Cable Ties - Window Cleaners Winter Use

Cable ties - window cleaners life saver.

Ridiculously cheap and ridiculously effective: now that’s the perfect household tool. They’re great for keeping your cords neat and organized, of course, but that’s just one of hundreds of amazing ways to use and reuse (yes, you can recycle them) cable ties. I've used them for everything, from waterfed pole hose to hanging pole holders or baskets in the van. I've used them as a hoop for my scrim when my belt hoop gave way & even used them on my ladder with my bucket-on-a-belt. Pole hose loops for outside pole hose is also another idea if you want to try it & sometimes better than the velcro equivalent. Of course always keep your pocket knife handy. Have your own favorite use? Share them with us in the comments below.

About David Schmidt (cable tie user): David Schmidt began working as a high-rise window washer in his twenties and went on to own his own window cleaning company. After nearly two decades in the window cleaning business, David sold his company and started a new venture: the Dutch Bike Company. His bike business now has two locations, in Seattle and Chicago, and is growing fast. But David still cleans high-rise windows from time to time—just because he loves it.

Shown by David Schmidt to help not only grip in the snow for a bike but also for those window cleaners with bikes, trolleys or portable wheeled apparatus.

SNOWPOCALYPSE! No matter how much we swear we've learned our lessons, Seattle always seems to get caught by surprise by the snow. There we were, minding our own business with our feet all toasty in our sandals and socks, when the temperature plummeted and it turned into Juneau in January. While this year the City did a much better job than last year at preventing widespread carnage and destruction, we at Dutch Bike Seattle still didn't bring in studded tires because it never snows in Seattle. Even if we had stocked them, I'm not sure they'd sell because it never snows in Seattle, right?

David Schmidt

We found something else, though. Something else entirely. You're not going to believe it at first. It's quick, it's cheap, and yes, it looks completely ludicrous. But... it works. It works beautifully. I can accelerate, brake, and corner with aplomb, even on the vile snowpack/sheet ice mix the plows leave in the bike lanes. The zip ties dig nicely into the hardest packed surfaces, but they're thin enough not to bounce the bike around at low speed or on short pavement sections. I've cunningly positioned the tie heads to dig in as soon as the bike goes into a corner while staying up and off the ground in a straight line. This is the place that the ties are most likely to interfere with the fenders, so if you're installing these yourself be careful to make sure you have or can create the clearance. It is at this point that I must admit that I didn't dream up this amazing technique. It pains me to admit this not because my ego suffers, but because the zip-tie-DIY-bicycle-snow-chains idea appears to have originated with my favorite bicycle industry whipping boy: fixed gear hipster culture.

Other Uses from this site...

Around the House & Garden.

1. Fix a Broken Toilet Handle. No expensive repairs required: just reattach a broken toilet chain with a couple of cable ties.

2. Keep Plants Upright. Tomatoes, young trees, cucumbers, roses, and any other plants that need staking, keep them in place with a secure, but not too tight, cable tie.

3. Keep Holiday Decor in Place. A little anal about stringing up Christmas lights? Get nice, straight lines that won’t budge by attaching the lights with cable ties. And, at the end of the season, tie the lights up with more of ‘em so next year you won’t have to deal with a big, knotted mess!

4. Child-Proof Your Home. Keep your children, and any little visitors, safe by placing anything you don’t want them to get their hands on in a cabinet, and keeping that cabinet shut and secure with a cable tie.

5. Repair Wire Baskets. Are there a few gaps in your wire basket? No need to replace the whole thing, just replace the missing wires with zip ties.

6. Ridiculously Easy (And Cheap!) DIY Storage. With a couple (free!) plastic milk crates, and a couple cable ties, you can create durable storage for less than $1. Attach milk crates to each other with cable ties, and you’ve got yourself one sturdy storage system. You can even hang it on the wall!

7. Deter Thieves. Stop sticky-handed people when you’re traveling or out on the town. Tie two zippers together to deter muggers and pickpockets.

8. Quickly Fix a Loose Button. No time to sew a loose button on? Keep it in place in the meantime with a cable tie.

9. Replace Missing Zipper Pulls. Zippers aren’t very useful if you can’t pull them up or down! For a quick fix, attach a cable tie to the zipper.

9. Repair Broken Necklaces. Is the clasp broken on your favorite necklace? Don’t throw it out! Loop a small cable tie through both sides and affix it in place.

More Scaffold Incidents For Window Cleaners USA Wide

Four men injured when scaffold's cables become tangled outside 10th floor of Federal Building in Cleveland, Ohio — Four men were injured Thursday while working on a scaffold outside the 10th floor of the A.J. Celebrezze Federal Building. The men were on the scaffold at about 6:45 p.m. when winds picked up and heavy rain poured down. The men tried to lower the scaffold, but the cables got tangled, said Cleveland Fire Department spokesman Larry Gray. The wind battered the scaffold, banging the men against the building. The scaffold careened, so one end reached the eighth floor with the other on the 10th. A passerby called 9-1-1. Firefighters broke out a window on the 10th floor of the 32-story tower and pulled three men in. A fourth man was also on the scaffold, but somehow made it to the ground before the fire department arrived, Gray said. He suffered lacerations on his head. The men complained of head and back pains. They were taken to MetroHealth Medical Center, where their conditions are unknown. Two of the men were taken by the fire department rescue squad and the other two by EMS.

Window washers caught on scaffold during storm: It was a close call for four workers in Cleveland caught on a scaffold 10 stories above East 9th Street cleaning windows at the Federal Building.  Reports of heavy rain and strong winds tangled cables of the scaffold as they were trying to get down from the 32-story building. One end fell two stories injuring the workers.  Rescuers alerted by a passerby’s 911 call smashed a window and helped the men inside.  They were treated at MetroHealth Center.

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Workers fall off three story building in Boca Raton: Two men are at Delray Medical Center after the scaffold they were on fell three stories. Boca Raton Fire Rescue says the men were pressure cleaning windows at a building in the 4,000 block of Conference Way South. Rescue crews arrived just before 9 a.m. Thursday. Authorities say they were 35-to-40 feet above the ground when a piece of scaffolding hit them causing them to fall. One of the men was knocked unconscious; the other suffered a head injury.

Previously: Two window washers were rushed to the hospital after falling three floors from a building in Boca Raton. Boca Raton Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene at 4800 Conference Way South where two men, both in their 30s, fell approximately 35 to 40 feet to the ground. A piece of scaffolding hit them causing them to fall, according to fire rescue officials. One man was unconscious when crews arrived, and the other suffered a head injury. Both were taken to Delray Medical Center as trauma patients.

Not to be confused with this news release....

Boca Raton Police respond to the scene Thursday where three painters fell from bucket trucks Thursday in an office park south of Yamato Road, West of I-95.

Three painters fall from bucket trucks at Boca Raton office park: Carol Nosek watched the paramedics cut the clothes from a fallen painter. "We looked out the window and saw them on the lawn," said Nosek, who works with Medical Connections, a company in the Boca Raton office park where authorities said three painters fell three stories from bucket trucks onto a lawn Thursday. One painter was taken by Boca Raton Fire Rescue to an area hospital while his colleagues, wearing blue and white coveralls, remained at 4800 Conference Way South after the incident that happened around 9 a.m. 

With so many scaffold accidents, this story was reported yesterday as a window cleaning accident.

Witnesses were never sure of the severity of the men's injuries as paramedics swarmed to the scene. "They cut off his shirt and pants," Nosek said. "He wasn't moving, and we didn't know if was alive or not." Bill Stecklow of Hartzell Construction said the men worked for a company called Color Construction, subcontractors at the building that is in a technology center west of I-95 and south of Yamato Road. "There was something on the ledge that they reached for and they fell," Stecklow said. All three workers were wearing harnesses but it was unclear if they were connected to a bucket, he said. A city inspector arrived after the incident, Stecklow said. Boca Raton Police were at the semi-circular building where two orange and yellow bucket trucks were surrounded by yellow "do not cross" tape in the parking lot. The incident did provide a whiff of anxiety for workers who witnessed the aftermath of the fall. Within minutes, a normal work day seemed to morph into a spectacle of flashing lights and yellow police tape. "We saw an unmarked police car," Nosek said, "and then everyone was there." The men apparently survived the fall, but their conditions were not known.