Transcription
Okay, so I'm just going to take you around a waterfed pole window cleaning job today. Just arrived at the job. And the first thing to think about even before you start the job is where you're going to park. You don't want the job to be around the front of the van so that you have to pull the hose out and it a struggle to get it round to the front of the van. You want the back of the van really to be pointing toward the job. So you can just grab my pole and brush and I go straight out to the job. Nice and easy. No messing about. So this can save you time and efficiency on the job.
The customer may not necessarily be expecting us today. I arrange with all my customers that I'll turn up on a regular schedule. I'll establish this at the beginning. I'll explain that that might vary a day or two either side depending on my schedule, depending on the weather, things like that. But I try and arrange it so that I'm not having to text the customer or or every customer beforehand because that creates a lot more work for me really having to do that. So if I am getting very busy or there has been bad weather, I can get a little bit behind. But my customers have that understanding that there's that flexibility there and uh that I'll be here on that arranged schedule.
Now always what I'll do uh with waterfed pole is I'll clean the windows along the top. That will allow the first window a few moments to kind of drip down and then so once I've got to the other side I'll then start underneath and go along that way. So two of us working together today. Riley's with me today. So, when we're two people working together, um, usually I'll send the other person will do the other side of the house. So, the back of the house, while I do the front. Today, what we're going to do is Riley's going to start on the left hand side here, work down the house and round the back while I start on this side and work around that way to the house. That means that we'll both be able to work systematically. So, then we'll meet up around the other side.
So today I'm using my favorite brush for regular maintenance cleans. It's a DuPont bristle brush. This one's from Xline. This one has the rinse bar down the middle, which I really like. Helps me rinse more quickly. It can use more water. So you have to make sure you have a good water supply, but I actually find it helps me work more quickly. So therefore, I'm using slightly less water or maybe about the same water as if I was using pencil jets. Um, so yeah, I just find it helps me rinse more thoroughly, more efficiently. So I have my pump here. I have it set slightly higher because there are more jets coming from the rinse bar. So I'll have it set to about 40. That helps give me a good strong jet coming out from the rinse bar. Uh, help me rinse nicely as well. So, let's get started. Let's go. The dogs are friendly. So, let's get.
So, in certain positions as well, when you pull out the hose, it can catch on the door here. So, it's well worth opening the doors up nice and wide because if the hose rubs on the rubber seal here, the rubber seal can easily be replaced. But if it ends up rubbing on the door, especially the underside of the door, it can quickly wear away the paint and then the door will quickly start to rust. So that's well worth being aware of how the hose is running.
So a couple of things here. As I walk away from the van, I'll end up pulling a couple of loops into my hands like this. So when I get to the spot where I'm going, I know that I've got a bit of slack on the ground. And then I'm not going to be tugging on the hose as I'm working. I've just got a knot in the in my pole hose here. That just helps keep the fitting off the ground as if it ends up dragging on the ground. The fitting can wear away. One of my hoses, I've got this big buffer here. These are from Streamline. Came with my van system, my setup. But I can't, you can't get these anywhere. I think only if you buy a van setup will they give you one of these. People ask me all the time, but that helps keeps that fitting off the ground on the hose here. There are different protectors you can get. Window cleaning warehouse. Do some nice ones to protect the fitting. So there, that's my um makeshift solution there. Anyway, and now I'm just going to make sure that my angle on my goose neck is set to the correct angle. So that's slightly downward there. You can see it should be straight here. So just one more click up. That's the ideal working angle. Straight there. So, it's straight with that section there. That's the 45 degree angle. And I'm using today the swivel. I haven't got anything to reach over particularly from the side, I don't think, today. Um, but it's particularly good for getting into the corners when you've got to reach to the side slightly. So, I want to make sure that that brush is at least 90° to the glass, if not pointing downwards slightly, so the water jets are not pushing up the glass, but they're always rinsing down the glass. When I adjust the pole, I need to make sure that I'm not stretching up more than I need to. So, make sure I adjust it so it's a good comfortable working height like this so that I'm not causing too much strain across my shoulders. And notice that I'm not extending each section quite fully. So, they'll be overlapping a bit more inside each other. That helps to make the pole a bit more rigid as I'm working. Because I've got a uni valve fitted inside my pole. I just give that a tug and the water starts flowing and I can begin working. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Now, for a door like this one, your technique might just change slightly as you get towards the bottom. Still wash the frames across the top and all the way down the sides. Quite cobwebby this one. And then we'll concentrate on the glass across the top and into the corners the same as before. And then we'll start to work the way down. Now, here's where our technique will change because we'll get so far down and then the angle is becoming a struggle with the brush. We're pointing downwards. So, I'll kick my pole out to the side and start going in a slightly side to side motion to get that bottom section there. Making sure I get around the rubber seals in the same way. There we go. We'll just do that again. And then we can rinse the same way. Extra thorough down the sides cuz I have been a little bit late round. The windows are probably slightly dirtier than they would be normally. So, we're just having to be a little bit extra thorough with our rinsing. Then finally give that window sill a wash down there. You can see there's a bit of a bird's mess on this one as well, but I think the brush should be able to take care of that. So, we'll just make sure we wet that first and then I'll go back and start with the frames as I normally would. So, give the frames a good wash round and this bar in the middle all the way down the bottom one as well. And then we'll come back and concentrate on the glass. Now, I like to go across the top of the glass like that into the corners. Make sure those bristles get along that seal along there. And then we'll work in a regular sort of V motion up and down across the window. Making sure we concentrate on that area a little bit where the bird's mess was. But that's already had a chance to soak and come off nicely. And then along the bottom again, making sure we get along those rubber seals and into the corners. And then I'll do the bottom section the same. Just into the corners across the top rubber seal there and down the sides and then all the way across the glass. I like a bit of sideways action as well. We'll get the seal along the bottom and into the corners there nicely. Just wash off the window seal and then back to the top. So with the rinse, I'm just starting at the top of the frame. Then we want to make sure we get a nice curtain of water coming down the glass like that. A nice thorough rinse side to side. Work all the way down nice and methodically. But then sometimes you might want to extra rinse down the sides of the seals just to make sure any dirt's come away from there. And all the way down like that. Wash this bar really well across the middle. Then carry on that rinse down the bottom. Nice curtain of water coming across the glass all the way down. And then finally give that window seal. Try not to leave any standing water on there if possible.
I've come around the side here and here's Riley working round to meet me. This is a great example of where waterfed pole uh really comes into its own because these windows are set back on the slate roof. There's no way I can really walk on the slate roof. You know, they're much more prone to breakages if you start to put your weight on them. So, you could do them with traditional tools on a pole, but they'd be much more difficult to get a thorough job. What I really love about the waterfed pole brush is it really gets in to the nooks and crannies that you couldn't get to even if you're being super thorough with a cloth wiping around. Um, but the bristles get in around the frames really well. So a window like this or these couple of windows I can actually clean really thoroughly. So all I am going to do is just adjust the angle. I'm literally just going to notch it up one click slightly up like that because I'm going to be reaching from further back here. So that'll help me keep that angle. Should be easy. Oh, heat.
In a situation like this, you have to be careful about the order that you clean the windows in because don't forget, you're rinsing with pure water. So, you want that water to dry without any impurities getting on the water while it's drying during that process. So, if I was to clean this window first and then clean this window, I potentially could splash dirty water onto that window and then that dirty water is going to dry to leave spots, dirty spots on the glass. Even though I've done that one first and potentially splash there, then I've cleaned this one down, I could still potentially splash that window with dirty water as well. So, I'll probably just give this one a final quick rinse before I go. So, don't forget with the rinse and when there's vents like this, you don't want to be pushing water up into the vents. So, it's always keeping that angle slightly downwards. So, you're always rinsing the water downwards. And that's it. That should dry nicely. And we've met up here. Just finish off this section together here when you met up.
So, it might sound silly, but you kind of have to make sure you use your eyes as you're working. So, keep an eye on what you're doing, especially during the rinse. If you see any bits of grit as you're rinsing, they might need that extra thorough rinse to get those away. Any bits of plant or spid that might still be stuck on there, might need that extra bit of attention. Now, the great thing is, um, our our hoses aren't tangled with each other. So now as we go back to the van, we just gather up the hose as we go. If we notice any places where the hose might get snagged on or caught on as we're going back to the van. So if you see it's caught near a wheelie bin or um a plant pot, something like that, just pick it up and then by the time you get to the van, you should end up with two or three large loops that will reel in nicely. So try and be methodical about the way we put things back in the van. Ready for the next job. So everything goes straight in and then it's ready to go quickly and easily for the next job. As the hose goes back into the van, I always use a cloth just to clean off the hose as I reel it back in so all that dirt and debris doesn't end up collecting in the van. So that just goes in. So the controllers here, they cut off automatically when they sense a dead end. But these are all automatic cutff fittings, auto stop. Um, so once you disconnect them, they won't any allow any water to come back through. So the controllers automatically detect that dead end and will stop pumping. It will still be pushing against that fitting and uh there'll be pressure in the system. Now you can leave that on in between jobs. Quick drive to the next job. You do need to be a little bit careful of that when the water gets low because if the water's sloshing about in the tank, it can then suck up air into the system and that can cause a problem. Then when you start working again and there's air caught in there, it can be a faf trying to get that air free. You can turn them off in between each job if you want to, but it is okay to leave them on. Just remember to turn them off at the end of the day.
So finally, I just write a paper invoice for the customer. They'll make a direct payment. Once I receive the payment into my account, I can check ticket it off as paid and uh that's really easy way of keeping my records and then they just pay it straight online. Doesn't cost me anything. Doesn't cost them anything. And um it also gives an opportunity for a little advert on the back of the invoice just to remind them about some of my other services as well. So there we go. Job done.