Window Cleaning And Facade Access

Window cleaning looks like a cleaning contract and it is an access problem.

The method available on a building depends entirely on what provision exists for reaching the facade safely, and in most older buildings the answer is none.

The methods, and what each needs

Reach and wash from the ground. A pole system with filtered water, from ground level. Cheap, safe, no access equipment, and it works to a limited height and only where there is clear ground to stand on. The right answer for low rise buildings and it frequently reaches further than people expect.

An elevated work platform. A machine on the ground with clear, firm standing area and enough room to set up and manoeuvre. Limited by height and by whether the machine can get there. A basement below the setup area brings its own question about whether the slab can take the load.

Rope access. Technicians descending on ropes from anchor points on the roof. Efficient on taller buildings, it needs certified anchor points and it needs them tested and current.

A building maintenance unit, the permanent davit or track system fitted to purpose-built towers. Only exists where it was designed in.

Scaffold, which is used for major works rather than routine cleaning because of the cost.

Anchor points are the deciding factor

On any building where rope access or a fall restraint system is needed, the anchors are everything.

They have to be designed and installed for the purpose, they have to be certified, and they have to be inspected and recertified at intervals. An anchor that looks solid and has no current certification cannot be used, and a contractor who uses it anyway is a liability the owners corporation carries.

Which means the first question on any facade access job is not who cleans the windows, it is where the certified anchors are and when they were last tested.

A building with no anchors has three options: install them, use a method that does not need them, or accept that the upper windows do not get cleaned. Installing them is a structural job, because an anchor has to be fixed to something that can take the load, and establishing that is a [facade fixing and substrate](/blog/planter-boxes-and-the-leaks-they-cause) question in the same family as any other fixing into an existing building.

What else the access enables

Once a building has a safe way to reach its facade, several other jobs become straightforward that were previously expensive.

Gutter and downpipe inspection. Sealant and glazing checks. [External painting](/blog/external-painting-and-when-to-repaint) and render repairs. Facade inspection for cracking or spalling. Light fitting replacement at height. Signage.

Which is why the sensible approach is to plan those together rather than mobilising access equipment four times a year for four different trades. On a building where access is the dominant cost, batching the work at height is where the saving is.

Frequency

Depends on exposure more than on preference.

A building near the water gets salt on the glass and needs cleaning more often, for appearance and because salt and grit degrade seals and frames over time. A building on a busy road gets traffic film. A sheltered inland building can go much longer.

Twice a year suits most residential buildings in the eastern suburbs. Quarterly for anything on the water or with a commercial ground floor.

The practical items that get missed

Who cleans the inside. Most contracts cover the outside. The inside of a window in a common area is nobody's job unless it is named.

Openable windows and who opens them. Access to the inside of an apartment means notice, and in a tenanted building that means the agent.

Balcony glass and balustrades, which are frequently common property and frequently excluded from the contract.

Skylights, which need their own access plan and are the item most likely to be walked on by somebody who should not, which is the risk described in [skylights and condensation](/blog/skylights-roof-windows-and-condensation).

Water access. A reach and wash system needs a tap and enough pressure, and a building with no accessible hose point cannot be cleaned that way.

What to hold on file

The anchor certification and its next due date. The access method and the safe work method statement for the building. The contractor's insurance and height work qualifications. The last inspection report on the anchors.

A building that holds those four things can engage anyone. A building that holds none of them starts from scratch every time and eventually engages somebody who should not be on the roof.

Ample manages facade access and the work that goes with it across apartment buildings in the eastern suburbs and inner city.