Cleaning & Maintenance
THE IMPORTANCE OF CLEANING AND MAINTAINING YOUR WINDOWS
We’re going to be focusing primarily on Wood Frames, Vinyl Windows, and the best cleaning methods for those two window frames.
Wood Frame
When it comes to the care and finish of wood frames, there is a multitude of different woods you can use for the frame. But for a general rule, the type of cleaning does not vary radically based on the wood frame you have in your home.
You first need to be aware of window sweat. In certain environments and humidity, your window will actually sweat! Since windows are not designed to keep the UV out, this will cause water to perspire on your frame. Why is it important to maintain your wood frames? If you do not take care of your wood frame, this window sweat will actually damage the frame drastically. When wood frames are not cleaned and left unattended, the wood frames will tend to stick more aggressively and not be easy to operate. And the more aggressive the stick on the windows, the harder they are to clean!
There are plenty of lubricants and stains you can use to maintain your windows. Some are industry standard and others are trade secrets. Here is a list of lubricants and stains you can use on your wood frames:
Vinyl Windows
With Vinyl windows, you have a couple of conventional ways to clean them thoroughly. Vinyl tracks get dirty frequently and hold all different types of issues that can cause damage to your frame. These issues can range from water, dust, dirt, to mold. The most effective way to clean out your tracks is to vacuum with a standard shop vac hose. You’ll want to monitor the weather strippings after the winter seasons to see if it’s matted or worn down. Since we live in a state where it can be 70 degrees one day and dump 6 inches of snow the next, weather strippings can take a pretty serious beating. Weather strippings are not replaceable so it’s important to keep efficiently checking the health of your window strippings every couple of months.
Red Flags
Here are the issues you need to be aware of that could indicate irreparable damage to your wood frames. While this isn’t the most enjoyable topic to have, it’s necessary to make sure you know how to properly assess the health of your windows. For wood windows, when the frame damage is getting into the structure of the home, that is something that needs to be addressed asap. You can try to make a DIY change, but the implications of structural damage on the rest of the home may outweigh the cost to benefit ratio of a DIY replacement.
As for Vinyl windows, when water is not able to exit the frame after it rains, that shows the structural damage to the window that is beyond a maintenance repair. The weap system is designed in the chamber frame that helps water to escape. If the weep system is clogged, or there is a haze in the glass you can’t eliminate, it means there is moisture and air within the glass. And your seal has failed.