Open your curtains wide and let the light shine through! The invention of the humble window allowed us to create homes that are full of light and grace, without needing to have a hole in our walls.
Of course, then we invented net curtains, glazing and privacy shades to keep our homes warm and prevent the neighbors from seeing our unadorned lives unfold.
However, over time you may start to notice that your windows aren’t letting in as much light as they used to, and the view out the window isn’t as clear as it once was.
Unfortunately, we have invented windows, but we haven’t yet perfected automatic cleaning windows.
Pollution
The city of Spokane has a population of over 200,000, with over 90% of households owning a vehicle, and in many cases two (see here for statistics).
This becomes a large contributing factor causing high pollution levels, and is one of the reasons why you can’t see out your window as well as you used to.
Wildfires that have caused huge damage around the area are also responsible for decreased air quality and increased air pollution.
Window Grime
Although you may be able to blame the kids or animals for internal window grime, on the outside you are looking at pollution – particles from road dust, and vehicle exhaust, pollen from plants and trees, as well as the odd bird flying by.
You’ll also get an accumulation of grime from spider webs and the resulting dinner left overs.
Internal Tricks to Save You Money
If you look around the internet for a while you will find all sorts of suggestions for cleaning your windows, however one of the best is to go with one of the old ways to clean your windows and use white vinegar, newspaper and elbow grease.
It works amazingly well to create streak free glass – although you do have a house that smells a bit vinegary for a while.
Apparently, the old style of ink in newspapers used to help the process, and although the ink has changed, as long as you are using newsprint rather than the more modern white paper or glossy paper it still seems to do the trick.
External Windows
One of the jobs people probably try to put off the most is cleaning their window exteriors. Even if you have a single-story dwelling, it is still a difficult (and wet) job to try and reach the top of the windows.
If you have two or more stories to your home you are looking at either precariously balancing on top of a ladder, hunting through “As Seen On TV” infomercials for that long window cleaning thing you saw advertised, or hiring scaffolding.
Professional Cleaning Services
Although there are those who have a strong DIY philosophy, window cleaning, particularly exterior window cleaning, is one of the most ideal jobs to outsource to professionals.
Professional’s like Window Cleaning Spokane not only have local knowledge about pollutants to watch out for, and their effects, but also how weather conditions cause different issues for home owners.
Often window cleaning companies are able to include house washing and gutter cleaning as well, which does have the obvious advantage of ensuring that your house is clean and tidy.
However, the other benefit is that a good company will be able to advice you of any repairs and maintenance that they discover will be coming up.
All to often you don’t realize that your guttering has a hole in it, or that there’s a rotten board under your eaves until a winter downpour sends water into your living room.
If you have moss anywhere on your home’s exterior, having this removed at the same time can prevent damage from rotting – even on stone the increased moisture held by moss can cause mold to develop inside your house as well as seeping into the brick work.
Of course most people understand that the reasons to keep your gutters clean aren’t simply to ensure that you don’t have rotten boards building up, but that having stagnant pools of water sitting along your roofline creates a breading ground of bacteria and mosquitoes as well as other bugs (which of can lead to a dramatic increase in spiders which the acrophobic among us would prefer to avoid).
SAD
Of course, although parts of Washington State will experience over 2170 hours of sun annually, one of the reasons to ensure your windows are sparkling clean (particularly in window), is to offset the effects of Seasonal Affects Disorder.
More common in areas that see daylight hours fall to almost zero during winter months, being able to take advantage of any and all-natural light by having your curtains home when you’re at home helps to reduce the effects that SAD can have.
Symptoms of SAD can include just a generally feeling of sadness or being down without any real cause (different to a diagnosis of depression), increased cravings for carbohydrates, and general lethargy and tiredness.
Even if the sun is covered in clouds, simply being able to have unimpeded natural light into your home helps relieve some of the symptoms, as well as increasing the air quality.
Mold
Inside your home one of the major causes for concern is the black mold that can build up on your windows, particularly if you suffer from condensation.
The spores from this mold are highly toxic, particularly for children, the elderly, or anyone with impaired lung function (including asthmatics).
What this means is that not only is it important to clean your windows, but to also ensure that the products which are used to clean the mold off will help inhibit it growing back.
