Introduction
There are few things as despising as household chores that evoke the cringe from the deep parts within. However, when it comes to windows or cleaning any glass surface, it’s a whole other ordeal. You get the perfect windows when you get professional help by searching for “cleaning services near me”. The same thing just doesn’t happen when you do it yourself. Well. things don’t need to stay that way. Let’s check out how you can get streak-free glass around your entire home:
The Discussion
- Use distilled water – To the untrained eye or any eye, to be honest, distilled water and regular water look the same. However, the quality of the thing that comes out of your tap to distilled water is way different. The composition is different apart from the basic hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The difference isn’t very apparent if you clean other surfaces like wood, plastic, or metal. However, glass can show you the most minute imperfections and thus any impurities in the water are highlighted when you clean with it. Many people dilute glass cleaner with tap water, which has a major effect on the post-cleaning look. Moreover, if you get hard water from the tap, laded with high concentrations of calcium and magnesium, you’re bound to end up with ugly streaks on the glass.
Instead of using tap water for dilution, use distilled water. It doesn’t contain any heavy minerals and salts usually present in tap water and won’t leave any deposits on the glass surface. Unless you want tens of gallons of distilled water, it’s fairly cheap to buy at the store. You can dilute a lot of cleaning liquid with just a gallon of distilled water and use it to wipe all the windows clean of a large home. If you want to save every last penny, you can even boil a batch for yourself.
- Use vinegar – Vinegar is a versatile ingredient that’s used everywhere from cleaning to cooking. This pantry staple makes your salad taste great and windows look amazing. Moreover, it is ridiculously cheap. Apart from that it’s a natural solution to messy glass streaks and doesn’t have any harsh chemicals and won’t cause any allergies. Get distilled white vinegar to get the most out of this all-natural cleaning solution. It also has many disinfecting properties. It works as an antibacterial and the acidic liquid kills germs. However, it isn’t toxic, and the mild acidic content doesn’t cause any harm even if it accidentally comes in contact with your or the children’s skin or pets.
It’s a great option when you run out of your glass cleaner or need to settle for a cheaper alternative. Mix it with warm distilled water in a 1:1 ratio and fill it up in a spray bottle. You can use it to spray the glass surface and wipe it down like your regular glass cleaner liquid. Another solution is to mix vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and distilled water. It’s more effective for stubborn dirt.
- Lather – Soap is the cleaning king for both you and your home. You can use it to make a frothy lather to clean the most stubborn dirt. However, when it comes to glass surfaces, using soap incorrectly can leave numerous streaks. For cleaning glass, you need a very small amount of soap or detergent with the water. Make sure that you don’t add too much soap to the water. Otherwise, the dense lather will leave an ugly mess on the glass. To cook up a batch of effective and streak-free soap solution, you can mix up equal parts of water and rubbing alcohol, and in that solution mix three to four drops of dishwashing liquid soap.
- Don’t use paper towels – You carry a few mandatory rolls of paper towels during cleaning day and at least one of them is dedicated to the windows and other glass surfaces. However, contrary to popular belief, paper towels do more harm than good when it comes to glass cleaning. When you wipe glass tabletops, windows, or screens with paper towels, you leave many streaks along with paper lint. This happens even when you use a very high-quality multi-ply paper towel.
Ditch the paper towel in favor of a microfiber cloth. They do a great job on the glass and don’t leave any sort of residue that may leave streaks. If you want to save even more money, you can use old newspapers for cleaning glass. They are very efficient and streak-free if you don’t use glossy pages. But your hands may get messy. Nothing that a pair of gloves can’t solve. Make sure that whether you use a microfiber cloth or newspaper, spray the cleaning liquid on them instead of the glass surface before wiping. Otherwise, the cleaner may drip into the metal frame and cause corrosive damage.
- Buff it up – After you have followed all the right steps of using vinegar or very little dish soap and microfiber cloth instead of paper towels, there’s still room for more mistakes. It’s very frustrating when you get a few streaks even after following all the right steps. Fortunately, there is an easy fix. You need a quick buff to finish it off. To do this, you need a clean microfiber or chamois cloth and buff over the streaked areas until you’ve eliminated every last one. It won’t happen instantly, but slowly the streaks would fade away. Stay away from the newspaper for this job unless you like linty windows. Buffing needs a soft fabric with frizzy textures to work effectively. Moreover, it’s best to clean your home thoroughly before you clean your windows so that dust and dirt can’t interfere with the cleaning process.
Conclusion
Now that you know about the clever tricks of getting streak-free glass, you should try them out immediately. There is no need for any special equipment. If things still aren’t satisfactory enough, you can get help by searching for “cleaning services near me”.