My Life Cleaning Windows

It started back in 1981 when I returned from a working vacation in Greer South Carolina.  Not wanting to deal with another NH winter I left to stay with a friend at the end of October.  On arrival I dropped my old Charger at the local junk yard where my friend worked, bought a bicycle for the seven mile commute to work, and got a job at a cotton mill carting bobbin sleds back and forth for overweight women on piece work.  When I returned in May I was in need of a job.  An old friend of 70 years invited me to work for him cleaning windows.  He taught me the trade and how to live.  We always started work at the crack of dawn;...10 am.  And worked late, quitting time was about 3.  One hour lunch breaks lounging on private beaches.  Boat rides to private islands.  This was just the beginning.

My friend Noah Richardson died of a heart attack in his sleep at 72 leaving me to fare for myself.  At 22 I took over his residential and commercial accounts, and began my own route twenty miles away.  My own company was formed which I called Sunshine Window Cleaning.  Five years later around 1987 I met my second mentor Ed Sullivan.  He introduced me to the swirl and Sansco Window Cleaning concentrate.  It took me some time to master.  I remember actually dreaming about different maneuvers.  This was something new and esoteric.  I loved it.  I didn't love the 27 degree ammonia we used to buy in 15 gallon black pails.  One day I sniffed some by accident. Fifteen minutes of dance and I was as good as ever.  I am surprised after that I still grew nose hairs later on in life.

The soap Sansco took on a mystique for me.  I remember hearing the lore that it was based on silicone.  So I called the manufacturer and badgered them to divulge the secret ingredient.  I was not overjoyed when they absolutely and fervently denied that it had any silicone in it.  This left me with only one alternative.  Find a true silicone soap.  So I did.  Then added it to the Sansco so I could use it for advertising purposes. My slogan was my cleaner would not just clean but leave a super shine from the silicone.  Sounds like my Soap N Seal product now.  This is based on an organo-silane.  The purpose being a hydrophobic rain repellancy, and an easy clean surface.  

My next technical hurdle was understanding hard water spots and how to effectively remove them. This led me to the library and polishing powders and various compounds.  I set up a lab in my kitchen and bought all kinds of acids, alkalies, and solvents.  I had about 2,500 chemicals with an entire file full of MSD Sheets.  And 3 fifty five gallon drums of 100% pure methanol on the back porch.  This great learning almost drove me to madness.  It did drive me to want to share what I was learning.

I remember walking the streets of Dover looking for the library there.  Cuz I believed I would find a collection of phone books for many different cities in different states.  From these I was going to get a list of window cleaning companies.  Then I was going to start a newsletter.  I ended up meeting Rich Fabry in California over the phone.  He told me that he and Rod Woodward had started the American Window Cleaner (AWC) magazine by buying a mailing list.  Then mailing the first issue with an offer for a subscription.  The money they got for this came from selling the patent for the Super System to Ettore. Unfortunately several years later Rod died from complications from a transplant operation. Rich took over the mag and did really well with it.  He always supported his past friend by mentioning him in the magazine as the founder.

I told Rich about my research and how I wanted to also begin a newsletter.  Not a magazine.  I didn't want advertisers.  So that I could be very plain.  And I wanted to write about technical subjects.  So Rich made me an offer.  Write for his publication. An article every issue six times a year.  He would give me an ad at the end of the article in exchange.  After a couple years writing for the AWC the IWCA discovered me and brought me to Texas and Florida to give seminars on Glass Stain Identification and Removal Techniques.  My first newsletter was born.  People started waking me up in the morning with phone calls from as far as Japan, Australia, and England.  I started traveling for consulting jobs.  I remember  trips to Cincinnati, Canada, Florida, DC, Virginia, NYC, PA, Connecticut, MA, and my home state NH.  Some buildings I looked at were the Met Art, Grande Hyatt, and WTC in NYC. Also the chiquita banana office high rise in Ohio.  Many fascinating and enjoyable memories.  I will never forget one warm summer day eating out at a pavilion in Virginia watching about fifty guys play kickball.  So much of what I learned about stained windows and the problems that result from bad restoration techniques didn't come from books.  I met with window cleaning companies that did the damage, companies that were looking to fix it, and lawyers who were called in to litigate.  Most of all I got to see real problems up close and personal.

The newsletter I developed was called Technically Speaking Per se.  Or TSP.  Unger Enterprise bought a subscription.  Henry Unger read the first issue on a plane trip to Germany.  When he got back he gave me a call.  I met him and his son Dane at the convention in Lubbock TX. One thing I wanted to show off then was a hard water spot remover I had developed in my kitchen.  So I took about twenty guys outside in front of the motel and demonstrated.  Dane was watching too.  Immediately after they took me into a vacant room and made an offer. Ettore also wanted to work with me.  I chose the company close to home.  And so began a very enjoyable adventure with Henry and his family.  His goal was to develop a signature line of products using my personal name.  The only trade off was I had to end the newsletter.  Simply because we couldn't market a product if the formula of such had been disclosed to even a very limited group of subscribers.  So in search of the bigger buck I did this.

I can remember Henry inviting me to a small convention.  To his personal home in CT.  An inventors show.  And pizza with all the employees at the factory.  The hospitality of Henry and his family was much appreciated.  It was a very enjoyable time in my life.  Unfortunately after about a year Henry died and the contract was dissolved.  His three sons were busy moving into other Countries.  They had all they could do now just managing the business.  This is what I figured.  I had other interests too. In a couple years I was married in 1997.  I moved out of my lab. The chemicals had to go.  I had kids now.  Too young to know that sulfuric acid will burn through your skin.  It was necessary to refocus.

Rich had sold the mag at some time also.  I drifted away from writing and was just busy with survival.  Then about sixteen years later something happened.  The internet had developed into something much larger.  There were window cleaning forums now.  After trying out a couple I discovered Chris and Alex Lambrinides.  Chris just said;... write.  No stipulations. Rich had told me start but you can't stop.  So several years later here I am.  Still writing in the WCR forum.  Writing not for Chris and Alex, but for all of us.  The net made it possible for me to connect with our community in ways that I never imagined possible.  It also has made it possible for me to start a newsletter again.  This time it is a purely electronic newsletter. It is created, marketed, sent, and sold electronically.  The focus is on developing and testing new products.  Much of this information is totally free on my blog and over the WCR forum in my posts. I am developing videos to demonstrate the products I am developing.  Which is probably the most fun part of it.  But the simple idea that I can use social media to market the information I am creating is the most amazing thing. Thirty years ago I bought a five hundred dollar typewriter to produce TSP.  Then I had to print the pages and send them out by mail. I received payment by checks also sent by mail.  That old typewriter went to the local dump.  Now with my somewhat old computer I can do everything without any use of snail mail. I don't even have to travel to the bank.  As long as I remain focused this will continue to work.  I have an IPhone, a Mini IPad, and a desktop computer.  Next I need to get another laptop computer for the road.  I can record video on my phone, tablet, and digital camera. Then transfer the clips via WiFi to the computor.  String them on my timeline where they can be edited, uploaded to You Tube, and published in the WCR Forum and my blog.  Along with other digital social media.  So much advancement in so little time.  Relatively speaking!

Written by Henry Grover Jr.
henrygroverjr@gmail.com

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