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