Glass treatments are professional applications of thin film chemicals at ambient temperature. They usually are only a couple of molecules deep. If the polymers form a covalent bond with the oxygen atoms at the surface of the glass, the treatment is said to be "part of" the glass. Some of these companies are very emphatic about not using the terms sealant and coating. They also tend to focus on their claim that their product has been tested by many independant labs which specialize in such analytical work. They will elucidate at length about the applications of their products, and mention various well known buildings that have been treated. I can think of one company in particular that has a patent on their technology which claims to use two different chemical treatments. The first one which is only about a couple polymers deep forms a covalent bond with the oxygens at the surface of the glass. Then they have a second 'different' polymer that is chemically bonded to the first. This patented technology is supposed to give their proprietary treatment/product superior longevity and resistance to UVC and alkali attack. They also have reports of independent tests that they can provide to anyone who asks which prove beyond doubt that their technology and product is the absolute best. Their are other companies yet that will just simply state that their product has been around for years, and is very well established in the marketplace. They will focus on this fact not even getting into any independent tests or alternate patented technology. Further;..,there are even more companies that have copied these companies in creating products that can be used not just on glass, but metal, plastic, and other surfaces too. Some of them are OK. But others are not. Their effects last for only a few days. They certainly do not form covalent bonds since they are not "surface specific". Their are those products too which are applied to glass in the float glass factory when the glass is manufactured. I have been told these are pyrolytically bonded to the glass and are in fact truly permanent. Just the other day I was cleaning windows at my Glass Shop and overheard a sales pitch regarding a brand new shower door enclosure. To wrap it up the salesperson said, "And I also seriously suggest using a glass that has a stain resistant factory treatment". If you are a professional applicator of aftermarket glass treatments you will have a difficult time getting in the front door when marketing to the glass world. Since they have been brainwashed already to believe that the treated glass they get from glass manufacturers like Guardian is the absolute best, and there is nothing that you could provide that could even come close to that quality.
So what do we do? The very first thing is to focus on aftermarket glass. Don't even get into any discussions with the glass world about the actual quality of various treatments and technologies used on new glass. But rather just focus on your own knowledge of this field, and your expertise in the application of the right treatment for the desired effect. Which effect might be stain resistance, scratch resistance, an easy clean surface, hydrophobicity, or hydrophylicity. Give a guarantee, and a price. Do not discuss the name of the product you will be using. Nor discuss the actual process that you will be using. The technology that you use is proprietary, and there is no need for you to discuss it in detail with anyone. It would be good at this point however to discuss the different benefits of glass treatments. This can be done verbally at the moment. It can also be done with a flyer or info-letter.
Your guarantee should be specific to the desired effect of the treatment and what the application will be. Is the customer mostly concerned with exterior scratch resistance? Are they in search of a treatment to make cleaning interior shower glass enclosures much easier? Are they looking for an easy clean treatment for the exterior using a water fed pole? Or do they want an exterior easy clean treatment where the glass will be wiped with a micro fiber towel? Are they in search of a treatment that will make removing hard water deposits that are being caused by a sprinkler system or efflorescence of the exterior building facade much easier over the months and years to come? All of these different applications require different treatments/products, and different application techniques. Some applications will even demand a different guarantee, or no guarantee at all! I don't think any manufacturer of a glass treatment/product will tell you anything that I have written in this paragraph. But it is all very true.
Before you get into this niche business it is necessary to become familiar with the different products that are currently on the market. You should also become familiar with some very "grassroots tests" that will tell you what you need to know about which application you are looking at. There will be new treatments/products that will continue to hit the market. Some will come along as a franchise, some as a professional product at a higher than normal cost, and some as a retail item available at a Lowes or Home Depot. You need to be ready to test out these new products so you can add them to your company list of chemical tools. You wouldn't use the same window cleaning tools on every window. So why should you use the same glass treatment tool for every application/job.
Written by Henry Grover Jr.
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Saturday, December 27, 2014
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
12,000 Dollar Resi Restoration Job
It was a million dollar house on the hill. In a very wealthy neighborhood. The painters decided to power wash in preparation for painting. So they used a commercial product based on sodium carbonate and sodium metasilicate. It cleaned the outside of the house very well. But also left a white haze/stain on the windows. Which no one was able to remove. Others had tried. They ended up leaving many scratches on those windows they worked on.
The house had Pella windows. Each window had 6, 10, 12, or 15 small insulating glass units. So if a door (15 units) had two stained units, the entire door would have to be replaced. There were exactly 1,974 insulating units in the entire house. Of which almost 500 were stained. These were spread out through the entire house. Every window had at least one stained unit. So every window would have to be replaced. At a total cost of 80,000 bux! I priced the units at 20 bux each. 500 units came to 10,000 dollars. Then charged another 2,000 bux to clean the outside so I would only restore those units that were stained. I made about 100 bux per hour.
The money was coming from the paint companies insurance. When I arrived in the driveway that first day the insurance man was waiting with a check in hand for a quarter of the job. Why not? I was going to save them 62,000 bux! Looking back I probably shouldn't have been that generous. Anyhow when I started working I learned real quick that my old friend cerium oxide would not touch the stain. Also diamond compound with my machine was leaving a scratch haze. The customer/homeowner would not tolerate this. So I sat down and took a break. Then I put all my cords, pads, and machines back in the car and got out some Bounty paper towels. The paper towels and diamond compound, yellow, at a micron rating of 3;...worked very well. No scratches. The stain came right off. It was taking about ten minutes per unit at twenty bux per unit.
Everyone was happy. The homeowner, paint company, insurance company, and me. It was a total win win situation. The bottom line here is not every job is in want of a solution. Those that are, usually involve lawyers and insurance companies. When they do, price high. Look for those that do. And know that every job will be different. Requiring different solutions. Further, always maintain your confidence in the face of what might appear to be defeat. It could be sweet!
Written by Henry Grover Jr.
henrygroverjr@gmail.com
To receive these posts in your inbox just type your address in the box at the top right, "Follow by Email".
The house had Pella windows. Each window had 6, 10, 12, or 15 small insulating glass units. So if a door (15 units) had two stained units, the entire door would have to be replaced. There were exactly 1,974 insulating units in the entire house. Of which almost 500 were stained. These were spread out through the entire house. Every window had at least one stained unit. So every window would have to be replaced. At a total cost of 80,000 bux! I priced the units at 20 bux each. 500 units came to 10,000 dollars. Then charged another 2,000 bux to clean the outside so I would only restore those units that were stained. I made about 100 bux per hour.
The money was coming from the paint companies insurance. When I arrived in the driveway that first day the insurance man was waiting with a check in hand for a quarter of the job. Why not? I was going to save them 62,000 bux! Looking back I probably shouldn't have been that generous. Anyhow when I started working I learned real quick that my old friend cerium oxide would not touch the stain. Also diamond compound with my machine was leaving a scratch haze. The customer/homeowner would not tolerate this. So I sat down and took a break. Then I put all my cords, pads, and machines back in the car and got out some Bounty paper towels. The paper towels and diamond compound, yellow, at a micron rating of 3;...worked very well. No scratches. The stain came right off. It was taking about ten minutes per unit at twenty bux per unit.
Everyone was happy. The homeowner, paint company, insurance company, and me. It was a total win win situation. The bottom line here is not every job is in want of a solution. Those that are, usually involve lawyers and insurance companies. When they do, price high. Look for those that do. And know that every job will be different. Requiring different solutions. Further, always maintain your confidence in the face of what might appear to be defeat. It could be sweet!
Written by Henry Grover Jr.
henrygroverjr@gmail.com
To receive these posts in your inbox just type your address in the box at the top right, "Follow by Email".
Monday, December 8, 2014
Aggressive Stain Removal Pads
Four zero steel wool pads are based on strands of actual steel. Each strand of steel is about 20 microns across. It is also round. As it passes across the glass surface it does not cut, but rather rubs. It does not abrade. It is not abrasive. But it is hard. Just about as hard as glass. So it will literally push abrasive particles such as silicas or diamond directly into the glass and drag them enhancing their abrasive action. This is why steel wool pads are more aggressive than hard felt, or sponge pads. Even nylon/plastic pads are not as aggressive as steel wool. This is because steel is much harder than plastic.
There are other pads that are "aggressive". Any pad that is very hard can be considered aggressive. Steel wool works so well because it is wool. It is a mesh. The polishing particles are about 1/6th the size of the diameter of four zero steel wool. They are easily caught up in that mesh and are also easily dragged under the strands. Which force them into the surface. Any other material that does this will have similar success in polishing glass. There are various commercial pads that have very small holes all over the pad surface. Such holes perform a similar function to a steel wool mesh. In fact, as the particles begin to drag between the pad and the glass they can become embedded in the surface of the pad. Once embedded they will abrade the glass on a microscopic level. They will polish the glass and remove mineral deposits.
There are particles which are very effective at abrading glass. They are very effective at removing stock. Silicon carbide, boron nitride, and diamond are three. When these are used in conjunction with very aggressive pads they can remove stock very fast. So they are very effective at grinding glass for scratch removal. Or are also very effective are removing mineral deposits. These have been used for many years in the field of glass "cold working". One problem that can happen involves the formation of glass dust agglomerates. When scratches form on glass seen or microscopic, there are always little pieces that break away. These can stick together forming larger "particles" which can leave very large scratches. To avoid this problem when using aggressive pads with aggressive particles much water is also used during the grinding process. Such will flush away most if not all of the glass dust agglomerates. I am guessing that a similar use of water during the polishing process should prove just as effective.
Grinding and polishing glass is a very old technology. Silicon carbide and cerium oxide have been used for many years. Water has always been an integral part of the process. Only in later years have there been alternate synthetic pad materials created that have proven rather effective. Especially in nano-polishing. The goal has always been to create a better surface with smaller and smaller imperfections. Surfaces are now routinely engineered down to a quarter of a micron. On all types of substrates. The particle zoo is not small. There are all kinds of particles. Of all types of chemistries, shapes, and sizes. We even have functionalyzed nano-particles. Scanning electron microscopes show us not just their shapes, but also the exact arrangement of the atoms that make up each particle. This is where this 'old technology' has become very high tech and modern.
It is my dream to explore many of these high tech pads. By doing this we will merge this high tech world of polishing glass with the Window Cleaning industry.
Written by Henry Grover Jr.
If you would like these posts to come in your inbox just type your address in the box at the top right, "Follow by Email".
All inquiries about products featured on this blog can be forwarded to my email address henrygroverjr@gmail.com
There are other pads that are "aggressive". Any pad that is very hard can be considered aggressive. Steel wool works so well because it is wool. It is a mesh. The polishing particles are about 1/6th the size of the diameter of four zero steel wool. They are easily caught up in that mesh and are also easily dragged under the strands. Which force them into the surface. Any other material that does this will have similar success in polishing glass. There are various commercial pads that have very small holes all over the pad surface. Such holes perform a similar function to a steel wool mesh. In fact, as the particles begin to drag between the pad and the glass they can become embedded in the surface of the pad. Once embedded they will abrade the glass on a microscopic level. They will polish the glass and remove mineral deposits.
There are particles which are very effective at abrading glass. They are very effective at removing stock. Silicon carbide, boron nitride, and diamond are three. When these are used in conjunction with very aggressive pads they can remove stock very fast. So they are very effective at grinding glass for scratch removal. Or are also very effective are removing mineral deposits. These have been used for many years in the field of glass "cold working". One problem that can happen involves the formation of glass dust agglomerates. When scratches form on glass seen or microscopic, there are always little pieces that break away. These can stick together forming larger "particles" which can leave very large scratches. To avoid this problem when using aggressive pads with aggressive particles much water is also used during the grinding process. Such will flush away most if not all of the glass dust agglomerates. I am guessing that a similar use of water during the polishing process should prove just as effective.
Grinding and polishing glass is a very old technology. Silicon carbide and cerium oxide have been used for many years. Water has always been an integral part of the process. Only in later years have there been alternate synthetic pad materials created that have proven rather effective. Especially in nano-polishing. The goal has always been to create a better surface with smaller and smaller imperfections. Surfaces are now routinely engineered down to a quarter of a micron. On all types of substrates. The particle zoo is not small. There are all kinds of particles. Of all types of chemistries, shapes, and sizes. We even have functionalyzed nano-particles. Scanning electron microscopes show us not just their shapes, but also the exact arrangement of the atoms that make up each particle. This is where this 'old technology' has become very high tech and modern.
It is my dream to explore many of these high tech pads. By doing this we will merge this high tech world of polishing glass with the Window Cleaning industry.
Written by Henry Grover Jr.
If you would like these posts to come in your inbox just type your address in the box at the top right, "Follow by Email".
All inquiries about products featured on this blog can be forwarded to my email address henrygroverjr@gmail.com
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Anatomy of a Hard Water Spot
I know it goes without saying;...but hard water spots come from hard water drops. Hard water drops are hard because they are loaded with silicate based minerals. Silicates are microscopic "rocks". Hence the word hard. These silicates usually include the elements silicon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, sulfur, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and sodium. They are very similar to the chemistry of window glass, and so have the tendency to "lock on" to the microscopic surface. Once there they can initiate an exchange reaction with the atoms in the glass effecting a stage two static etch over time. So that when they are removed via a superabrasive based polish what remains is a visible distortion of the surface or a "fingerprint" of the spot itself. I can make this statement with absolute confidence since I have performed the experiment myself on a piece of dark glass cut from an existing window damaged by hard water drops. Dark tinted glass by the way is much more likely to become damaged by hard water, and is much more difficult to restore. Many of the videos on the internet demonstrating stain removal systems are performed on first surface reflective glass. This is the easiest surface to clear. I would like to see one done using dark glass!
So many people think that hard water spots are just a deposit. Just a simple stain. While this is usually true at the beginning, it is not always true. Over time serious damage can be done. The reason lies in the anatomy of the spot. The spot forms as has been mentioned from a hard water drop. As that drop evaporates in the hot sun the concentration of silicates increases, and so does the pH of the water drop. When the pH reaches 9 and above a chemical reaction begins leaching the hydrogen atoms from the glass surface. As time wears on other atoms/elements such as sodium, calcium, and oxygen are leached away. At this point complete dissolution takes place or what is called a stage two static etch. Both the reaction byproducts and the various silicates in the original drop are left behind as the water molecules evaporate. Hence it is considered static. It is also true that not all of the water molecules have left. You would have to heat the glass to seven hundred degrees to accomplish this. But from what we can see with the unaided eye;... the glass is dry.
The greatest damage or dissolution takes place around the outer edge of the spot. This is because as the drop evaporates it does so from the middle out. I call the middle area the "basin", and the outer edge the "ring". The drop ring rather than the basin carries most of the silicates and so reaches the highest pH first. So logically this is where most of the damage or dissolution takes place. The spot basin is virtually untouched. If you look close at the pictures shown on the side bar here you will see what I mean.
What is interesting about the potential of hard water drops to etch a glass surface is the fact that this action is increased by a few different factors. One is simple repetition. Every time a drop runs down the window, it is caught by a previously existing spot. The drop stops right over the spot, and evaporates right there when the sun comes out the next day. So spots will become more and more intense over time by this process. As each drop forms on top of each spot and evaporates, etching becomes more severe. Another factor to consider is how hot the glass is because this determines how quickly each drop evaporates. Which allows for many more drops to form and evaporate. It also means that the chemical reaction or dissolution of the glass will be much more pronounced. Heat always speeds up a chemical reaction. Another factor to consider, which has already been mentioned briefly, is the chemistry of the glass. Dark glass is much more likely to react with highly alkaline water drops. This is why water spots are much more difficult to remove from this type of glass surface. Dark glass also heats up more quickly in the sun. Ordinary clear glass is the next down. And the easiest to clear are reflective pyrolytic first surface windows.
I am quite sure that a deeper look into the "structural biology" of hard water spots would reveal some rather fascinating facts about the destructive nature of these "one celled" animals. Their "cellular walls" are in fact alive as each spot evolves through its life cycle. One tactic is to prevent the walls from forming in the first place by creating a hydrophylic surface by the use of a titanium dioxide coating. Of course hydrophylicity can be created in other ways too. There are various silanes that can be functionalized to form covalent bonds with the "free" oxygen atoms on the surface of glass, and at the same time hold onto water molecules strongly enough to form a film. In this way water drops are not so easily formed. I would like to point out that the ability of such designer coatings to resist the alkali attack of high pH water drops is not dependent on their hydrophobic/hydrophylic properties;...but rather their chemistry. It is also true that when spot rings have been eliminated by hydrophylic coatings, it is far less likely that hard water from either a sprinkler system or concrete efflorescence will do damage to such coatings. And so the holy grail of stain resistant coatings might not be hydrophobics at all. But rather just the opposite. You judge!
Written by Henry Grover Jr.
henrygroverjr@gmail.com
To receive these posts in your inbox just type your address in the box at the top right, "Follow by Email".
Also if you have any interest in any of the products mentioned or alluded to in any of these posts please just send me an email.
So many people think that hard water spots are just a deposit. Just a simple stain. While this is usually true at the beginning, it is not always true. Over time serious damage can be done. The reason lies in the anatomy of the spot. The spot forms as has been mentioned from a hard water drop. As that drop evaporates in the hot sun the concentration of silicates increases, and so does the pH of the water drop. When the pH reaches 9 and above a chemical reaction begins leaching the hydrogen atoms from the glass surface. As time wears on other atoms/elements such as sodium, calcium, and oxygen are leached away. At this point complete dissolution takes place or what is called a stage two static etch. Both the reaction byproducts and the various silicates in the original drop are left behind as the water molecules evaporate. Hence it is considered static. It is also true that not all of the water molecules have left. You would have to heat the glass to seven hundred degrees to accomplish this. But from what we can see with the unaided eye;... the glass is dry.
The greatest damage or dissolution takes place around the outer edge of the spot. This is because as the drop evaporates it does so from the middle out. I call the middle area the "basin", and the outer edge the "ring". The drop ring rather than the basin carries most of the silicates and so reaches the highest pH first. So logically this is where most of the damage or dissolution takes place. The spot basin is virtually untouched. If you look close at the pictures shown on the side bar here you will see what I mean.
What is interesting about the potential of hard water drops to etch a glass surface is the fact that this action is increased by a few different factors. One is simple repetition. Every time a drop runs down the window, it is caught by a previously existing spot. The drop stops right over the spot, and evaporates right there when the sun comes out the next day. So spots will become more and more intense over time by this process. As each drop forms on top of each spot and evaporates, etching becomes more severe. Another factor to consider is how hot the glass is because this determines how quickly each drop evaporates. Which allows for many more drops to form and evaporate. It also means that the chemical reaction or dissolution of the glass will be much more pronounced. Heat always speeds up a chemical reaction. Another factor to consider, which has already been mentioned briefly, is the chemistry of the glass. Dark glass is much more likely to react with highly alkaline water drops. This is why water spots are much more difficult to remove from this type of glass surface. Dark glass also heats up more quickly in the sun. Ordinary clear glass is the next down. And the easiest to clear are reflective pyrolytic first surface windows.
I am quite sure that a deeper look into the "structural biology" of hard water spots would reveal some rather fascinating facts about the destructive nature of these "one celled" animals. Their "cellular walls" are in fact alive as each spot evolves through its life cycle. One tactic is to prevent the walls from forming in the first place by creating a hydrophylic surface by the use of a titanium dioxide coating. Of course hydrophylicity can be created in other ways too. There are various silanes that can be functionalized to form covalent bonds with the "free" oxygen atoms on the surface of glass, and at the same time hold onto water molecules strongly enough to form a film. In this way water drops are not so easily formed. I would like to point out that the ability of such designer coatings to resist the alkali attack of high pH water drops is not dependent on their hydrophobic/hydrophylic properties;...but rather their chemistry. It is also true that when spot rings have been eliminated by hydrophylic coatings, it is far less likely that hard water from either a sprinkler system or concrete efflorescence will do damage to such coatings. And so the holy grail of stain resistant coatings might not be hydrophobics at all. But rather just the opposite. You judge!
Written by Henry Grover Jr.
henrygroverjr@gmail.com
To receive these posts in your inbox just type your address in the box at the top right, "Follow by Email".
Also if you have any interest in any of the products mentioned or alluded to in any of these posts please just send me an email.
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