Transcription
Now, obviously, there are so many brushes out there that I can't show you every single brush available, but uh if I talk you through some of the main types of bristles, some of the main types of shapes of the body or stock of the brush, then hopefully this will help you to know what to look out for when you're buying a certain brush for certain purpose.
This is what's called a dual trim brush. What that means is you've got two different lengths of bristles. Dual trim, they can be slightly softer or slightly more rigid depending on the brush. So, you can see the bristles are quite long. These are great for standard UPVC windows, which we have in the UK. Very commonly are quite chunky frames. So the bristles are a nice length to get round the frame and also onto the glass. Now the idea is with any brush that it's the ends of the bristles really that are doing the cleaning. So uh the longer bristles will get around the frame and the center bristles will do the scrubbing. The ends of the bristles will really scrub in there against the glass.
Now, a big concern for a window cleaner is always size and weight of the brush. The more weight you have at the top of the pole, the heavier it will be and the more difficult it might be to work with, the more quickly your muscles will get tired out if it's a heavier brush. But also, a bigger brush can help you work more quickly, being able to clean more of the window with each swipe of the brush because it's a bigger brush. So, that can be something just to look out for. Every window cleaner has their own preferences.
Now, the really nice thing about these gardener uh brushes here is they have these removable jets. They should twist out or they do a little tool like this, which just goes in there to help you do it, which means they do these little jet capsules like that. Now, that allows you to change between different sizes of jets. This brush here actually has a fan jet like that. Most of these types of brushes may also come with brush bumpers. This brush here already has the bumper fitted. Now, that just helps protect the customer's property, basically. So, it just stretches over the brush like this. And they're a little bit tight like that. Now, that will just help protect the customer's property from bashing any of the window frame or the plastic or maybe if a customer has render, that can be something to be careful of so you're not going to damage the customer's property. Now, these can wear out over time and start to come off. Um, but then they're easily replaceable. You can get replacements for them as well.
So, this is probably the most common type of brush. This is a Gardener super light brush. This is uh the standard entry level brush, I would say, from Gardener. And as you can see, it's basically a square brush with standard nylon bristles. Uh, great one to start with. I find nylon bristles are great for really dirty windows, but I find um they don't clean off the fine dirt so well. So, for everyday regular maintenance cleans, I like to use a brush with dupant bristles. DuPont bristles are a little bit finer. There's a certain quality to them that's difficult to explain, but they're really great for getting rid of that fine dirt, but they're not so robust and hardwearing that you might want for really dirty cleans, first cleans, or something that's really green and grimy. The nylon bristles are a bit more robust, and they're better for that sort of thing. So, this is a really good brush, which I like for my regular maintenance cleaning.
Now you notice here uh there's a slightly different fitting on this brush. This is a euro thread fitting. Now most of these brushes all have the screw points in exactly the same place. So you can really easily swap over depending on what fitting you're using. There's only two brands where you can't do that and that's the brush and the Ionx brush. These both have bespoke systems to their brand. So you can only really use the younger brush with the younger pole system. And the same with the IonX brush has its own system. You can't unscrew it and attach a different brand system. So I don't really like to use these, especially this one. It's a bigger, heavier, more awkward brush to use. Anyway, the younger one is quite a good brush. It's got the swivel option there, but it is quite big and heavy. This Xline brush, for example, is one of my favorites, and that gives nearly as good a scrub, and I find that fine for everyday use. So, this is a euro thread fitting here on this one, which is kind of a universal fitting, which just fits in there, screws in. Can be a little bit annoying because it can start to come unscrewed as you're working, which can be a bit of a pain. So, I don't really like to use those. This is a gardener quick lock fitting which fits in there really easily. And they've got a fixed version or there are some gooseenecks which have the pivoting version here. I really like this for being able to get into awkward corners as well. So, we talk about the fittings on another video.
Now, this brush here is a super light sill brush. So, what that means is the bristles don't just point forward, but they also bend down to the bottom there. So, when you get to the base of the window, you've got some bristles there so that you're able to clean the window seal as well. If I'm using a swivel goose neck, I don't find that's too much of a problem because the swivel helps you to angle the brush downwards slightly so that you can do the seal. What that does mean with these seal brushes is that there's more weight in the brush. can be a bit heavier. Uh, but some guys really prefer to use these. I really like this brush for fascia cleaning because it helps you to get into those gaps and crevices really nicely. But an alternative to that is this is actually a super light seal brush. But you can see it's got these bristles out on the sides as well. So these are really good. Some people like these for fascia cleaning. Also, uh, conservatory roof cleaning. This might be really good.
Now, both of these brushes have flocked bristles. These are slightly softer bristles than the standard nylon or duup bristles. They're ever so slightly frayed on the ends. That means it is slightly softer. Uh, these are great for things like fascias where you might want to be a little bit more gentle with the UPVC so that you don't scratch it. I also really like these for leaded windows because, as we said before, the nylon bristles are a bit more robust. The ends of the bristles really dig into the glass. Now, when you're doing a leaded window, those bristles can actually get in under the lead and prize the lead away from the glass. Uh these flocked bristles are a bit softer so they wipe across the surface of the glass a bit more across the lead and they will be a bit more gentle with the lead so they won't damage that lead or the window. These are really great for wooden framed windows as well if you wanted to be more gentle with the wooden windows.
This is actually a Supreme brush. I really like these. They're quite a bit lighter because you see the brush stock is actually smaller. but the bristles spllay out a little bit more, which means the cleaning surface is actually pretty much the same as a standard brush. So, these are really great. You much less likely to bash the body of the brush against the window frame and that kind of thing. I've got the brush bumper on there as well. Um, so that means you're just taking care of the customer's property a little bit more.
Then these ones from Gardener, this is an ultimate brush. This is nylon bristles. Um, but you'll notice here the bristles are slightly shorter. Now, what that means is when the bristles are shorter, they feel slightly more rigid. So, this is a great hardwearing brush for any of those tough cleans, maybe solar panels, really dirty roof canopies, um, things like that. And this brush, you can tell that it's really, um, gone through some punishment. I saved this for the dirtiest cleans because the bristles are a bit shorter. They're a bit more rigid. You're better for giving a good scrub. And then I've also got a a bigger size jet so I've got a better flow of water when I'm doing those tough cleans.
And then here is a brush. This one is from window cleaning warehouse. Now this has got Dupont bristles around the outside, but bors hair bristles down the middle. So bors hair is slightly different. again is a natural hair that gives a really good scrub. Now things with bors hair, as with any brush actually, you need to leave them to dry, hang dry. That's why racking is really good in the van so that you can let the brushes drip dry. If they're leaning against something, they can lose their shape. Uh like this one, you can see it's been leaning against something and it's gone a bit out of shape. Borsair bristles, they can wear down in time and become even shorter. And they can also smell a bit strange if you don't let them dry out properly. But that's just a bit of an alternative there. So this is a really nice combination with the Dupont bristles that a bit softer for everyday getting the finer dirt and uh the borhead getting into that tougher dirt as well. Um, it's a little bit heavier though. See the brush stock is a little bit bigger making the brush a little bit heavier. But that also allows for more bristles in the brush. So swings and roundabouts.
So there are a couple of bigger brushes which I have here. Now these are more like 38 or 40 cm brushes. Uh so you can see the difference there in size. But there also is an additional weight there. For me personally, most of the time I do like to stick with a 26 24 cm brush for most everyday uh domestic houses. But if I'm doing something bigger like a commercial job or uh even a modern property with big panes of glass, it does make sense to switch over to a bigger brush like this. So, I think it just depends on what you're doing. But if I was to make a recommendation, uh three main brushes I think you should definitely have it would be um this is my regular everyday maintenance clean brush with the DuPont bristles and the rinse bar down the middle. Then I think you need a stiff bristle brush, which will be great for your first cleans or anything really dirty, uh, like a conservatory roof, something like that. And then I think it's really important to also have a flocked bristle brush for anything you need to be more gentle like leaded windows, wooden windows. this would be my option to that where you can be more gentle with the brush and take more care uh with the customer's property. So, they would be my three essentials to definitely to get started.