Window
Three surfaces in one opening — glass, frame and hardware — and the manufacturer gives each of them a different answer, including one that must not meet water at all.
Precautions
- Check the manufacturer's instructions
- Test on an inconspicuous area first
Start here
What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.
Which part are you cleaning?
These parts take different answers. Cleaning one the way you clean another is a common way to damage this.
- Window hardware
The one part of a window the manufacturer says to keep water away from. A dry soft duster, no solvents, no multi-purpose lubricants.
Things not to use here
What tends to go wrong
- Mouldvia its material
A living growth, not a stain. Killing it and removing the staining are two separate jobs, and neither addresses the moisture that caused it.
Why it is difficult: Porous and non-porous surfaces, Moisture control and recurrence, Cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting, Organic load, Surface roughness
- Pollenvia its material
A seasonal particulate that is part of ordinary dust for most of the year and overwhelms it for a few weeks. Dry removal first, because wet pollen stains.
Why it is difficult: Why different surfaces get different dirt
Pressure-sensitive adhesive left behind when the paper tears away. It stays tacky by design, which is why it collects dirt and turns grey.
Why it is difficult: Adhesion and cohesion, Surface roughness
The science behind this: Leaching and clouded glass
In detail
A window is the clearest small example of an object whose parts disagree. The profile manufacturer's own guide splits it into three and treats them separately, and the third is the one nobody expects. The GLASS takes a good quality glass cleaner on a soft cloth or chamois that is free of dirt and grit — the grit being the actual hazard, as the glass association's guidance says at more length. Coated glass, self-cleaning glass among it, goes back to its own manufacturer. The FRAME, where it is uPVC, is soapy water, with a non-abrasive cream cleaner permitted sparingly for stains that will not shift, and solvent-based cleaners prohibited outright. Woodgrain-foiled frames are excluded from the cream-cleaner permission. The HARDWARE is the surprise. Handles, hinges, key cylinders, catches and restrictors carry coatings and polished surfaces; they are cleaned with a DRY SOFT DUSTER, and water is not to be used on them.
Related
Hacks and claims involving this
- Cream cleaners ruin uPVC Disputed
Sources for this page
Sources
PVC-U Window & Door Systems: Handling, Installation, Maintenance and Care Guide
The VEKA UK Group (VEKA and Halo profile systems), 2014 · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That glass, PVC-U frames and hardware are given separate cleaning instructions, that hardware is cleaned with a dry soft duster and water is not to be used on it, that solvent-based cleaners and multi-purpose lubricants must not be used, and that gaskets and drainage paths are part of routine cleaning. (states this directly)