Want to achieve that streak-free shine but struggling to get rid of every last smudge on a window or glass fixing? Chances are, there is a step in your window cleaning regime that is ruining all of your hard work. It’s easy to make a mistake when cleaning a window, and it’s even easier to spend too long trying to get the perfect streakless look. If this is something you experience regularly, read on to find the top six mistakes that people make when cleaning glass and see if any of them could be the solution to your problem.

6 Common Mistakes When Cleaning Your Glass

1. Using too much window cleaner

Despite what you may be thinking, too much window cleaner can actually make your windows harder to clean. Not only that, but the more you spray, the more toxic chemicals are entering the environment and floating around the house. Keeping your usage of window cleaner low is beneficial on many levels, but ultimately, the key benefit of cleaning your windows is that you won’t have to worry about any drippage or streaking that comes from excessively wiping the surface.

2. Using the wrong type of cloth

Years ago, people used rolled-up newspapers and other materials to achieve a streak-free shine on their windows. However, these days, printing ink and newspaper has changed and will often leave more streaks than what you started with. As will most tea towels and even paper towels as well. What’s left is the fable microfibre cloth. You may not have one already laying around the house, but if a streak-free window is what you’re after, you need to go and get yourself one now. Microfibre is one of the only cloth types that won’t leave fibre particles on your nice, shiny windows.

3. Making circular wiping motions

Not a lot of people know the proper technique to clean glass. Many people will start wiping in a circular motion, but this can actually cause more streaking than if you simply started from one side and worked to the other. The reason for this is that once the window has been wiped dry, excess wiping can actually re-encourage dust to settle on the glass. Dust that has been resettled during the cleaning process will inevitably get smeared across the glass - leaving you at square one.

4. Not removing excess dirt particles first

Not removing any excess dirt or dust before cleaning your glass is a rookie error! Of course, if there is something smudged on your glass and you wipe it, it’s going to smear across the surface. We can’t stress this one enough. If you notice any bird droppings or otherwise caked-on materials, try removing them with a scraper or a squeegee before attempting to polish the glass to a shine. On a smaller scale, make sure you dust off your windows first with a duster or a dry cloth. By doing this, you deal with fewer particles getting in your way while you clean.

5. Cleaning in the wrong weather conditions

Not a lot of people realise that the weather conditions can actually impact your glass cleaning regime. Rain can obviously undo your hard work, especially if you’ve been cleaning the outside of the glass. However, something that is not often considered is how the sun may be affecting your glass. When cleaning the glass in the hot sun, it’s not uncommon for the detergents and water to dry too quickly, resulting in large, unmissable streaks. The best practice is to try and clean your glass in the cool air of the morning and avoid cleaning at all if rain is forecast.

6. Forgetting to clean outside

It may seem like a no-brainer, but the outside of your windows and glass doors can be streaky too! Too often, we get so stuck in cleaning our glass that we don’t realise the streak is actually on the other side of it. So, be sure to turn it around, or go outside and clean the other side. If your glass is in a high-hanging window or something that would require reaching heights to clean, be sure to have the right safety equipment - or just hire a professional cleaner to help.

After reading these six tips, which one do you think will help you achieve that streak-free shine on your glass? For more expert advice on all things Australian glass, check out our other blogs.