Cleaning your windows, mirrors, etc. is a series of complicated tasks. A small mistake or a wrong product can leave residue and cause your window glasses to be streaked and stained. Without any controversy, nobody likes streaks on their windows or mirrors.
What’s the secret behind getting a crystal-clear window? The right set of tools and techniques can get you the perfect streak-free glasses. On the other hand, your windows will allow more natural light to enter your premises.
Let’s find out some proven tips and tricks to clean your glasses and keep them free from streaks.
How to Achieve a Streak-Free Glass
Be it your window, coffee table, or mirror, they have to survive more than dust, dirt, and elbow grease. However, glass cleaning Dubai experts have shared some unskippable tips that can actually help you to get rid of stubborn stains and make them streak-free.
These professional cleaners have gained solid years of experience and wisdom to master the art of cleaning glasses without streaks. Hopefully, the following tips will minimise your time and effort in cleaning glasses around your home and give you results exceeding your expectations.
1. Try Distilled Water
Are you taking water from the tap to clean your windows, mirrors, etc.? Well, the quality of water can vary from one location to another and contain different concentrations of minerals. Tap water is not a big deal for mopping countertops, floors, and similar surfaces.
However, impurities dissolved in the tap water may harm your perfect window, table, and mirror glasses. Indeed, hard water, with a higher concentration of dissolved calcium and magnesium, causes streaks on glasses. You won’t get the desired result even if you dilute your glass cleaner with hard water.
Instead, you must consider distilled water to minimise streaks on your cleaned glass. Distilled water is free from major minerals present in tap water. Hence, distilled water can’t leave any streaky deposits on your windows, or bathroom mirrors. In addition, it’s easily avail in local grocery stores for purchase.
2. Discard Scents, Soaps, and Dyes
You might be fond of soapy cleaners that form too much lather and you believe that laters are the best to clean away surfaces. The harsh reality of window or any glass surface cleaning is that the cleaner should be free from soaps or suds.
Professionals from glass cleaning services near me have confirmed that soaps or suds can leave streaky residue on your glasses if you use them improperly. If you can’t get rid of the soapy solution then you can try the following ingredients to form a glass cleaner:
- 4 ounces of rubbing alcohol
- 780 millilitres of water
- 29 millilitres of soapy ammonia
Mix the above-mentioned ingredients and you can experiment with the ratios mentioned to find the right formula that works the best for you. Make sure that you store it in a bottle and keep it away from children.
If you are looking for a readymade glass cleaner then it should be free from additives. Hence, the cleaner must not have scents, dyes, or any kind of additives. We understand that it’s tempting to grab a bright and lemon-scented cleaner for your windows but they have enough contaminants to add streaks to your glasses.
On a related note, additives such as scents, soaps, and dyes don’t evaporate. Hence, they can deposit layers of oil, grease, and wax. No matter how many times you clean off your glasses, they won’t be without streaks. Make sure you pick up a glass cleaner which is free from these additives.
3. Opt for Vinegar
Are you tired of looking for a glass cleaner that checks all the requirements of no additives? Then, you should try vinegar for cleaning your window and mirror glasses. In fact, vinegar is one of the best all-purpose ingredients to clean your mirrors and windows.
The perks of using vinegar are that it is easily available and doesn’t cost as high as a dedicated glass cleaner. On the other hand, you can avoid the risks of your glasses being stained or streaked. Well, distilled white vinegar is the best choice for cleaning your glasses.
Distilled white vinegar is also antibacterial, non-toxic, and safe for pets, children, and skin. You can use the following recipe and keep the cleaning solution in a reusable spray bottle. Mix distilled white vinegar and warm distilled water in a 1:1 ratio.
You can spritz the solution whenever you need to clean your windows and other glass surfaces. As an alternative to this vinegar solution, you can mix the following ingredients and prepare a cleaning solution:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup rubbing alcohol
- And, 1 tablespoon vinegar
Rubbing alcohol is recognised for preventing streaks from appearing on glasses.
4. Use a Microfibre Cloth and Squeegee to Clean Windows
Do you use some pieces of cloth while cleaning windows or mirrors? Chances are that their lint can stick to the surface and streak glasses. Alternatively, you can use a microfibre cloth as it’s dry, clean, and free from lint.
Indeed, microfibre clothes are designed to cling or absorb anything they come into contact with. Thus, you can easily eliminate the last trace of dirt or cleaning solution from your mirrors, windows, and other surfaces by using a microfibre cloth.
Additionally, you can make sure that thin films of dirt won’t cling to windows. Besides this, you can purchase a squeegee to wipe off your windows completely. Squeegees are a great tool to effortlessly clean your windows, especially. Moreover, you can use them to clean your shower walls and doors too.
5. Avoid Paper Towels
Paper towels are known for being a useful tool to clean glass surfaces. However, this old-school method has lost its popularity as streaks on windows, mirrors, etc. are quite evident after using paper towels for cleaning.
Most paper towels are full of lint. In addition, paper towels might contain the following additives:
- Starches
- Glues
- Wetting agents
These contaminants can cling or stick to windows and mirrors. As a consequence, you can experience more streaks on those glasses. It’s better if you use a microfibre towel to soak dirt and cleaning solution from mirrors, shower walls, and windows.
However, you can opt for newspapers as many glass cleaning Dubai experts recommend them when you are out of microfibre cloth. Well, newspapers may not hold up the dirt pretty great when they are wet. Still, you can give them a try. Additionally, you can get news prints on your hands. In that situation, you can wear gloves.
6. Don’t Scrub Your Windows and Mirrors
Streaks may surprisingly appear on your windows, mirrors, and others even though you use the right cleaning solutions and tools. Let’s talk about the right technique when it comes to cleaning your mirror or window glasses.
Scrubbing might seem the last way to get rid of stubborn grease and stains. However, you might end up getting more streaks on your windows. Instead, you can spot-clean those areas that have hard-to-remove dirt or gunk before cleaning the whole window.
Ensure that you don’t press the area too hard or scrub while spot-cleaning that target area. You can apply a suitable glass cleaner on that particular area and wipe it off with a microfibre cloth. On a contrary note, it’s difficult to remove scale deposits from hard water with a microfibre cloth.
In that situation, you can invest in a commercial glass striper. It’s a convenient tool to deal with tar, sap, baked-on grime, mineral buildup, and much more. Additionally, it won’t hurt your glass.
7. Start Cleaning from Top to Bottom
Another way to ensure a streak-free glass surface or window is to control the direction of cleaning. For windows, mirrors, and surfaces made of glass, you should start cleaning them from top to bottom.
Once you spritz the cleaning solution on the surface, it must drip because of gravity. If you clean the lower part first, then by the time you finish wiping the upper part, the bottom portion can be wet again. So, you might have to clean that area again and again.
Hence, you should clean your windows and mirrors from top to bottom. Thus, you can save your glasses from unnecessary drips. Moreover, your mirrors, shower doors, and windows will be perfectly cleaned and free from streaks.
Additional Cleaning Workarounds for Streak-Free Glass…
Surprisingly, experts from glass cleaning services near me suggest washing windows on a cloudy day. The sun can dry out the cleaning solution quickly and contaminants may cling to windows. Hence, it gets harder to clean the window and it becomes streaked.
On the other hand, you can use cotton swabs to reach the corners of windows and mirrors. Additionally, clean your glass surfaces regularly to avoid stubborn stains, grease, and grime. For better results, clean windows in sections.
