The contractor did some quick cleaning inside the building before they left. But there was still visible crud on the window, and it had only gotten worse. I decided I would reread the Fleetwood care instructions before cleaning to be sure I did it right.
Fleetwood calls for a non-ammonia based commercial window cleaner, and, if that doesn't work, isopropanol (rubbing alcohol). Windex, with Ammonia-D, doesn't qualify. BTW, Ammonia-D is plain old Ammonia, NH3, toxic as ever. I'm not exactly sure why they call it D. Windex does not smell too bad, possibly because they use a small concentration of NH3 and possibly because of fragrances. That's where the D comes from.
I looked at my cleaning stuff and noticed I had an old bottle of 409 Glass and Surface cleaner. I would have used that last week but the purple color has faded slightly. I thought I'd get a new bottle of it, but didn't get around to it. The local HEB doesn't carry it. They had a generic brand that looked like it might be similar, but it was hard to read the ingredients through the bottle.
409 Glass and Surface Cleaner mainly relies on isopropanol, in a 5% solution. That's a great streak free cleaner, and not too much of it. It also has a surfactant and defoamer commonly found in laundry detergent and even bar soap, those are said to be non-toxic in the MSDS. It looks like a great formula to me. Isopropanol is a great cleaner, and it might be somewhat less toxic than ammonia, particularly in a mere 5% solution, rubbing alcohol is usually a 70% solution. It smells better for sure.
One reason why Fleetwood recommends a non-ammonia based cleaner is that ammonia is hard on aluminum. Most ammonia-based cleaner do not recommend usage on aluminum. People often use them on aluminum framed windows anyway.
On Sunday night, or actually early Monday morning, just after I opened the window the full way to capture the northern breeze, I decided this was the perfect time to clean the window. The window was wide open, it was nicely warm outside, but no excess heat from sunlight to make the job difficult. Also I worried some of the bad smell, possibly a lot of it, might be coming from the window itself. Glass is actually very good at picking up VOC's, you can visually see how well grungy stuff sticks to it, but it doesn't hold onto them well enough to keep them there, so they boil off later.
I cleaned the window both sides with my old bottle of 409 Glass and Surface cleaner. Some tiny specs of foam or paint I scraped off with my fingernail. I trimmed my fingernails after that and washed my hands. I had to use an old T-shirt because all my cleaning cloths were dirty.
I'm not sure if there has been any related change in building smell after the window cleaning. There was smell on Monday morning, and less on Monday night, but nothing detectable on Tuesday possibly because of the fan.
I had previously cleaned the glass on the French doors. I can't remember what I used on them. Since those windows are effectively framed by plastic moldings, and the door itself is made of steel, it is fine to use an ammonia based cleaner. But I'm now thinking I'll use 409 Glass and Surface for that from now on.
Fleetwood calls for a non-ammonia based commercial window cleaner, and, if that doesn't work, isopropanol (rubbing alcohol). Windex, with Ammonia-D, doesn't qualify. BTW, Ammonia-D is plain old Ammonia, NH3, toxic as ever. I'm not exactly sure why they call it D. Windex does not smell too bad, possibly because they use a small concentration of NH3 and possibly because of fragrances. That's where the D comes from.
I looked at my cleaning stuff and noticed I had an old bottle of 409 Glass and Surface cleaner. I would have used that last week but the purple color has faded slightly. I thought I'd get a new bottle of it, but didn't get around to it. The local HEB doesn't carry it. They had a generic brand that looked like it might be similar, but it was hard to read the ingredients through the bottle.
409 Glass and Surface Cleaner mainly relies on isopropanol, in a 5% solution. That's a great streak free cleaner, and not too much of it. It also has a surfactant and defoamer commonly found in laundry detergent and even bar soap, those are said to be non-toxic in the MSDS. It looks like a great formula to me. Isopropanol is a great cleaner, and it might be somewhat less toxic than ammonia, particularly in a mere 5% solution, rubbing alcohol is usually a 70% solution. It smells better for sure.
One reason why Fleetwood recommends a non-ammonia based cleaner is that ammonia is hard on aluminum. Most ammonia-based cleaner do not recommend usage on aluminum. People often use them on aluminum framed windows anyway.
On Sunday night, or actually early Monday morning, just after I opened the window the full way to capture the northern breeze, I decided this was the perfect time to clean the window. The window was wide open, it was nicely warm outside, but no excess heat from sunlight to make the job difficult. Also I worried some of the bad smell, possibly a lot of it, might be coming from the window itself. Glass is actually very good at picking up VOC's, you can visually see how well grungy stuff sticks to it, but it doesn't hold onto them well enough to keep them there, so they boil off later.
I cleaned the window both sides with my old bottle of 409 Glass and Surface cleaner. Some tiny specs of foam or paint I scraped off with my fingernail. I trimmed my fingernails after that and washed my hands. I had to use an old T-shirt because all my cleaning cloths were dirty.
I'm not sure if there has been any related change in building smell after the window cleaning. There was smell on Monday morning, and less on Monday night, but nothing detectable on Tuesday possibly because of the fan.
I had previously cleaned the glass on the French doors. I can't remember what I used on them. Since those windows are effectively framed by plastic moldings, and the door itself is made of steel, it is fine to use an ammonia based cleaner. But I'm now thinking I'll use 409 Glass and Surface for that from now on.
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