Forensic WC Hidden Scratches

Screens hide a multitude of sins!  They hide scratches, and other damage.  Dirt and hard water spots/mineral deposits also hide scratches.  So when you remove the screens and clean the window scratches that were there before you can become quite visible.  Whenever we clean we must be on the lookout for this kind of damage.  If it is revealed it should be immediately brought to the attention of the person that hired us and is responsible.  This will help to avoid any lawsuits.  It also puts the window cleaning on a higher level.  We become at that moment inspection professionals.  Any further damage that we find can be made note of and identified should anything more become of it.

If we are called on to identify the cause of the scratches the first step that I would take is to inspect the "clean" glass surface.  Is it scratch sensitive or not.  If it is I will look more closely at the pattern of the scratches.  If they are mostly up and down I will get the permission of the owner to try to cause more but in the opposite direction.  If a razor was used you might use the same or a similar razor.  I will never forget a consulting job I was called into where the contractor had blamed a window cleaner.  Claiming that he had used a razor on the window which scratched.  So I checked for the sound of embedded particles and discovered there were many large particles.  At this point I had little hope.  But the pattern was only in one direction.  So I took out the razor and with the permission of the contractor tried very hard to make more scratches in the opposite direction.  I tried very hard.  But no scratches appeared!  The window cleaner was cleared.  Now I also remember another concern I was called into.  Unfortunately it didn't go so well.

The most important matter to understand here is that scratches can be easily hidden.  Even scratches that the homeowner could never see before because they were so slight that when the screens were put back on they became completely invisible.  If you were to use the wrong chemical to remove a light film of mineral deposits it will etch the scratches and magnify them to the point where they become VERY visible.  Screens on or not.  And especially in the direct sun.  Acids such as hydrofluoric, sulfuric, hot phosphoric, or ammoniumbifluoride.  Never use any of these chemicals on glass under any circumstances.  Or you will reveal scratches that were left behind and hidden for many years.  EVERY TIME!

Be a forensic window cleaner.  Use your eyes on every window.  Always look carefully AT the glass.  Not through the glass like our customers.  Defy all possible lawsuits.

Henry

Forensic Window Cleaning Defeats Lawsuits

How many times have you cleaned a window only to discover damage that someone else had left behind?  Which made you wonder whether you might be blamed?  Unfortunately this is a very common problem that we all have to face at some time or another.  I have had to face it myself.

The first step towards a solution is realizing that our customers will never understand what we know about surface damage.  No matter how much we explain it to them.  Even when such damage is revealed.  In my case it was a friend and lifelong customer who blamed me for scratches left by my squeegee blade.  Ultimately they gave in to the situation realizing that I had to know way more than they did.

The next step comes by explaining to them that there are actually a multitude of different kinds of surface damage that can be revealed by a very simple cleaning.  Evan if it is the first cleaning (post construction) of new glass.  Also that we are the best professional to identify if there is damage and what exactly is the source or cause of such damage.

The third step is to be able to accurately identify any damage and be able to intelligently explain to them the damage and the cause.  Such that we could do the same in court if that became necessary.  We must be able to defend ourselves in order to preserve our company.  This requires a complete understanding and full knowledge of the matter at hand.

This third step is what I would like to help you with.  So that you will be adequately prepared.  To do this I will be writing a series of consecutive posts on this subject of "Forensic Window Cleaning".  There will be micrographs of scratches, etched glass, seal failure of low e IG units, and other assorted creatures.  Also different tests that can be performed on new window glass along with the window surfaces in question.  

I have made use of this practice over the years to save window cleaners from huge losses.  Some of these tests are very simple, but very powerful.  They can prove beyond any doubt that you are not responsible.  Of course someone was.  Usually it is another subcontractor that worked under the builder at the time of construction.  Who is long gone no one even knowing who they were.  

 

Happy Abstract Art

 I have another business I thought I should tell you about.  Recently I have got into creating art.  It is called Pour Painting.  I have links listed on www.happyabstractart.blogspot.com which you can follow on the YouTube to watch how it is done.  You can also view many of the works I have been showing at libraries and galleries/restaurants.  Scroll down and check them out.  Here below is one my wife did which I call Dragon Wings.  If you would like a custom work done for your office or home just let me know.  Another alternative would be to create something yourself.  My goal is to teach others how to do the same thing for themselves and family.  Or even sell if they chose!  More than anything however is the fun you can have doing it!

Henry Grover Jr.

henrygrover222@gmail.com

Affiliate Product links

 I will be talking about many of the products I have discovered over the last 44 years that I have been cleaning windows.  Such products will be listed with links on the side bar here on this blog.  I will be writing about each and demonstrating how they work with a touch of chemistry and physics thrown in.  But not too much.

I am also working on some unique products that I will own and will be marketing through a distributor.  Hoping this helps with your work.  Not to be left out will be answers to questions regarding certain problem jobs you might be working on.  The Glass Smart YouTube Channel will also continue.

You will find below the official Glass Smart Products Logo.

 

Winning a Scratched Glass Lawsuit

 Winning a lawsuit begins before you touch the first window.  It begins with educating your customer.  Enter the Trivalent Waiver.  Have one written up and then have each part (3 in total) signed and dated by the customer as you move through the job.  I wrote a post about this animal in this blog.  You will find it by scrolling down.  Customers need to understand that anything can happen when techniques or different chemicals must be used to remove substances that conventional cleaning methods cannot.  It is also very real that scratches left by previous cleanings can easily be revealed by removing dirt and stains.

Next if you can possibly avoid a razor this is always the best practice.  If however you must use one you should use a penny and a cheap doctors stethascope to listen for factory debris fused to the glass surface.  Not going to get into the science of what this is.  We all know it.  And have to deal with it.  Just need to know every time when it is there.  The sound will tell you.  Clean the window first with the conventional method.  Soap and squeegee.  Then light drag a penny across the dry surface and listen.  I have heard many different sounds over the years.  Including complete silence.  VERY educational.  It sure beats a microscope!

Next.  If you have to resoap and scrape do this according to a unique pattern.  Your own way that you move the razor.  So that if scratches appear later if you caused them you will see the pattern will match your pattern.  If not then you did NOT cause the scratches.

I have also when called into a consulting job actually tried to create the same scratches with the same tool that the window cleaner used.  But in a different direction to the pattern of the scratches that were in question.  I actually saved one companies business this way.  We lost a couple too.

Another tool is a handheld lighted microscope that links by bluetooth to a smart phone.  I am collecting a series of different micrographs of scratches caused by different things on my own test plate.  Also from the field.  Also have written a couple posts in this blog and included the micrographs further down.  If we can show that the scratches were caused by an aluminum ladder for example and NOT a razor blade, then we have won the lawsuit.  The microscope can be a very powerful analytical and legal tool.

More about this later.  But if you need some help to guide you through a very emotional and difficult problem please give me a call and send me an email.

Henry Grover Jr.

henrygroverjr@gmail.com

6034989474

 

Investigating Evaporated Metal Coatings (Low E First Surface)

Ever clean the outside of a green house only to find zillions of extremely fine scratches?  It is likely something the home owner never paid much attention to.  But I am certain that such a problem if discovered on a brand new greenhouse would be a lawsuit waiting to happen.  This particular problem is very common.  It is another reason for the Trivalent Waiver.

The weather surface (number one) of greenhouses use a metal coating to block certain parts of the suns radiation.  In an effort to limit the heat and ultraviolet to keep the temperature down and prevent the furniture and carpet from fading over time.  It is also extremely easy to scratch.  More so than glass. The scratches also stand out in the bright sun much more than on a glass surface.

Such scratches can be removed with certain micro-abrasive powders such as ceriums, aluminum oxides, and even plastic based super-abrasives.  Such as the one I am bringing to the window cleaning market.  My goal is to start with companies right here in the seven states of New England where I live, and sometime after bring it out to the world through a distributor.

If you find the use of super-abrasives fascinating for what they can do, and would like to add them to your line of services as a professional window cleaner;...just give me a call, email or text.  I would like to work with you.

Henry Grover Jr.

henrygroverjr@gmail.com

6034989474

 

Introducing Glass Smart Products

 Glass Smart Products is going to focus exclusively on Super Abrasive Powders.

I have had several decades to think about where I want to go with all of the research that I have put into glass Surface Maintenance And Restoration Technology.  Have tried about seven newsletters, consulting work, and even product development.  All of these adventures have worked somewhat.  But none have done well enough to hold my interest long enough to work out.  So I have decided to develop an ultra-niche line of products that will be very easy to create and distribute through our industry even on an international level.  Abrasive powders, compounds, and various other abrasive based products will be very easy to package for resale.  The profit margin will allow for the use of a distributor so I do not have to take on this problem myself.  Which will afford me the time to spend at my research and writing.  That will be published here.  My own custom made YouTube videos will continue to be implanted in these posts.  In this way I can consult directly with our entire industry.  The communications technology we have today is so advanced that I can even work with various companies through phones, tablets, and computers.  So there really is no limits.  As Marc Tanner would say the sky is the limit.  Because really it is.

Henry Grover Jr.

I have another Blog that is focused only on the products I develop.  Not the technology.  That address is 

www.glasssmartproducts.blogspot.com

 

Our MOST Valuable Assets !!!

I have been pretty much offline over the last year.  But you know I have over seven hundred people that read this blog;... on occasion.  Although I tend to get stuck in the muck of tech stuff way too ez.  If you have tech questions just send them to my email henrygroverjr@gmail.com  But this post is about something totally different. Please read on.

I have about 100 customers on my storefront route.  These are stores priced from 10 bux up to 150 bux.  They are mostly responsible for the 500 to 1000 dollar residentials that I get on the side that make up about 20 percent of my annual income.  Now these "people" are my most valuable assetts.  They advertise for me.  Stores are your best publicity.  Much better than any advertisement in a newspaper!  But even more than that.  They give you the incentive to get up in the morning and go out.  Even in bad weather.  Your store route is a friend route.  These are not just customers.  You love these people.  When you are in the hospital they will call, text, and email you.  You see them on the street and call them by first name.  Or razz them in public.  No matter how much money they have or don't have.  These are the people you kick back with in their favorite chair and share stories with.  I had a brand new resi customer the other day call me in to his summer house.  A small 1,000 dollar job.  He had a huge boat.  Gobs of money.  But he was about 84.  Had cancer but beat it.  Could barely walk.  Hearing aids, etc.  He said;... take me out with you cleaning.  You know I am going to give him a call soon and take him downtown for a coffee or a beer and spend some time with him.  Just because I want to.  I am only 64 now.  But I have learned over the last 42 years being in business that what you put out comes right back to you a hundredfold.  Because you do it WITHOUT MOTIVE.  The true benefit that you recieve is in the love you show and that which is recieved.  That is what makes life worth living.

Henry Grover Jr.

henrygroverjr@gmail.com

Products for Storefront Customers

 I have about 100 customers on my route.  They are all individually owned businesses.  No corporate chain/franchises.  For many years I have been working on products for Window Cleaners.  Like different cleaners, solvents, stain removers, glass sealants, etc.  But recently I have been thinking about developing specific products for our customers.  That they could use when we are not there.  Products that would even make our job easier.  Also products that would only be available through the window cleaner.  The only way they could acquire such products would be through the window cleaner.  So they would give us the edge at getting the contract, and in setting a price that we need to get.  

What type of products do you think would be most attractive to our customers?  The very first one should be a spray on window cleaner.  One that uses a plant based surfactant and a disinfectant  that kills bacteria and viruses on contact.  But does NOT smell.  And dries crystal clear. I would encourage using bamboo paper towels.  These last way longer than ordinary paper towels.  And are based on the fastest growing tree in the world.

Another product I am looking to develop is a decorative paint for advertising on glass.  Based again on natural biodegradable ingredients it would hang on so we could soap and squeegee the window, but would peel off dry when the time came.  It would not leave any residue.  I have had some success with this product.  Check out this video I did.

Before you get too excited however my experiments were not completely successful.  This test was done outside and within one hour.  I tried another test inside and left the Peal Paint on for a month before attempting to remove it.  I was NOT able to remove it so easy.  In fact it was VERY difficult to get off.  Soap and water with a lot of really hard scraping.  But the first test shown here gives me much hope.  And I am very excited about the potential.

These are only two of many niche products that could be developed for our storefront accounts.  As Window Cleaners we need to be Glass Smart.  Then we can help our customers in ways that no one else can.

Written by Henry Grover Jr.

henrygroverjr@gmail.com

 

Hidden Etched Glass Could Destroy Your Company

Glass can be etched in different ways by different chemicals.  Probably the most common is HF.  This can ripple out or orange peal glass surfaces.  It will magnify any kind of glass scratch, light or heavy.  It can also create a white haze that will not come off with soapy water and a squeegee.  This haze can be opague or barely visible.  All of these effects can be covered by simple dirt and revealed by window cleaning.  That puts all of us at risk!

We need to first be able to identify these different types of etch.  But not just the owners of window cleaning companies.  But all employees too.  Simply because they are in the field doing the work.  They will have control over the work.  They will be in a position to call off the job until the problem is resolved.  Before it becomes a lawsuit.

I have always found over the last 42 years cleaning windows that when I bring something to my customers attention first it gives me the advantage.  But it always helps when I can speak with a certain degree of knowledge and exerience.

Etched glass is not the only damage that can be reveled.  There are many types of damage.  If you happen to be dealing with such a situation please give me a call or send a text and we can talk about it.  I am here to help.  Please take a look at my website.  Check out the Gallery.

Written by Henry Grover Jr.

603-498-9474

glasssmart@protonmail.com

glasssmartconsulting.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKzhmAWtlsHJiwRd6WrgGyA/videos

You Are All Consultants

No one wants to hear anything negative.  So I never tell a homeowner in advance that I will report any scratches, abrasion marks, stains, etched surfaces, failed insulating units, negative deflection, etc.  Neither will I report that to the general contractor or anyone else that I work for.  At the beginning of the job;... however.  If I am working on any window that is scratched then I have to bring that to the owners attention.  Because if I don't, they might hold me accountable.  At the end of the job or maybe a week or a month later.  The same is true for cracked glass, etched glass, hard water spots, or even failed insulating units.  People just don't know about this stuff.  They don't even know if they have an exposed low e coating.  Not to mention degassed argon and the implosion dangers of negative deflection!  So many things are just way beyond them.  These are things that are also way beyond most employees of window cleaning companies.  But your employees need this knowledge.  It is critical for your protection.  It is also a fantastic way to maintain ownership of your accounts.  When your customers witness this kind of knowledge they gain an enhanced appreciation of your company.  And will never call someone else in even if they charge less.

These things are infact the very basis of the Glass Smart window cleaner.  Do you want to have a Glass Smart company?  Do you want to be Glass Smart yourself.  This is actually the reason why I started this blog so many years ago.  This is the reason why I started developing special niche products for non-routine window cleaning.

The next Poor Peoples Pub Meet is coming up this Thursday, February 24th at 3pm.  We did not have a Meet in January because I was sick and didn't think anyone would be ok with that.  But as I write this I am feeling good.  Thursday looks like a good day for travel.  We will likely meet in the side room as usual unless we only have a few show up.

Since this Glass Smart technology is based on very special niche products I would like to show you one right here right now in a video that I made about a couple years ago.  Just remember the paint that I used for this experiment was so hard I couldn't even scrape it off with a single edge steel razor blade.  This is what I am talking about!  This is why we need to continue to have these Pub Meets.  This is about two minutes long.  

Written by Henry Grover Jr.

603-498-9474

glasssmart@protonmail.com

glasssmartconsulting.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKzhmAWtlsHJiwRd6WrgGyA/videos

Eyes Wide Open;..."Seeing" the Scratch

Can you just imaging the POWER you would have if someone were to blame you for scratching a million bux in scratched glass but you could provide the evidence that this was an absolute lie!  This post is going to prove to you that you will have that power.  Lets look at the animal!

This is a scratch from a dime.  It looks like a fat worm with about a hundred lit up body sections.  This is a typical characteristic of metal scratches as you can see further down.  They represent jumps or skips.

These scraches are all created by a 220 SiC coated piece of black 3M emery paper.  If I had made a circle the scratches would have been circular.  What IS significant about these scratches is if you use the same magnification you can determine roughly the rating of the coated paper.  This one was a 3M 220.

I created this interesting scratch using a small piece of broken bottle glass.  It is more of an abrasion band than a series of very fne scratches.  But it is very characteristic of a scratch from a broken piece of glass.  Very typical of the kind of scratches that people create on storefront glass with broken bottles.

This is George Washingtons eye from a dollar bill turned sideways.  At the same mag that I have taken the other micrographs here.  I have included it because it gives you a better idea of size.

This is the 220 3M emry coated that I used to create the perfectly parallel scratches above.  The bright reflective area is the glue holding the silicon carbide (SiC) particles together.  The particles are the black area.  These pictures are significant because they help us in finding the best paper for grinding glass which preps it for using cerium oxide slurry.

This scratch is VERY interesting.  It is a metal scratch.  I made it using a cheap pair of steel scissors.  You can see the segmentations of the previous metal scratch made with a dime.  But these are so much more defined.  They are perfectly circular and tend to be a similar distance apart in different places.  It makes me want to talk with some of the hair dressors on my route that buy 300 dollar scissors.  My guess is that metal has a greater "slip factor" which changes the look of the scratch.

This is a magnified image of the scratches made with the 220 Coated Paper.  You can see how parralel they are next to one another.  But I have included one of my own hairs which appears yellow here.  I have both yellow and grey.  The strand of hair shows how thick the 220 SiC scratches are.

There is so much that can be learned from these scratches simply because we know exactly what caused them.  This is what lets us identify the cause of any hidden scratches that we might reveal when we clean the windows.  I will continue to make scratches and send you pictures.  There are other types of damaged glass too.  Such as what happens when a scratch makes contact with different solutions of acids.  Like sulfuric, hydrofluoric, and others.  That will be a lesson in itself! 

This a picture of my little microscope that cost obout fifty bux.  You will need to get something similar so you can begin compiling your own micrographs on your phone.

Written by Henry Grover Jr.

603-498-9474

henrygrover222@gmail.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKzhmAWtlsHJiwRd6WrgGyA/videos

Revealing Hidden Scratch Patterns

The scratches shown here in this post were taken with my TAKMLY at about 50X magnification.  This is a handheld microscope that connects by WiFi to my IPhone through the Max-See_d4fO app.  The scratch patterns were from actual damage done in the field.  The first thing you will notice is the difference between these pictures. Many things can be learned from the details.  Which cannot be learned without a microscope.  Such details are very valuable in determining the innocence of the window cleaning company.  But only when compared to scratches with a known history.  It is for this reseason that I have included the beginning of a compilatation of such "known" scatches.  Meaning scratches caused by different sized particles, aluminum ladders, diamond rings, broken glass, rocks, greeny pads, etc.

If you look further down in this blog you will see how I have been able to make glass frictive or scratch sensitive.  This process creates the same exact surface for generating all of the different types of scratches and more.  A work like this has NEVER been undertaken.  It is my hope that it will help to reveal what has been hidden for so long.  And serve as a very practical tool even in court.  I don't know howe many times I have recieved reports from window cleaners that were being sued over scratched glass issues.  It is about time we stopped guessing about this and actually took a real good look at the animal!  Well here is the animal people.  Take a look.

This first picture appears to be of a wide scratch which is more of an abrasion than even a series of scratches all bunched together.

This is a very different type of scratch that is rather deep.  Also whatever caused this scratch ended up removing slices of glass.  Also for some reason it looks more "fluid".  Maybe the reason for the difference betweenthis scratch and the one below it is speed.  I am sure the tests I do will reveal at least some of the reasons.

The slices removed here were more like "chunks".  Which were rather curvy.  You can see a much smaller scratch right above the deep one.  It appears very similar however.  My guess would be whatever caused the first also caused the second.  Just with a much lighter pressure.

Here you can see many smaller scratches, most running parrallel.  So it appears to be am abrasion.  Since there are many other scratches that don't follow the same pattern they were likely formed by a different means.

These scratches were likely formed by the same means.  They also have a slight curve.  So I am thinking they were formed by hand.

These scratches were rather straight.  Going in different directions.  Also of different thicknesses.  So I am thinking they were formed by several different means.  This is what the pattern shows.  My guess is that none of the above scratches were formed with the aided of a razor and what I have called the ghost particle.  Simply because the pattern of scratches would be parrallel and all be about the same thickness.  If you think about it almost every time defective surfaces have the same sound when a razor is lightly passed over the window.

I have absolutely no clue exactly how these scratches were formed and by what means.  But I will be creating scratches by different means and then taking micrographs of such scratches.  But we can still learn certain things from these pictures.  As I have described above.

Written by Henry Grover Jr.

603-498-9474

glasssmart@protonmail.com

glasssmartconsulting.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKzhmAWtlsHJiwRd6WrgGyA/videos

Every Job is a Potential Lawsuit!

Dirt can and does cover over anything.  Scratches, stains, paint, concrete sealant, etched glass, and so much more.  Every dirty window potentially hides any of these problems.  The greatest concern are scratches, etched surfaces, and other blemishes.  These do not come off easily.  And we can easily be blamed for them.  Even by old trusted customers.  To explain.  Lets say we just finish a job.  It looks perfect.  We get paid.  Some one else comes in afterward to work on the house.  They get something on the glass and must remove it.  In doing this they scratch the glass.  Which scratches are covered by dirt.  Next year we come back to clean the windows again.  We do NOT use a razor.  But the scratches are revealed.  We are blamed.  Our trusted customer says it was our rubber that left the scratches.  The burden is on us to prove that we did not scratch the windows.  So we might have taken the razor blade away from all of our employees.  But that is still not the ultimate answer to the scratched glass problem.

Another situation can happen when another window cleaner ends up scratching some windows.  But does not tell the owner.  The windows get really dirty.  We are called in.  No razors are used.  We clean the windows and reveal the scratches.  Lawsuit time.

How about this one.  Cumberland Farms are going up all over.  Construction is doing very well as of late.  But they don't clean their windows.  Straight from the factory windows can be scratched, etched, or otherwise damaged in many different ways.  But such will never be revealed until the windows are professionally cleaned by a trained eye.  After one year however the warranty will have expired.  And Cumberland Farms and any other company will own the damage.

There are techniques for protecting against potential lawsuits and protecting windows from the loss of warrantees. This is one of the focuses of Glass Smart Consulting.  Which I would like to work with my window cleaning customers on.  Just give me a call at 603-498-9474 and leave a text with your phone number and a time you would like to talk.

Written by Henry Grover Jr.

603-498-9474

glasssmart@protonmail.com

glasssmartconsulting.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKzhmAWtlsHJiwRd6WrgGyA/videos