Getting Your Home Ready for Spring: Streak- Free Windows

United Country Midwest Lifestyle Properties agents love every season, but selling homes in spring and summer is our favorite! You can prepare your home for spring more easily than you might think. Let us help you get those lovely streak-free windows and make your neighbors jealous!

Here’s a list of what you’ll need:

• 5-gallon bucket
• Water
• Favorite dish soap
• Scrub brush and tooth brush
• Soft cloths that are lint free
• T-bar scrubber with microfiber sleeve
• Squeegee

Let it shine!

After the snow melts and the March winds quit their blowing, it’s time to get those windows sparkling clean, inside and out! All that dirt, mineral deposits, and salt residue can hurt your windows over time by etching the glass. Spring offers you the best mild temperatures. These great temps are perfect for cleaning without the streaking of the extreme heat of summer or bitter cold of fall.

What does dirt on a window do? A dirty window blocks natural light, making your home look drab and unattractive. Your inside windows are dirty, too. The cooking you’ve done, along with the dust and dirt that come from living in a home, caused that hazy look on the inside.

Screens

Now it’s time to get rid of that grime. By keeping your screens clean, you prevent dirt and dust from blowing into your home. A time saver for cleaning and improvement on inside air quality. We’d say that’s a double win!

Once you have your window open, loosen the screen and remove it from the window. Most windows are double hung, making it easy to pull the screen inside or gently let it down to the ground, if you’re on the first floor. If you have never labeled your screens, now is a great time to do so! Labeling makes replacing the screens into the right window a snap!

You can easily clean the screens in a bathtub as long as you have a removable showerhead, or you can go outside and hook up a garden hose to rinse off the screens after cleaning.

Begin by wiping down the frame with a soft cloth or sponge. Then fill a 5-gallon bucket with 1/2 warm water and two squirts of your favorite dish soap. Take the soft scrub brush and dip it into the warm water and dish soap solution and gently scrub the screen. Rinse with clean water and dry with a towel.

All the parts

Before you tackle the glass in your windows, take time to wipe down the window casing, head, rail, sash, lift, and stool. Remove any debris. Clean the track, channel, and sill well. A toothbrush can help you get into cracks and corners that hold dirt.

Inspect the sash lock. Does the lock shut and seal the window? Your window seals must properly shut to keep cold air out in winter and cool air inside in summer. Without it, you lose heating and cooling efficiency.

I can see now…

Most folks don’t know that glass has microscopic crevices. These crevices get filled up with dirt and grime. When you don’t clean your windows well, this dirt and grime get stuck and create the streaks you see after you thought you got your windows clean. To prevent that from happening, we recommend a water and dish soap solution. Now it’s time to get that glass to sparkle!

Take a 5-gallon bucket and fill it half-way with warm, clean water. Add to it 2 squirts of your favorite dish soap (do not use the dish soap with moisturizer in!). Take your hand and gently swirl your hand in the bucket to mix the soap with the water. YOU DO NOT WANT TO CREATE SUDS.

Taking your T-bar scrubber with microfiber cover, dip it into your 5-gallon bucket water solution and scrub your window. When you scrub the window, you loosen the dirt out of the crevices and send it up into the bubbles from the dish soap and it sits there till you squeegee it off. Brilliant!

Lather, rinse, repeat

Once you have scrubbed the window, take your squeegee, going left to right, place the squeegee against the side of the window pull forward across the glass, angling the top slightly to the right to prevent the solution from going over top and running down. Do this until you reach the side frame of the window and allow the squeegee to rest flat against the stile (where the glass window meets the window frame).

Repeat till you have made it down the entire length of the window. Clean the rubber blade with a separate clean cloth and wipe only the edge where the glass meets the stile. Enjoy your sparkling, streak-free window!

Cleaning your windows every spring ensures a healthy air quality within your home, beautiful natural lighting that enhances and creates inviting spaces and adds to your home’s aesthetics!

Give United Country Midwest Lifestyle Properties at call today at 608-742-5000 and see why people and properties are our two favorite investments!