Stain Removal Lawsuits

The first lawsuit that can happen is from the use of glass etchants or acids that will directly attack the surface of window glass.  This can show up as various clear distortions of the glass. Or a patchy white cloudiness covering the window.  You will also be able to feel a roughness when an etchant has been used. The new surface is now more likely to attract water vapor and so will tend to fog over in the early morning.  The home owner will notice any of these conditions.  One other condition involves scratch accents.  If a window has been lightly scratched at a prior time, removing the newly formed stains with an acid will also reveal and magnify such scratches fifty times over.  Of course the owner will not understand where they came from and so will blame the Window Cleaner.

Second, using crude abrasives either in a commercial product or from an abrasives supplier.  These can create an abrasion haze which can be easily seen in the direct sun from a distance of a hundred feet or even up close.  Greater depth scratches can be created from the wrong polishing technique or pad.  In an attempt to remove stains quickly very crude or aggressive pads have been used.  These can easily cause serious damage to the surface.

Mild silicate staining can be easily remedied by using a cerium oxide with a flat polishing technique. However very difficult stains must be removed using at least a two step procedure. This requires a great deal of skill and especially the correct pads.  The first step must be performed with something other than a cerium.  But not dry.  Then finished with a cerium wet. Most people would see the pad that was used first as a simple sanding method.  But the fact is that it is way more.  There is a technology here that only a few have guessed at.  And even less understand it.  The reason very obviously is simply that the glass  restoration industry is still very much in its infancy. 

We don't need to do any more damage then what hard water has already accomplished.  And we certainly don't want to incur any lawsuits.  So we should pay more attention to advancing the technology of engineering precision surfaces.  By means of various polishing procedures using slow release pads, coated superabrasive films, and various high tech lubricants to flush the surface of any glass dust that might agglomerate creating errant scratches.  Such lubricants also keep the working surface cool to the touch.  

This is not just my opinion.  It is the essence of the polishing technology used by the optics industry for creating lenses, mirrors, and fiber optics.  And has been for many years.  We are merely following in that wake.

Written by Henry Grover Jr.
henrygroverjr@gmail.com

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