ROCK CLIMBING & CAVING

High Rise Window Cleaning Using Mountaineering Equipment

High rise window cleaning is becoming quite the profession nowadays. With more and companies starting to provide window cleaning services, competition to become the best has vociferously increased and that is always a good sign for the consumer market. Let’s start with a high rise building first. With the growing increase of skyscraper-like buildings, it is becoming jarringly hard for the regular amateur cleaners to scrub their windows clean. This is where professional high rise window cleaners come in.

A high rise building is defined as one that is 35 meters or greater in height. It is divided into regular, occupiable levels. Based on solid structures, high rise buildings are usually divided into levels at least two meter high. Therefore, because of their nature, specialized equipment is required to get all the windows clean. Many tools have been developed by professionals that facilitate the providence of window washing services. For example, a modern tool used in window cleaning is the Water Fed Pole (WFP) system which is almost twice as fast as the regular squeegee methods. The WFP System involves scrubbing the windows with wet brushes to loosen dirt and then washing them with purified, deionized water contained in large tanks. That’s as far as cleaning the windows themselves counts.

But how to get access to gigantic buildings which are loaded with windows everywhere up to 35 to 50 meters? That is where high rise access comes in.  Several alternatives are available for professional window cleaners. These include the cherry pickers which consist of a trailer-mounted hydraulic platform with a moving bucket or platform at the end of a hydraulic system. Another device is the Suspended Scaffolding which consists of a horizontal platform that traverses up and down a building, facilitating the window cleaners in their respective endeavors.

Of course, the most commonly employed method by most professional window washing companies, especially Savannah cleaning companies, is the method of “rappelling” up and down high rise buildings, much the same way as mountaineers “rappel” up and down high rise mountains. The main motivation for mountaineers is the adventurous nature of their “jobs”. For window cleaning professionals, the motivation includes adventure and a passion for seeing ridiculously large man-made structures spotless.

Rappelling is basically the controlled descent down a rope. The equipment used to carry out this activity includes ropes, of course, anchors, descender devices (friction devices that allow a rope to pay out in a controlled manner), climbing harnesses (which are tied around the waist to secure the defender), carbiners (metal loops used for climbing) and personal equipment such as gloves, helmets, boots and kneepads. The process of abseiling is risky; therefore special care is needed to ensure that the windows as well as the working personnel are made safe from any potential harm. Therefore, several safe techniques for rappelling such as Tandem Rappelling or Counter Balance Rappelling are employed. For the general reader, these are techniques that facilitate the safe traversal of window cleaners and window washers up and down high rise buildings.

Savannah cleaning employs various cleaning methods and techniques which include the WFP System mentioned earlier as well as other advanced Squeegee methods. High rise window cleaning has become quite the profession nowadays and more and more building owners are relying on professional window cleaners to do the relevant jobs for them.

Because of the risks involved, it is better for everybody to lay back and allow the professional window cleaners to do the jobs. That is basically the purpose of this piece – to educate readers about professional high rise window cleaning and discuss the role of mountaineering equipment in carrying out the job.

About the Author

This article was prepared on behalf of Soap On A Rope http://www.soaponarope.com/. The experts in high rise window cleaning and building maintenance.

Episode 4: Extending Your Rappel Device

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