#2 Etch Test for Glass

This is a test for what I call Total Glass Dissolution.  Which is very simply put, the ability of the liquid in question to eat up and dissolve all molecular components of the glass.  That would be both the silicas and silicates.  In other words the calcium, sodium, oxygen, and silicon atoms.

To do this you will first need a small plastic cup.  About four inches.  Fill it half way with the liquid/product in question.  Then take a small/business card size piece of window glass.  I use the 3/16 inch glass from a glass shop.  You can ask them to cut you some two by three and a half inch (business card size) pieces.  They will even smooth the edges so you won't get cut.  Next just drop one gently into your plastic cup half filled with liquid.  The liquid should rise about half way up the glass plate. So that half is immersed and half is dry.  Let it set at room temperature for about a half hour.  Next remove and run it under the tap.  Then dry completely.  Inspect in bright light.

If total dissolution has occurred you will notice a rippled/orange peal like line where the liquid and air met.  You might see some clouding above this that won't go away.  The surface of the glass that was immersed should be very clear.  You might even be able to feel the rippled line with your fingernail.  Probably more on one side of the glass than the other.  And if you hold the glass closer to your face and look through it at the distant landscape, then move it a little, you should see the objects viewed through it move a little funny.  This line is the site of total dissolution.  Of course the surface that was totally immersed was also totally dissolved.  But the effect is much more noticeable at this line.  Again, if you want to do this test with something that is sure to cause this effect, pick up some sulfuric acid (battery acid) from the auto parts store.  But use caution.  Gloves and goggles are always best when working with acids.  It is a very strong acid.  About 37% clear sulfuric.

Written by Henry Grover Jr

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#1 Etch Test for Glass

So you have bought a liquid wonder product for removing hard water deposits.  You have watched the manufacturers video on how to use it.  You have read the reviews and talked to other guys about how effective it is.  And now you're ready!  Hold on!  Please read and do this first.  Then every time you hear about another wonder product put it to the test.  This first test I discovered by accident.  Yet it is one of the most effective and simple tests.  No high tech instruments.  Just a 3M green pad, some magic tape, a mirror, flashlight, and a very dark room.

Take a one by one foot mirror plate.  Create a nice patch of scratches in the middle with your green pad.  Tape off one side of the patch to keep it dry.  Then apply the wonder product to only one half of the patch.  Do not let it contact the other side.  That is what the tape is for.  Give it a good thirty seconds to a minute.  Remove with soapy water, and squeegee.  Remove tape to reveal the rest of patch.  Next take your nice clean, dry mirror into a very dark room.  A bathroom without windows works well.  Look down the beam of the flashlight at the entire scratch patch.  If the product in question has any amount of acid that etches glass you will notice that the scratches that made contact with the product will be very noticeable compared to the scratches that were covered by the tape.

I have developed this test using pure acids such as hydrofluoric, sulfuric, and ammonium hydrofluoride.  Hydrofluoric worked well for me down to only 1%.  If you want to play with a reasl easy to get bad boy you might go to the local auto parts store.  Buy some battery acid.  This is essentially sufuric acid at a 37% concentration.  I got my pint for four bux!  You might have to pay up to seven.

This test also doubles as a test for crude silicas used in hard water stain removers that are rub on gels, or rubbing powders. It is done the same way.  Just substitute the 3M green pad for your product.  Rub in your powdered products using a damp sponge.  Also rub in your gel without water using a slightly damp 100% cellulose sponge.

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Creating Superhydrophobic Glass

OK.  Many years have passed since Repcon.  Most of you out there have never even heard of this product.  It was first created for jet aircraft.  Then came RainX.  Next The Invisible Shield.  These three at that time were owned by the same company.  Over in the UK at about the same time from a completely different company came Clear Shield.  Now over thirty years has passed since this time.  However the chemistry used for these products is still known and in use.

Many other products and systems have been developed in later years.  Based on somewhat different chemistries such as cross linking siloxanes, organofluorochlorosilanes, and silane functionalized silica nanoparticles.  As it turns out hydrophobic glass surfaces are not too difficult to create.  However superhydrophobic surfaces are somewhat more challenging.  It has been learned from studying the nanoscopic surface of the lotus leaf that more is involved than just chemistry.  The physical surface must have a certain 'structure'.  When the right chemistry is coupled with this then contact angles greater than 150 degrees can be attained.  Superhydrophobicity can be tested also by whether water drops will roll down a clean surface at only a 10 degree angle.

The benefits of such 'new' surfaces are many.  First they will resist hard water spots, paint, wood stains, grease, and other chemistries.  They also improve vision during rain storms.  Especially if applied to vehicular vision glass.  The right treatments will resist scratches making glass and mirror mar resistant.  Likewise superhydrophobic window cleaning is a breeze.  It completely eliminates the need for squeegees and hence the skill factor.  Microfiber applicators can be used inside.  And a simple garden hose will do the outside.  Throw away your store bought cleaners that just coat windows with soap creating filmy glass.  Pure water is all you'll need.  However superhydrophobic systems and products to the best of my knowledge, have not yet made it to the flat glass market.  But the hydrophobic business is alive and well.

If you want to receive the benefits of hydrophobic coatings you will need a window cleaning company that is Glass Smart.  This kind of Window Cleaning company knows exactly how to attain the most effective, and long lasting coating possible.  All surfaces must be activated first before applying the coating. Also each coating is different for different reasons. You should also know that hydrophobic glass is truly not 'self cleaning'. Windows will still get dirty and spotted.  Thus they will still need to be cleaned.  Which can be done with microfiber applicator/wipes or the garden hose if your water isn't hard.  It is also true that under certain conditions inside surfaces can become filmy quicker than if there were no coating applied at all.  In fact if that surface were 'structured' correctly, without any coating at all;...it will appear to stay cleaner longer.  This can be proven over a span of just a month or two by a simple experiment on your window.  Now these are the kind of things a company that sells hydrophobic glass coatings/treatments will absolutely NOT tell you.  But a Glass Smart window cleaning company will.  It pays to listen to the independant contractor/consultant.

Written by Henry Grover Jr

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Microlapping Window Glass

This is a relatively simple process using either a cerium oxide slurry or some other optical grade polishing powder with water.  It is possible to do by hand.  Yet a circular felt pad works exceptionally fast.  Another machine that can be used for this is a square random oscillating sander.  Just remove any pad or bottom attatchment and slap a thick piece of hard felt on.  It will polish the glass without throwing compound fifty feet.  In fact it is so neat you can work right up to a quarter inch of another plate without getting any slurry on it.  All you want to do is remove a very slight amount of glass.  Just enough so that when the window is fogged you don't see any patterns or lines.  A more simple way of testing the new surface is to wet it with pure water.  If it has been properly microlapped the water will sheet over the entire surface equally.  It will not bead up at all anyplace.

One reason why you might want to microlap is to set up the surface for a hydrophobic, or even a hydrophylic coating.  The coatings which form a true chemical bond to the glass will likely require as many free oxygen atoms as possible.  So you won't want any organic or mineral residues blocking the reactions.  The exterior of window glass also undergoes a certain amount of corrosion or weathering.  Weathering is the more correct technical term that glass scientists use.  If the etch that happens is static then there will be invisible deposits that will block chemical reactions.

If you doubt that weathering happens try this.  The next time you are working on an old set of storm windows try running your finger lightly over the inside and outside surfaces of the upper storm.  Make sure both surfaces are perfectly clean.  You will detect a noticeable drag on the outer surface.  By comparison the inside will be very smooth.  You will note then that the outer surface has undergone extensive weathering.  Usually this type of etch is dynamic.  But depending on various conditions it could be partly static too.

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Developing The Silicone Slayer

Silicone Caulk can be a Window Cleaners nightmare!  The reason for this is that as silicone caulk cures it forms a covalent bond with itself (it crosslinks), and to the 'free' oxygen atoms at the surface of the glass.  So in other words it bonds to itself and the window.  The common solvents out there that won't kill a mouse at fifty feet, will at best only soften cured caulk.  They will not 'eat it up'.  My aproach to this was to find the most effective but environmentally friendly solvent, for softening cured silicone caulk.  Then to find the best microcrystalline optical grade polishing powder to break it up and remove it completely from the window.  The powder I chose would also need to blend well with the solvent chosen.  This post will explain how I went about developing The Slayer. 

In looking for the best solvent I knew that I needed one that wasn't stinky.  At times we must use it inside.  Also it must have a slow evaporation rate. Even in the hot sun.  Because we need time to scrub a little.  It must also be water miscable so we can remove it easily from the window with our cleaning solution.  And it must be extremely powerful at softening fully cured silicone caulk.

Silicone caulk will not bond to plexi and lexan.  It peals off with extreme ease when fully cured.  It comes off lexan even easier than plexi.  So I picked up some new one by one foot squares of plexi and lexan from the local glass shop.  Then I created several long thin strips of fully cured clear silicone caulk from a tube.  Which I also got from the glass shop.  These strips pealed off the lexan leaving a very flat and smooth underside.  So they would temporarily cling to vertical glass for experimental purposes.  They held on very well, but came right off when I was done.  Then I just threw them away.

Before I put them up for testing I suspended each in a separate glass cup with a different organic solvent.  Some of the solvents I tested were mineral spirits, toluene, xylene, terpentine, and methanol.  Also included was the solvent I am using for The Slayer.  After a half hour I removed my silicone strips, set them up on a window, and started digging into them with my thumbnail.  I also had a strip that hadn't been soaked in anything.  The solvent that won the contest was the one that I now use in The Slayer.  It is so effective at softening cured silicone caulk that I could easily dig off huge chunks of caulk with my nail.  The other solvents didn't even come close.  From this I figured if I could also find an equally effective optical grade microcrystalline polishing powder that would blend well with this solvent, I would have a true Silicone Slayer!

The powder of choice (but not the only one that can be used) turned out to be an optical grade silicon dioxide, a silica.  It has an average particle size of 99.9% purity at about five microns.  The morphology was amorphous.  The outer surface of the particles were treated with a hydrophillic surfactant helping to bring them quickly into a water based solution.  So since the molecular polarity of my solvent was such that it also would disperse well in water, the solvent and this powder went together well.  In theory and practice.  The Silicone Slayer has become a very effective tool in my work. 

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Defective Argon IG Units

Back about fifteen to twenty years ago manufacturers started using the inert gas argon to fill insulting glass units.  IG units have a partial vacuum with a rarified gas.  Conventional units use nitrogen.  Which makes up by far the greater percentage of our atmosphere.  Argon is a bit more "high end"!

It isn't possible to use a complete vaccum.  Other wise the glass plates would demonstrate what is called  negative pressure deflection, which can easily cause an implosion.  This is however what has been happening to the argon units.  Years after they were manufactured.  It is quite an interesting story!  Check out this article.    http://www.usglassmag.com/USGlass/1999/9904/9904argon.html 

As the article very well explains, there are likely several different possible reasons for the problem.  But the bottom line is simply if you have bought a house full of these defective units, you could be literally sitting on many potential time bombs.  Not a pleasant thought.  And you, and the cleaning company likely would have no clue until the first bang.

If you are buying a house this is only one reason why you should have a window cleaner/glass inspector clean the windows.  Home inspectors are not qualified to look for defective tempered glass, etched glass, mineral deposits, compromised IG units, and especially argon units that are just waiting for a cold day with a high barometric pressure to implode with a bang that would scare the hair off a cat.

Henry Grover Jr

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New Glass

Even brand new glass can have a defective surface.  It can be embedded with microfines from the tempering oven.  Or be just plain rough.  Both the physical and chemical quality of the surface of brand new glass can be radically different from one plate to the next.  Even when dealing with chemically strengthened or annealed glass.  To prove this all you have to do is lightly run a penny across a dry clean surface.  You will notice that it will either gluide smoothly, or stick at various locations.  Also if you were to wet a clean surface with clean pure water you will notice the water sheets over only certain areas of the surface and beads up at other locations.  This shows there is a notable difference.

New Glass is a physically and chemically treated glass surface.  It can be custom talored so that it has different properties.  Easy to clean, stain resistant, scratch resistant, or just hydrophobic and oleophobic.  Old or even new glass can be treated.  Pricing is by the square foot depending on what treatment is desired.  This varies because the procedure for the treatment is also different.

What I personally think is most appealing about this technology is the ease of maintenance cleaning of a "new glass" surface.  When a window glass surface is super hydrophobic, rinse water instantly beads and rolls right off.  Leaving an ultraclean surface in seconds.  Cleaning the outside of windows becomes a breeze.  Just soap and rinse.  Just like on TV!  Except this is real.  

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Peekaboo Mirrors

First you see it then you don't. It is now possible to create invisible artwork and lettering on mirrors that only shows up when the mirror is steamed. So when you get into the shower all you see is a clean mirror. When you get out you see an image and or lettering plainly visible in the fog. This is an incredible attention getter! To create this effect the near surface must first be microlapped to expose all of the "free" oxygen atoms. Then a mask is applied. Next a hydrophobic sealant is reacted forming a covalant bond that will last forever. Choosing the right SAM is critical. Of course the entire process can be easily repeated so as to change the image at any time. Cleaning is done with microfiber cloths and pure water, or a squeegee. Products such as Windex can't harm the image. Although they will leave a buildup of surfactant over time which will take away from the clarity. Nonetheless, it is possible to remove such a filmy buildup by simply wetting the mirror with pure water and squeegeeing it off.

The Peekaboo effect can be applied to bathroom mirrors preexisting in homes or motels. Homeowners can choose their own artwork right out of a magazine if they like. The image can then be scanned into the computer, and converted to a mask. Motels can advertise their own services directly to their customers. Or they can profit by charging nearby restaurants, taxi services, or other businesses for advertising on their mirrors.  Beauty salons can create hand held mirrors advertising their service for their customers to keep in their handbags.  Which they will have to show off by fogging the mirror with their breath and showing their friends.  On the back of the mirror would be the companies contact info including the sign company.  The sky is the limit on this one.

Demonstrations are free, and pricing is negotiable.

Currently I am looking to work with Sign companies as they have the facility to create the vinyl mask which is discarded after.  Many of these companies already have an email list of previous customers which is a valuable sales tool. 

Written by Henry Grover Jr

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What is G-S.M.A.R.T.?

G-S.M.A.R.T. stands for Glass Surface Maintenance And Restoration Technology. The focus is really on window surfaces, and it involves much more than simply cleaning windows. I am a Sole Proprietor. Although I do work with other select window cleaning companies on jobs that are too big for me alone. I have also consulted with window cleaning companies in other parts of the country. And have looked at the World Trade Center, the Met Art Museum, and the NYC Grand Hyatt. I have also worked with various real estate brokers and large construction companies here in New England.  The services provided are far in excess of anything you might recieve by having your windows cleaned/maintained by a janitorial company. I don't know how many times I have witnessed very expensive windows destroyed by even window cleaning companys that had no clue about which abrasive or chemical products to use in removing simple mineral deposts or screen stain. Many windows have been wasted by people trying to remove scratches. Also what of the fabrication debris problem associated with tempered glass? One general contractor I spoke with had to replace all the tempered windows in his entire development because a janitorial company had used a razor on defective tempered glass. Which was loaded with microfines! I recently took on a home that had some very expensive sliding doors scratched by a company that has been in business since 1990. So if you have a host of banks, restaurants, hotels, or any retail store to maintain;...don't trust the glass cleaning to an employee, a janitorial company, or even someone who claims to be a window cleaner. Think G-SMART.

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Total Glass Care

By "Total Glass Care" I mean going way beyond just window cleaning. Glass surface restoration involves removing scratches, and mineral deposits. It also involves the rejuvination of etched surfaces. In particular static etching which appears as a milky white film. This happens when an HF solution makes contact with the tin side of float glass. It also happens when etchant vapors make contact. Such as in a crystall glass shop. Sulfuric and hydrofluoric acid are used at very high concentrations at around 175 degrees fahrenheit. The vapors from the vats travel through the room and condense on the inside of the windows. Here they mix with water vapor forming acids that react with the glass. It is the reaction byproducts (white salts) that are left behind. Total Glass Care also involves minor repairs. Holes and cracks. It includes repairing IG units that have lost their seal. Removing polyester solar film. Applying clear films for scratch protection. Also the application of different sealants to help in removing mineral deposits, or resisting scratches, or improving vision by beading rain. Total Glass Care also involves inspections for damage done during construction, transport, or from the factory. Tempered glass can be excessively wavy. Or the surface can be defective having millions of microfines embedded from the tempering process. Windows might not have a low e coating on the inner surface of the unit. There are simple tests that will show it up. Actually there are a host of problems that the untrained eye can't quickly pickup. All windows should be inspected when they arive on the construction site, when they are installed, and when the job is finished. Total Glass Care involves so much more than just cleaning windows. It goes way beyond what a typical window cleaning company can offer. Not to mention janitorial companys that focus on vacuuming carpets, wiping desktops, mopping floors, and removing trash. And oh yes, once in a while they might use a bottle of Windex on the door windows to knock off the fingerprints. If your building has fifty thousand plus in glass, it is in your best interest to hire a Total Glass Care company to routinely inspect, protect, repair, and maintain your windows. This is an ongoing technology. But it is my determination to keep on working at improving for the benefit of my customers. 

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Glass Etchants

Glass etchants such as hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid, and ammoniumbifluoride;...should NEVER be used in glass restoration work! Many people will however use them because they are an exceptionally easy and inexpensive, but temporary "fix". Therefore several commercial products have been developed which are based on such chemicals. The reason why they work is the same reason why they should never be used. They go after silicon based molecules with an insatiable hunger. When water spots will not yeild to some of the other acids such as hydrochloric, sulfamic, citric, and acetic it is probably because they are based on silicate minerals. Spots that are based mostly on carbonates will yeild to mild acids like acetic which is in vinegar. Glass is based on a silica/silicate matrix. So acids such as hydrofluoric will attack hard water spots and the glass surface simultaneously. Every time. HF will actually break the SiO2 bond in glass.  There are four different stages of etched glass. Each one has its own appearance. These four are divided into two groups of two. Static and dynamic. Static etch stage one and two shows up as a white cloudiness. Stage one and especially two dynamic etch shows up as a clear distortion of the glass surface. I have seen many times what I call spot imprints. Having the same exact outline shape as the spots that were removed by the etchant. As it turns out the etchants used tend to degrade glass more where the largest concentrations of minerals are. Leaving an imprint. I have proven this in many different ways.

Here is an interesting experiment using hydrofluoric acid and a small light bulb.

Another interesting thing happens when glass etchants are used on solar hardcoats such as PPGs Solar Cool glass. HF in particular has the ability of degrading the physical integrity of the thin film. Sometimes without even showing it. Not until someone comes along with an optical grade polish such as a cerium to remove the newly formed spots, does this become known. It could be that the hard coat will strip right off in patches. One company I worked with had this problem. They had to turn to a very fast machine, a feather touch, and an optical grade submicron aluminum oxide powder.
Anyhow, my techniques are a lot more involved than doing a quick acid wash. The goal is to remove the mineral deposits without doing any damage to the glass surface. At times it is necessary to create a new "near surface". Yet this should be done in a controlled way. Such work requires a price of between ten to twenty dollars per square foot. Most people simply choose to look out dirty windows. It is also true that most times the cause of the stains cannot be completely eliminated. So instead of a one time fix forever, the building becomes what I call a maintenance restoration job. This involves correctly and safely removing the spots, sealing the glass to keep future spots from sticking as tenaciously to the windows, and removing all future spots on a periodic basis along with maintenance of the sealant.

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Power Washing

Power washing can create stains on glass caused by hard water, cleaning chemicals based on alkalies or acids, or even bleach reacting with paint. Once stains have baked on the glass surface, it is in need of restoration. Certain mineral acids like hydrofluoric, and sulfuric will permanantly etch the glass however. These acids are also used in cleaning bricks. I remember running into a company that used HF to remove paint from a building/home. Which is another application. Only to wind up etching every window. I will also never forget one resty job I performed which I got as a result of a power wash problem. It was a white haze left from a commercial product based on sodium carbonate and sodium metasilicate. These are alkalies, not acids. They did not etch the surface. But they caused a problem nonetheless. It was not a simple fix! I ultimately had to resort to diamond compound and paper towels;...by hand. So the next time you decide to power wash your vinyl awnings, or prep the exterior of the home for painting;...think again. You could be creating a real problem. The best thing is to have me check out the power wash solution. Then have the windows cleaned immediately after the powerwash.

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Removing Scratches

Contrary to popular opinion, scratches on window glass surfaces can be removed. Even those that are deep enough to catch a fingernail.  There have been many machines developed over the years to accomplish this. But the professionals who perform this service use a combination of these, including their own hybrid systems. Simply because the different scratched glass problems out there are quite varied. There are scratches occurring in patterns at restaurants left by little greeny scouring pads. These are the easiest to remove. Hair line scratches from fabrication debris on tempered glass although rather light most times, can be very time consuming since it covers so much area. Deep grooves caused by diamond rings or broken beer bottles used by vandals are a much more intense problem. These can take upwards of five different steps to completely remove. And there can be some distortion. The bottom line is always time. If the amount of time required to remove the scratches demands a price that exceeds what is reasonable compared to replacement cost, such will preclude performing the service. The objective of the professional then is to choose a system and technique that will completely remove the scratches in the least amount of time possible. This is a highly specialized service. It is in fact a specialty type of glass restoration. Also included in glass restoration is the rejuvenation of etched glass surfaces, and the removal of mineral deposits. Meaning surfaces that have been damaged by hard water deposits. The grinding and or polishing procedure is used to accomplish all three services. Scratches, etched surfaces, and mineral deposits. I can deal with all three. But also have other specialists I can call in if necessary.

Written by Henry Grover Jr

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