How to clean windows without streaks

Why windows streak

Streaks are almost always caused by one of five things:

1. Direct sun. Water and soap dry on warm glass before you can remove them, leaving a film.
2. Too much soap. A sudsy bucket leaves a residue that smears when it dries.
3. The wrong cloth. Fluffy towels, old T-shirts and kitchen roll push dirty water around and leave lint behind.
4. A dirty or worn squeegee blade. Grit or a nicked rubber edge leaves a line on every stroke.
5. Hard tap water. Tap water in parts of Malta and Gozo carries minerals that dry as white spots if water is left on the glass.

Fix those five and most streaks disappear.

Pick the right time

Clean in the shade. In Malta that usually means early morning or late afternoon, or a side of the house that is out of the sun at the time. An overcast day is ideal.

Avoid cleaning while a xlokk dust episode is still going on, because the glass will be dirty again within a day. Wait until the haze has cleared. Our guide to red rain and Saharan dust explains why.

What you need

You do not need special products. A good result comes from:

• A bucket of clean water with a few drops of washing-up liquid. Just enough to make the water feel slippery, not foamy.
• A strip washer or sponge to wet and scrub the glass.
• A rubber squeegee with a clean, straight blade. A width that fits most of your panes makes life easier.
• Two or three microfibre cloths, flat-weave if you can find them. One for edges, one for a final polish.
• A soft brush or vacuum for sills and tracks.

Skip newspaper and kitchen roll. Newspaper falls apart when wet, and kitchen roll leaves fluff.

Step by step

1. Clean the frames, sills and tracks first

Brush or vacuum loose grit out of the sills and sliding door tracks, then wipe the frames with a damp cloth. If you do this after the glass, dirty water runs down over your clean pane.

2. Rinse off salt and dust

If you live near the sea, or there has been red rain, rinse the glass with plenty of clean water first. Salt crystals and Saharan dust are gritty. Rubbing them across dry glass, even with a soft cloth, can leave fine scratches.

3. Wet and scrub the glass

Wet the whole pane with the strip washer or sponge and scrub lightly, paying attention to the corners and the bottom edge, where dirt collects.

4. Squeegee from top to bottom

• Wipe a dry strip about the width of a finger along the top edge of the glass with your cloth, so the squeegee has a dry place to start.
• Place the squeegee at the top and pull it across or down in one smooth stroke, holding the blade at a slight angle to the glass.
• Overlap each stroke a little onto the previous one, so no wet line is left between them.
• Wipe the blade with a cloth after every stroke. This single habit removes most streaks.

5. Finish the edges

Use a dry microfibre cloth folded into quarters to wipe the edges and the bottom of the pane, where the squeegee leaves a little water. Turn to a fresh, dry side of the cloth as soon as one gets damp.

6. Check from an angle

Look at the glass from the side and from inside. Small marks usually come off with a light polish using a dry part of the cloth.

Dealing with Malta’s problem spots

Salt film on sea-facing glass

Seafront glass in Sliema, St Julian’s, St Paul’s Bay and Marsalforn picks up a salt haze carried by the majjistral. Always rinse it first, and clean seafront windows more often than inland ones. Our guide on removing salt from sea-facing windows covers frames, tracks and seals too. Our guide on how often to clean windows in Malta has the intervals.

Hard water spots

White spots that do not come off with soapy water are usually minerals from tap water, often from washing balconies, garden sprinklers or water dripping from tanks and air conditioning units above. A little white vinegar in the water helps lift light spots. Do not use scouring pads or strong acids on glass, and test a small area first on tinted or coated glass. Our guide on removing hard water stains from glass covers heavier build-up.

Red rain and building dust

Rinse, never dry-wipe. Clean sills and tracks too, or the next shower washes the dust back onto the glass. If paint or cement has landed on the glass after building work, soak it and use a proper glass scraper carefully, or leave it to a professional, because a blade can scratch some coated glass. See how to remove paint, cement and silicone from windows.

Mistakes to avoid

• Cleaning in full sun. The glass dries before you finish.
• Circular wiping. It spreads dirty water around. Work in straight strokes.
• Ammonia-based sprays on tinted film. They can damage it over time.
• Too much water on timber frames. Old timber windows and gallariji need a damp cloth, not a soaking. See our guide to cleaning Maltese balconies.
• Leaning out or standing on railings. No clean window is worth the risk.

When to call a professional

Doing your own windows makes sense for ground-floor glass and anything you can reach safely from inside. It is worth booking a window cleaner when:

• the glass is on upper floors or can only be reached from outside;
• there are months of salt or dust built up;
• the glass has paint, cement or silicone on it after building work;
• you have a lot of glass, such as a villa, a penthouse or a whole apartment block.

Professional cleaners use purified water on water-fed poles for higher glass, which dries without spots and lets windows be cleaned safely from the ground. clear.mt arranges professional window cleaning across Malta and Gozo, and you can ask for a free quote with a few photos.