controllable sunshades product line offers several styles of mullion cover, is designed to meet typical spans and includes all the necessary operating mechanics such as blade linkage, a high-efficiency motor, structurally designed mullion, caps to prevent weather infiltration into the assembly and an adjustable stand-off to meet building tolerances and allow for window cleaning after installation.

The Glasgow star, actor David Hayman has made a documentary about the Edinburgh villains who killed innocent victims and sold their corpses. But Hayman admitted his first experience of violent death was much closer to home. When he was a child, his grandfather Walter died during a beating from his grandmother Ruby. But the scandal was covered up by the family. Hayman said: "Walter was a window cleaner at Ruchill Hospital in Glasgow. "He was a compulsive gambler, which caused no end of problems. "We had just moved from Drumchapel and were living in Blairdardie, when the telephone rang one night and it was my grandmother Ruby. "My dad picked it up and she was in a terrible state. She said, 'Dave, you had better come over. I think I have just killed Wattie'. "

My dad raced over and, sure enough, my grandad was dead. "They had been having a fight and she had got him in an arm-lock and was punching him when he had a heart attack and dropped dead. "Gran was brought over to our house and I was sent over to my grandad's to sit with my dad and wait until the undertakers ca me. "When I got there, dad was sitting in the armchair and my wee grandad was lying on the bed stark naked and he looked so small and shrunken. "The next couple of hours were two of the most uncomfortable of my life as my dad and I tried to make conversation with my grandad lying next door." Hayman said the family hushed up the whole affair. He added: "We were all under strict instructions never to tell anyone what happened. It was one of those family secrets we never talked about."

Health officials warn of lead poisoning dangers:  Children living in homes built before 1978 could be at risk for learning disabilities, hearing loss, and violent behavior if lead paint is still present in the home according to the Environment Protection Agency. The EPA along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other national organizations are partnering together to raise awareness about National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week which runs through Oct. 30. The EPA says if you suspect that your house has lead hazards, you can take some immediate steps to reduce your family's risk: Clean floors, window frames, window sills, and other surfaces weekly. Use a mop, sponge, or paper towel with warm water and a general all-purpose cleaner or a cleaner made specifically for lead.

EPA Law In The US - Could Encroach On Window Cleaning

About the Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule: A Federal regulation called the Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule (RRP) went into effect on April 22, 2010. It requires renovation and painting contractors and other trades who work in pre-1978 housing and who might disturb painted surfaces to become Lead Certified Renovators by taking a one-day course about using "Lead Safe Work Practices" on the job.

Why is the RRP Rule important? When lead paint is sanded or scraped or disturbed, microscopic particles of the metal mingle with the dust that is created. That "lead-containing" dust is what can seriously impact people's health, especially children and pregnant women. In the UK, a similar law may also be introduced soon., so best to check with the Lead Paint Association if you have concerns. If you are window cleaning on an older home with lead painted frames, it may be as well to seek local advise or have the frames tested as water fed poles & cleaning frames in effect, "disturb" painted surfaces.

New EPA Rule is An Unrealistic Way to Protect Homeowners from Lead - By Keith Coleman: Unless you’re a building professional or in a related field, chances are you have no idea about a federal law enacted April 22. In all probability, if your home was built before 1978, the law just further reduced the value of your home. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enacted The Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule to protect individuals from lead, a component of paint that was used in more than 38 million homes until it was banned for residential use in 1978.

The initial intentions of the agency were admirable – to inform the public of the issue and to protect those most vulnerable to lead exposure, specifically children under age 6 and those still in the womb. Understanding and accepting that lead can affect children’s brains and developing nervous systems, I, and other members of the New Jersey Building Materials Dealers Association (NJBMDA), believe we should take reasonable precautions. After all, some 32 years after lead was banned, virtually no enforcement of lead-safe work practices has been in place.

On April 22, 2008, the EPA issued a rule requiring the use of lead-safe practices. Under the rule, beginning April 22 of this year, contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 must be certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination. The rule only applies to professionals. When homeowners do work on their own homes, they are not required to be trained or to follow the lead-safe practices.

An important component of the original law was something called an “Owner-occupant Opt-out Acknowledgment” (Opt-out). What the Opt-out stipulated was that if (1) no child under the age of 6 resides in the structure and if (2) no pregnant woman resides in the structure and if (3) the property is not a “child-occupied” facility (like a day care or a school), then (and only then), could the homeowner allow the professional contractor to not use the lead-safe work practices. If any of the above conditions existed, the contractor would be required to follow the lead-safe work practices.

This is important because the lead-safe work practices are not only expensive and time consuming to implement, but nearly impossible to follow in a real world situation. Nevertheless, the RRP Rule with Opt-out clause became the law of the land on April 22, 2010. But then something happened that few expected. The EPA removed the Opt-out provision on May 6. In other words, the RRP rule would have to be followed on every job where lead paint possibly existed or the professional carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and painters would open themselves up to fines in excess of $ 30,000 per day. With the Opt-out removed, the resulting rule is beyond unreasonable and will likely stop (legal) renovation and remodeling, further hurting an industry that has already been deeply affected by the economy.

What’s more, it will largely inhibit the energy conservation movement as older homes tend to waste more energy and need more renovations than newer homes. Living in the Northeast, or Middle Atlantic region, we also pay a higher price under this federal mandate because our housing is older than the national average. When it comes to waste, the new RRP Rule without Opt-out will create mountains of it, including plastic sheeting, plastic bags, duct tape, blue tape, spent test rods, and a whole host of other “supplies” that are only good for a single use.

Forget about being “green” and re-using that door that you were planning to put a fresh coat of non-lead-based paint on. Instead, wrap it in plastic, duct tape it like a Christmas gift, put it in the lined dumpster, and cart it off to the landfill. I don’t have the space here to describe how impossible it is to comply with this law. But let me hit the hot spots: Stipulations include capturing the water used when power-washing the exterior of a home to cutting out nice, neat little squares of plastic so that a ladder can somehow be safely placed on a floor covered in polyethylene, to stopping the wind from carrying lead dust away from a window unit replacement. I certainly recognize that precautions need to be taken to protect small children and pregnant women. But this notion of treating every single job like it involves life-threatening, hazardous waste material is unconscionable and unrealistic.

And what’s to stop a homeowner who first undertakes a remodeling job himself (and doesn’t follow the RRP rule), but, after four or five weeks, decides to call in a professional who does follow the RRP rule. Perhaps the previous unprotected exposure results in an elevated lead level of the homeowner that’s discovered several months after the remodeling job is complete. The lawyers will likely point to a professional remodeling contractor who disturbed lead paint and conclude that he/she must have had some level of negligence. In any event, the contractor can be facing expensive litigation.

Without extensive testing of all family members before, during, and immediately after a renovation project, there is no way to precisely determine the source, or timeframe, of lead contamination. But you can bet the professional contractor (the one who’s probably dealt with this material for the better part of his career yet does not possess elevated lead levels) will be deemed the villain. Here’s the bottom line. If you own a pre-1978 home, it is now worth less (a lot less) now than it was in March of this year. Not because of the economy, but because every time a contractor replaces a window or disturbs a potentially lead-based painted surface, you must pay for testing and compliance with work practices beyond your imagination.

Once again, government bureaucracy has run amuck. I, as well as the NJBMDA membership, am a firm believer of aggressively protecting young children and pregnant women from needless or excessive lead exposure. And in those situations where either is present, precautions should be taken and strictly enforced. That’s what this “rule” originally did. As for the majority of all other situations, however, it must be incumbent upon the professionals and homeowners to exercise levels of personal responsibility and reason, as they are the ones who potentially expose themselves to lead in the course of the renovation project.

Like it or not, the government cannot protect everyone from everything. If it attempts to, it will prevent us from the progress that’s so desperately needed in our housing industry and economy as a whole. Everyone is interested in safety, but removal of the Opt-out clause goes way over the line. Contact your elected officials and demand that the Opt-out clause be re-instated so that reasonable procedures and processes can be used to renovate and service homes.

Keith Coleman, of West Windsor, is a member of the New Jersey Association of Building Materials Dealers Association and owner of Hamilton Building Supply in Hamilton.

Window Cleaning News

Week of snow days, no school lunches leave mid-Atlantic students, families struggling to eat: As back-to-back snowstorms shuttered schools for the week across the mid-Atlantic states, parents fretted about lost learning time, administrators scheduled makeup days and teachers posted assignments online. But Marla Caplon worried about a more fundamental problem: How would students eat?
The two snowstorms that pummeled the region, leaving more than 3 feet of snow in some areas, deprived tens of thousands of children from Virginia to Pennsylvania of the free or reduced-price school lunch that may be their only nutritious meal of the day. The nonprofits that try to meet the need when school is not in session also closed their doors for much of the week, leaving many families looking at bare cupboards. And many parents working hourly jobs were unable to earn any money during the week, as the snow forced businesses to close.
Otto Tambito, a Fairfax County father of two, said his family burned through much of its savings during the week off from school and work. Tambito works as a window cleaner and an electrician, but was unable to travel to jobs. His wife, who cleans houses for a living, was in the same boat. "We hope that thing melts down and we start again," he said.

Where there's muck there's brass...Six months ago, Washington lad Tony Earnshaw left TV's Dragon's Den with £100,000 in his pocket and the backing of Duncan Bannatyne. Now he's heading for national business success. "The only way you'll drive a car that nice is if you pinch it."
It was a throwaway remark, but it propelled Tony Earnshaw to take action and prove the speaker wrong. Very wrong. Tony, who grew up on the Glebe Estate, explained: "I was talking to someone outside once and a lovely red Ferrari went past. "I said I'd love to have one and the person I was talking to said the only way I'd have a car like that would be to pinch it. I took it as an insult and decided to prove them wrong." Today, Tony is the owner of UK Commercial Cleaning (UKCC), one of the country's leading suppliers of industrial and commercial cleaning services.
And in case you're wondering – he drives a very nice Range Rover. A turbulent childhood has not held him back, quite the opposite. Tony said: "I didn't have the best of upbringings because my mother was ill with mental health problems from a young age. "I had to be put into care for a few years and I never met my father. "My mum is doing well now and training to become a chef.
"It disrupted my life quite a lot and I found it hard to settle into full-time education." But despite this, Tony realised he wanted more from his life. "When I was 14 I realised it was time to stand on my own two feet and grow up. "I got back into mainstream school, went to Biddick Comprehensive and achieved good results, which was part of my plan of action to the long road to success. "What happened made me the person I am today."
The 25-year-old's entrepreneurial spirit started at a young age. When he was 10 he used to walk around the estate washing people's cars for 25p a go. And way before eBay he used to flog his old books and videos by setting up a stall in the street. But after the Ferrari comment he started scanning the Ad Trader looking for a business which would earn him the money for a car. In the end he sprung for a £300 cleaning business. Within six months he transformed the window-cleaning round, boosting its earnings to £6,000 per month by working 90 hours a week. Tony said: "That's when I decided I wanted to be the biggest cleaning company in the UK. "I worked 90 hours a week for that six months to make the business a success. "Eventually I sold it to a local guy who's doing very well with it. I wanted to move onto bigger and better things." The next step was an appearance on BBC2's Dragon's Den. Tony applied to go on the show in 2007 but heard nothing back. A year later his childhood friend Stephen Pearson joined the business and applied again. "We got a phone call from the BBC one cold morning in February where we had to pass a one hour phone interview," he said. After a trial run in Manchester the pair passed with flying colours and entered the den in April. Until the show was aired in August, they had to keep a tight lid on their success.
Tony and sales manager Stephen had pitched their business to the Dragons, asking for £100,000 in return for a 20 per cent stake in UK Commercial Cleaning.After a long negotiation, Duncan Bannatyne's investment bought him a 35 per cent stake in the business and he was made a company director. "I was dead confident, I wasn't scared at all," says Tony. "Me and Stephen were bored waiting in the green room. We wanted to get in there and make a deal. "I wasn't going to embarrass myself on national television – I decided I wouldn't leave until they invested in the company." There are some striking similarities between the two Tony and the dragon who put his money where his mouth was. Duncan Bannatyne's business career had humble beginnings, too – it began in Stockton-on-Tees after he bought an ice cream van for £450 which he turned into a fleet and eventually sold for £28,000. The pair get on well and business is booming – they even appeared on Children in Need last year together, renovating a community centre. "He's a very down-to-earth guy and I can ring him any time for advice. You wouldn't think he was a millionaire, " said Tony.
UKCC now has 30 staff based at its Washington and Leeds depots with services reaching as far as the North Coast of Scotland. The company turned over £370,000 last year – this year, they are aiming to hit £1.5 million. "I couldn't be happier," says Tony. "We're moving forward and Duncan gives very good advice. "That was the reason we went on Dragon's Den. "I could run the business as it was easily but needed that extra support and knowledge to turn it into a national business." Duncan Bannatyne knows Tony wants his firm to be the largest cleaning company in the country and is obviously keen to support ambition like that. "This is a man who started as a window cleaner and has worked his way up," he said. "His story has a lot of similarities to mine and his work ethic deserves reward." Six months on from the Dragon's Den, Tony is well on the way to going national – but he is still a Washington lad at heart. He said: "(To celebrate Duncan's investment] We went out on the drink and to a comedy club in London. "I fell asleep on the tube and ended up in terminal five and Stephen got trapped in the doors of the tube!" Eventually, Tony hopes to open seven depots, with the first London depot opening this year. He said: "Everything changes when you're moving from semi-national to national. "We've got the support of Duncan's head office, in Darlington, which is excellent, and we're focusing on building up our profits to support the change. "We don't plan to run before we can walk!" While the work rolls in, Tony is keen to make a difference back in Washington. The company recently offered 13 weeks of training and work experience to 10 unemployed people by joining up with training programme ESG Senica. Two have now been taken on full time at UKCC.
Tony said: "I am a local lad and it is devastating to think that people from the North East are struggling to find work especially after some have been employed for most of their lives."By offering this training, we hope to show people that their skills can be transferable across a number of business sectors, and that it is not difficult to take the bold step of applying for jobs in a completely different industry." This Washington lad has come a long way, but he's not ready to rest on his laurels yet. "Even if we went bust, which would never happen, I'd find something different to do," he says. "Every morning when I wake up I'm excited, I'm ready to go. I have a lot of energy – I think it annoys some people but there you go!"

The film Gehry's vertigo offers to the spectator a rare & vertiginous trip on the roof tops of the Guggenheims Museum of Bilbao. Through the portrait of the climbing team in charge of the glass cleaning, their ascensions, their techniques & their difficulties, this film observes the complexity & virtuosity of Frank Gehry's architecture.

I'll fight all way to court over parking ticket: Driver claims £60 fine is wrong - A window cleaner has vowed to fight a parking fine he says was unfairly slapped on him after taking his family to and from Halifax. Self-employed Denis Goodwin, 56, says he dropped partner Karen and their two children off at the Pennine Centre car park in Horton Street, Halifax, before driving to a job at The Works, Sowerby Bridge, on December 23. He later drove back to collect them at the same car park – which he says is their usual meeting point – and was shocked to get a letter two weeks later that said he had been caught on camera – and he owed £60 for a 94-minute stay. It showed photos of his car entering the car park at 1.44pm, and leaving at 3.18pm, and said he had not paid.
Mr Goodwin, of Industrial Road, Sowerby Bridge, said: "It is selective photography. I was there for about two minutes in total. There's absolutely no record at all of the car being parked in a bay and that car park is absolutely riddled with cameras." A spokeswoman for Excel Parking Services Ltd, which maintains the site, said the notice had been issued correctly. "Mr Goodwin's vehicle was only seen by our cameras entering and exiting the car park once that day. "Excel Parking Services Limited ensures that all cameras are checked on a regular basis to assure correctness," she said. But Sara-Jo Cooper, owner of The Works, said she had an invoice for work done at her pub which will vouch for Mr Goodwin's account. "He's a straightforward man – he's not dishonest and he's not a chancer," she said. Mr Goodwin, who is now launching a written appeal, said: "I have never had a parking ticket in my life. If I had done it I would pay up – it is the principle. I will fight this all the way to court."

Lead rules may impact window replacement costs: New lead paint regulations mean it may cost more to replace those old windows. The new regulations take effect April 22. The regulations require workers who remove windows from buildings older than 1978 to be certified and they must have special gear to protect themselves and anyone else in the building against lead paint and dust. The measure, which will be stricter than the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards, aims to protect those living and working in older homes and businesses. Contractors say reducing exposure to lead is a responsible move, though it may mean bigger bills for consumers. “It costs a business like us thousands of dollars (to comply with the new rules),” said Ken Oberdorf, owner of Wrightway, N6688 Wrightway Drive. Oberdorf said expenses include employee training, special equipment, lead-safe practice areas, lead barriers for the home and warning signs. The requirements could drive up the price for window buyers by 5 to 10 percent.

A Cumbrian window cleaner who was jailed for glassing another man in a drunken bar attack failed to get his sentence cut at court yesterday. Mark Andrew Broatch, 25, of Fieldside, Heads Nook, near Carlisle, was sent to prison for 15 months at Carlisle Crown Court in December after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Broatch admitted smashing a glass into the face of 42-year-old plumber, Ian Little, during a row at the Nag’s Head pub, in nearby Brampton, during May’s Champions League Final between Manchester United and Barcelona. He ran his own window cleaning business and employed other young men who might not otherwise have found jobs, a pre-sentence report had said. And he had also shown true remorse, said he had been “ashamed” and “disgusted” at what he did and described his motivation as “utter stupidity”. But, after considering the arguments, Mr Justice Openshaw said the seriousness of the offence justified such a long prison sentence.

Front line services in Hampshire may be hit in future, warns authority: Front line police services could be slashed next year as the force faces a cash crisis. Up to £6m of cuts and savings has been drawn up by Hampshire Police Authority to protect services over the coming year. But number crunchers predict a Government spending squeeze and staff pay increases above 2.5 per cent will threaten future services. The forensics budget will be cut alongside with spending on conferences, books and magazines, window cleaning, stationery and energy bills.

Bright, clean rooms promote good behaviour: The smell of citrus promotes generosity, while dim rooms increase dishonesty and selfish behaviour, psychology researchers suggest in recent studies. Chen-Bo Zhong, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, and his colleagues in the U.S. have conducted a series of small experiments designed to test how changes in an environment — differences in lighting or smell — can affect human behaviour.

Magnetron coating deposition: The invention of glass coatings has altered the influence of glass as it used in architecture. Today?s coatings can be practically custom-made to fit into any environmental conditions and offer a specific look and performance. The applications of coating technology are endless, so it comes as no surprise that coated-glass production and research increase every year.
There are two major processes used to produce coated glass: on-line and off-line. As its name suggests, the on-line process consists of applying the coating during production while the off-line process indicates that the coating is applied when the glass has already cooled down.
The method used to produce thin films and coatings in the off-line process is referred to as magnetron sputtering, which indicates the spraying on of a coating to a glass surface. Magnetron sputtering was introduced in the seventies and increased the effectiveness of glass produced in the off-line process. When performed off the float-line, the glass passes through a series of vacuum chambers where metal oxide coatings are deposited onto the glass surface.
The process works by passing an electrical current through ionised gas, thus bombarding the surface of a metal cathode with ions. The atoms of the desired metal are vaporised and then deposited in a thin film on the surface of glass. Magnetron sputtering is an environment-friendly technology, as it does not produce any waste or ecological damage.
This type of coated glass is often referred to as 'soft-coated', because the coating is more susceptible to damage than with hard-coated glass. Due to its fragility, this soft-coated glass has some special handling and processing requirements. For example, glass produced by magnetron sputtering deposition is used mostly in double-glazed units, must be heat-threaded prior to coating deposition, and edge removal of the coating is required to allow a proper seal.
The major advantages are a highly-visible transmission of light, good thermal performance, and no color haze. Today magnetron-sputtering deposition is the most important vacuum process used in the glass sector.

HW Glass Ltd Is A Revolutionary Player In The Fabrication Of Tempered Glass: This is solely due to the innovative and diversified array of glass solutions including fire resistant glasses. Stronger than toughened glasses, these light weighted glasses bear outstanding light transmitting power. HW Glass Ltd. is a BS EN and ISO 9001:2000 certified company, engrossed in the fabrication of various kinds of glasses. Incepted in 1972, it has undertaken streamlined production process, state-of-the-art manufacturing unit, strict quality paradigm and thorough research strategies in manufacturing glasses. Fire resistant glasses help in attaining fire resistance of varying degrees. Widely used in buildings that are more prone to catch fire, these get shattered into small fragments when broken without leaving pointed edges that may cause injury. Appropriate surveillance is undertaken prior to the installation of such glassesTempered glass is also known as toughened glass. These bear high strength owing to the series of chemical and thermal process undertaken in the treatment and fabrication. Titanium dioxide coating on its outer surface allows two mechanisms namely photo-catalytic effect and hydrophilic effect that leads to its self-cleaning properties. Moreover, durability, easy cleaning & maintenance, eco friendly features makes it ideal.

Glass federation to lobby for standardised codes: The Glass and Glazing Federation (Gulf) is aiming to target a 25-strong membership to form a body and lobby the UAE Government for standardisation of glass codes, according to its chief executive. "One of the issues here is that manufacturers and processors work to very high technical standards but they are all different - American, Japanese, British or European. The idea of the federation is to bring the industry together and give them a single set of standards that everyone works to - so that it becomes easier for architects and specifiers to understand how they were comparing companies and it is a way of promoting those companies that promote themselves as high quality as opposed to those outside the grouping," said Nigel Rees, Chief Executive and National Secretary, Glass and Glazing Federation.
The aim is to find a single voice. "We can be a single voice in the Middle East. In the UK, if a single company tries to go and speak to the government, it will not be heard. But when we go as federation and say that we speak for the industry, it will be heard," he told Emirates Business in an exclusive interview. The Gulf chapter of the federation was set up two and a half years ago. It has 12 members [companies] from the industry in the GCC. "There is also some interest in Egypt and Syria. The aim is a single standard that the glass industry can work with in the region and hence there is no boundary to the membership in the region. We had a workshop yesterday and got around 15 participants," said Rees, who was speaking on the sidelines of the Facade Design and Engineering 2010.
"The industry is very open to the idea and we have still not met a company that has refused to hear us. We are hoping to reach 20-25 companies to be a strong and sound base, which would take us another 18 months to two years. We have sat down with the Abu Dhabi Standardisation Authority and had a positive response. The next move is to look at meetings in Dubai but more towards the regulation side, namely Dubai Municipality. We have used the knowledge of our members within the region and can assist in the overall technical work and the standardisation but it will be an open debate as to what will really be needed in this part of the world."
Meanwhile, Richard Gulliver, Chairman, Technical Committee, Glass and Glazing Federation, Gulf, said that clients need to look at using high performance glass. Cutting down construction costs in the initial run does not help in a good return on investments in the long run. "Since the start of the downturn, we found that clients don't want to spend as much as they wanted to on the cost of the building and glass is the area that they reduce costs," said Gulliver. "They want something that will save them costs in the initial run but will cost a lot of money in the long run. These studies show that a building with a 10,000 sqm façade and using high performance glass will save around Dh24 million over 20 years based on today's energy prices."

Montreal Rescue + Window Cleaning News

Firefighters make daring rescue of stranded window washers: The Montreal fire department’s high-altitude team rescued two window washers who were injured when the swing stage they were on fell several floors at the SNC-Lavalin office tower on René Lévesque Blvd. near Bleury St. downtown about 1:04 p.m. Monday. Montreal fire operations chief Richard Laporte said the men were on the 21st floor of the 21-storey building when the apparatus fell. One of the men suffered a fractured tibia, while the other had back injuries. Firefighters lifted the men onto a stretcher, one at a time, and descended to the roof of a neighbouring building. They were then taken into the building, brought to the ground and taken to a hospital. The rescue took about two hours. René Lévesque Blvd. was closed into the night, and will be reopened when the dangling swing stage has been removed. Quebec’s workplace safety board is investigating the incident.

Don’t neglect gutters in fall cleaning (Window Cleaning Add-On): Clumps of rotting leaves, wasp nests and mosquitoes are just a few of the nasty things homeowners have to deal with when cleaning out their gutters — not to mention the hazards of climbing ladders and onto roofs to complete the task. Ignoring the gutters, however, will only lead to more, potentially expensive problems, according to Geoff Shaule, president of G & S Window Washing and Gutter Cleaning Inc. of Troy. “Cleaning out the gutters is essential, and it should be done a minimum of twice a year — late spring, after all the seeds and foliage have fallen, and late fall,” Shaule said. “If you live in a heavily treed area, you could possibly need a third cleaning either mid-spring or mid-fall, but every situation is different.”
On why homeowners should consider putting their ladders away and calling a professional, Shaule said he always quotes home improvement expert Glenn Haege. “Haege says, ‘The only safe way to clean your second-story gutters is to have someone else do it,’ and I tend to agree,” he said. “It’s dangerous and filthy-messy; it stinks and it’s no fun. We’re professionals — we have the right tools to reach all the gutters on any home, and we’ve cleaned over a million feet of gutters in the past 10 years.” Clogged gutters and downspouts don’t drain properly and can cause ice dams, which leads to leaky roofs, stained drywall and rotted wood. Blocked downspouts cause the water to accumulate on a home’s foundation, resulting in leaky basements and even leaks in the upper walls of a home. Water that pours over stuffed gutters from a heavy spring rain can damage flowers and foliage in beds beneath. “The damage can be pretty extensive and expensive,” Shaule said.
G & S conducts all estimates on-site and leaves the homeowner with a written estimate and a brochure containing services and insurance information. “We come out to see what the gutters look like and what kind of trees or plants might inhibit our access,” he said. Shaule also provides customers with a brochure containing a rundown of his services and liability insurance information — something he said all consumers should look for when hiring a professional for a hazardous job. “People who go around door to door in the spring and fall, they’re not insured, and if they fall off your roof and break their leg, you or your insurance company will be paying for them,” he said.
Sharon Chess, owner of Chess Roofing and Siding in Ferndale, said homeowners should make sure all gutters are properly secured against the home and pitched properly to ensure all water and debris flow from one end to the other and don’t settle in the middle. “If you don’t have seamless gutters, be sure all of the seams are caulked, so that they don’t leak,” she said. Shaule added the most common mistake people make when it comes to gutters is waiting until December to schedule a cleaning. “Some people don’t want to call us in early fall because they figure there’s still some leaves on the trees, but if you wait until after it freezes, those gutters might not thaw until March or April,” he said. “You’d rather have 90 percent of the leaves cleaned out before it freezes, and let the other 10 percent fall if they have to, because you take a real serious risk of ice dam problems and all that snow and rainwater not flowing to the ground properly.”

Window cleaner jailed for stealing from elderly: A female window cleaner who befriended elderly people to steal money from them has been sentenced to three years in prison. Valerie Newing, 47, who is currently on remand in prison, but who lived previously in Bell Road in Maidstone, pleaded guilty burglary and attempted burglary when she appeared at Maidstone Crown Court. It was heard she distracted her clients by, for example, asking them to get her a glass of water before stealing money from their purses.
In one case, Newing targeted an 88 year old lady, befriending her and regularly visiting her home. She abused the trust she gained by stealing the woman's money and her handbag. As the offender became more desperate, it was heard she attempted to force her way into the house using hedgeloppers to break the chain on the front door. She was finally caught when the elderly lady was hospitalised and a neighbour spotted Newing trying to force her way in to the back window of the empty house. Newing left DNA on the rear window linking her to the scene of the crime.
PC Tracy Evans of the Tactical Crime Investigation Department at Maidstone said: “Newing’s despicable thefts preyed on the elderly and the vulnerable, seeking out easy targets to steal from. I am delighted with today’s result which will hopefully bring a sense of closure to the victims and their families in the knowledge that she is now behind bars.” After pleading guilty to burglary, Newing asked for a further two crimes to be taken into consideration admitting she had been to the 88 year old victims house to steal money on previous occasions.

Windex "all in one" slated again: It Sounds so Promising! Kathleen Stutler of Northern Kentucky hates scrubbing windows. So she loved the idea of Windex Outdoor All-in-One, after seeing ads for it on TV. It looks like a Swiffer for windows, with a pad at the end of a long wand, and promises to make cleaning easier, in just half the time. Kathleen says she read the instructions, and "it said just hook up the hose, and spray the window, which I did." Kathleen says she followed directions carefully. She wet down all the windows with her garden hose, then rubbed them with the special Windex pad on a stick, and finally rinsed it all off. No need to dry with towels. Where's the Spot-Free Shine?
But she tells me when the windows began to dry, the spot-free shine she had been expecting turned out to be anything but spot-free. Kathleen says "after they dried, they streaked and were filled with spots, water spots, that were very noticeable!" We checked with the manufacturer, SC Johnson, which directed us right to the FAQ'S' (Frequently Asked Questions) on its website. There it explained that if you have hard water, the result "is likely to be diminished" and may be unacceptable to you because hard water -- unwiped - will spot. It's similar to spraying your car with a garden hose and letting it dry. You'll find spots on the paint and windshield, unless you use a "spot free rinse" at the carwash (which takes out minerals).

BLACKPOOL has already been put on the window cleaning map after the world record for speed was broken in the town. And now the resort could have the cleanest windows in the North after it becomes the northern centre for the British window cleaning academy. Marton-based company "Excellent UK" has been named as the new northern arm of the British Window Cleaning Academy, which means window cleaners from across the North will be heading to the town to polish up their skills. The company was started by Marton man Sam Smith (pictured) in 2000. He said: "It's great news for the town we've got the training contract for the academy here. "We will be welcoming around 70 window cleaners a month, who will be staying in the resort and contributing to the local economy.
"There will be a wide range of day courses on offer from learning how to use the water fed poles we have instead of ladders, health and safety skills and even teaching them how to market themselves. "There's a lot more to window cleaning than meets the eye." The academy's northern centre was previously based in Newcastle with the headquarters in Swindon. The two centres serve the training needs of all the UK's 180,000 window cleaners.
Father-of-four Mr Smith started the business with a £3,000 Prince's Trust grant, which he used to buy his equipment. Now, Excel Ent UK employs 24 people and carries out a wide range of commercial and domestic cleaning services. Mr Smith added: "It's really nice to be able to bring something back into the community after the help I was given starting up my business. "Window cleaning is a great option for people who have been made redundant or are out of work because the set up costs aren't really that high. "With our courses, such as the marketing one, we can help people build up a really successful business."
Terry Burrows, the world's fastest window cleaner, smashed his own world record in Blackpool just over a week ago. He cleaned three large glass panes in a speedy 9.14 seconds. Terry, who is 54 and from Essex, was in the resort for the Federation of Window Cleaners annual conference and beat his existing 9.24 second time.

A pervert pensioner was caught accessing child pornography on a computer by an eagle-eyed window cleaner, a Court heard yesterday. John Wadsworth, who has had both legs amputated, was reported to the police and his flat raided. He pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court to 17 offences of making and possessing indecent images of young boys. Wadsworth, 68, of Fell Lane, Keighley, had had no sexual experiences and lived a reclusive life, the court was told. He had bought a laptop computer shortly before he committed the offences. Prosecutor Paul Nicholson said the window cleaner spotted Wadsworth looking at child pornography on December 14, 2007, and immediately alerted the police.

Lead Poisoning Prevention Week set: Reduce the risk from lead paint. Most homes built before 1978 contain leaded paint. This paint could be on window frames, walls, the outside of your house, or other surfaces. Tiny pieces of peeling or chipping paint are dangerous if eaten. Lead paint in good condition is not usually a problem except in places where painted surfaces rub against each other and create dust. (For example, when you open a window, the painted surfaces rub against each other.) Make sure your child does not chew on anything covered with lead paint, such as painted window sills, cribs, or playpens. Until the new regulations take effect, EPA recommends that anyone performing renovation, repair, and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in pre-1978 homes, child care facilities and schools follow lead-safe work practices. All contractors should follow these three simple procedures: Contain the work area; minimize dust; and cleanup thoroughly.

The history of Chesham was encapsulated as the town's museum was officially launched. Among the special guests at the grand opening included George Bayliss, a Chelsea Pensioner, and former window cleaner from Chesham wearing the distinctive red uniform, whose story is featured in the museum. Mr Bayliss had been a keen supporter of the project and his family had contributed items for the displays. The public were given free entry to the museum, which came to fruition after an 18-month battle to raise the £20,000 needed.

The distraught family of missing Padiham man Jessie Shaw (83) have made a desperate plea for his safe return. "He suffers from Alzheimer's and we are worried about his health. Tonight will be his third night away from home so I would urge everybody to please be on the look-out for him. We are very grateful to the police and mountain rescue for all their efforts so far and have been keeping ourselves busy putting up his photo and knocking on doors appealing for help. "Dad is very well known in the local area and we have been overwhelmed by the level of support, we would just ask people to please be watchful and call police with any information, no matter how small." Police are asking for the public's help to trace Mr Shaw, from Ingham Street, who also suffers from heart problems. "He is a well-known character in the Padiham area, especially among licensees and he used to run a window cleaning business in the area. "I would appeal to anyone who thinks they have seen Jessie, in the area to contact police on 08451 25 35 45 or dial 999 in an emergency. Jessie is described as white with a pale complexion, 5ft. 7in. tall with short grey thinning hair. He was wearing a blue crewneck jumper with pinstripes down the front, beige trousers and shoes and a checked flat cap. He is often seen with his dog but his dog has been accounted for at his home.

A lady who lives in a modern home in South Bel-Air phoned a professional window washer and asked if he could come over and clean her windows. After she explained the nature of the job he said, "I'll have to send a man out for a consultation." "Consultation?" she asked. "What for?" "Well," he replied, "we have men who wash big windows and men who wash small windows." "You better send a man who has at least a Ph.D.," she said. "I've got 86 windows to clean, all sizes."

Australian Window Cleaning News

Bent and Curved Glass (BCG) is a manufacturer of curved glass. Bent and Curved Glass produces toughened, laminated, double glazed and annealed curved glass for a wide range of commercial and residential architectural applications throughout Australia. The image shown here is a complex curved feature window overlooking the iconic Bondi Beach. The BCG custom laminated curved glass incorporates an external layer of Viridian Renew self cleaning glass, which combined with a water sprinkler system overcomes the difficulty of access for cleaning. The ideal curved glass installation enhances the robust yet sleek design conceived by Virginia Kerridge Architects and built by Bellevarde Constructions. The experienced BCG staff work closely with architects and building contractors to achieve both custom and standardised solutions to suite individual project requirements. Footnote: I've also experienced cleaning curved glass in Mallorca, is this the new trend?

FRED Wiedeman takes pride in his job. He says it is important to him and that he works hard to make the cars in the yard at Tarra Motors appear as well-presented as possible. Observers of such things may have noticed the cars at Tarra Motors have that extra shine about them lately, that the yard is meticulously clean and the showroom sparkling. Originally from Holland, Fred came to Bega in 1998 from the Shellharbour-Wollongong area. There was too much crime up there,” he says. “It was no good; this is a much nicer place.” Fred is a familiar face around Bega. He has made a career in cleaning and has buffed, polished and shone many a business window over the last few years. What many people may not know is that Fred was born with Cerebral Palsy. This limits his strength, so he has to work that little bit harder to achieve his career goals. “It makes me a bit slower I guess,” says Fred. “But I am still quite capable of doing things.”
It was Fred’s experience and dedication that first drew the attention of John and Gudrun Stylianou, owners of Tarra Motors. They were looking for a special person to take ownership of the yard-person role.“One of the hardest things with unskilled workers is finding one with the right attitude,” says John Stylianou. “We have had a few people with the wrong attitude but with Fred, his attitude is just fantastic and he is a very good worker for us.” John says Fred works three-days-a-week now and hopefully he will soon be doing four-days-a-week. “We really enjoy giving Fred the opportunity and the challenge of working on a consistent basis,” he says. “It gives him something to focus on and gives us a very good worker.” Fred, a client of WorkAbilty Personnel Bega, is really enjoying the challenge of his new role and feels very fortunate to be a member of such a supportive and welcoming team. Fred says that anyone with Cerebral Palsy should “give it a go”. He also says that others should not look at Cerebral Palsy sufferers as much different; that they still basically think the same as anyone else.

Measures to protect Mt Isa kids from lead debunked. CLEANING, home repairs and parental awareness campaigns do not protect children from lead-contaminated dust, according to an international review that debunks such claims by the Queensland Government and Xstrata Mount Isa Mines. Australian and US medical experts reviewed 12 US studies that included 2239 children aged six years and younger and their parents or caregivers. They evaluated steps such as cleaning and house repairs aimed at reducing the children's lead dust exposure and found there was no evidence they worked. Community pediatrician and co-author Garth Alperstein, from the Notre Dame School of Medicine in Sydney, said: "Just relying on parents to keep the home clean as the sole strategy, from the research we've done, is disappointing. "It's better to address the lead at the point where it's being put into the atmosphere." He said strategies such as those proposed to residents of the Queensland mining town were ineffective when homes and communities were frequently recontaminated by toxic dust, as they were in Mount Isa. The Queensland Health survey found 11 per cent of youngsters had blood lead levels higher than the international limit of 10 micrograms per decilitre. Australian and US studies have linked blood lead levels as low as 2-10mcg/dl to intellectual and behavioural difficulties in children. The Australian last week reported research revealing that dust collected from window sills, airconditioning units and floors in Mount Isa homes contained lead at levels up to 40 times international guidelines.

Justin Orloff, an Australian window cleaner working and living in Austria, featured on Austrian Television. Video below:

The Australian Window Cleaners Federation (AWCF) was established by a group of Australian window cleaners as a way of furthering information and professionalism within Australia. The logo is trademarked & has been registered as a non-profit association. This website is the main avenue for members information, with links to everything a window cleaner requires. It will always be evolving and updated. Your annual, continual membership fee (just $2 a week) will enable the present committee the funds to run the website. Membership continues to grow and is now approaching 150 after its first year.

Code of Ethics
To always promote the professional image and reputation of the Australian window cleaning industry.
To always encourage the highest professional standards between members, customers, employees, suppliers and competitors
To always maintain the highest professional standards of workmanship, management and service.
To encourage friendly exchanges of information and cooperation among Australian and overseas window cleaners
To continually strive for improvements, using the latest training for those already connected with or wishing to enter the window cleaning industry. To actively promote safety in the workplace and its compliance with all applicable laws.

Gary.E.Hollinshead of window cleaning firm H2o'n'Go & also Aqwa Magic tells his story:
I first started cleaning windows in 1986 in England at the age of 18; I first came in contact with the WFP system in 2000 from my friend a window cleaner who taught me how to clean windows some 14 years earlier. He said that this was the new way of cleaning windows and would take over the window cleaning industry. He sold me a starter pack that was manufactured by OTT “over the top” now called Ionic systems. This starter pack consisted of an 18ft pole 12”brush, resin bead cartridge on a stand with half a metre of hose pipe. My friend had given me the best sales pitch I had ever heard “he was very convincing and still is to this day” As I recall I rushed to the hardware store to get the extra garden hose and fittings I needed to try out my new system that I totally believed would change the way I did my work and make it easier and quicker straight away. I was so excited I told Sue my partner that we were going be able to make more money quicker and I would also be less tired when I get home as I wasn’t climbing ladders all day, I used to clean my own house now and again as all window cleaners do(ah ah) and it would take me about 20 minutes to clean my double story property. I connected the entire fittings together and invited my next door neighbor to watch me use the system. I didn’t fully understand how to use the system and spent nearly two hours cleaning my home and also trying to understand this new concept of window cleaning that was totally alien to me. At first I thought it was no good for cleaning glass as it was taking ages to dry and was leaving milky white spots on the glass. The only benefit I could see about the system after the first clean was that I could clean the top windows of my house without using a ladder. With Sue myself and my next door neighbor not convinced at all about this new technology I went to bed very un happy thinking what a foolish comment I had made to Sue and my neighbor about it making it easier and the worst thing was I had also spent this hard earned money on a system that took longer to clean and also left the glass with loads of little white spots and run marks, but I did have the cleanest windows frames in the street “Not Happy at all”. (The main reason I had bought the starter pack was it was taking me seven weeks to clean four weeks work, so I was always behind and could never catch up with the work load.)