Thread by @solar_chase

Easter weekend holiday has been lovely. I finally got to do some jobs I wanted done.

These included cleaning the windows. Since I am proud to be a trained window cleaning professional, here follows a short thread on how to clean windows quickly and well. (1/n)

You really need: a good squeegee with a rubber (not plastic) blade. Once the rubber degrades, replace it (this will be decades in household use).
An old towel or rag
Sponge
A "scrim" cloth. A baby muslin or worn linen dish towel will do fine as this.
A bucket helps a lot (2/n)

First use the towel to wipe off spiderwebs, which leave grease marks otherwise.

Use water with a bit of washing-up liquid and an optional splash of vinegar. Soap up one window with the sponge, scrubbing as necessary.

Then use the squeegee to scrape the water off. (3/n)

Squeegee technique is useful, but you can just go top to bottom in rows if you haven't got it. Dry squeegee with towel between scrapes.

Wipe away excess water with towel.

Polish round edges of window, and any remaining smears, with scrim. (4/n)

Do not use paper towels or non-scrim cloths, they will smear and look worse than when you started after a lot of your work.

Ladder technique is a whole other chapter, unfortunately, and my advice is not to clean anything you can't safely get to. (5/n)

Anyway, cleaning windows is a little job that makes a place look a lot better, and I see so many people do it badly. The only really specialised equipment is a good squeegee! A holster kit does make it easier for professionals but you don't need it. (6/6)

Also now I have cleaned the outside I can see where all the smears on the inside are, darnit.