5 Tips for Cleaning Skylights
Skylight windows should let the sun's brilliant rays stream into your home. However, if your skylights are blurry or cloudy, that may not be happening. To get your skylights as clean as possible, check out these tips.
1. Start With Dry Cleaning
Always start with dry cleaning. Lay a towel or some newspapers on the floor under the skylight, and then, run a broom, a feather duster or even a dry cloth over your skylight and around the edges. This step should knock the dust and debris from the window. If you clean with moisture right away, these items will gum up and stick to the skylight, making it dirtier rather than cleaner.
2. Try Ammonia
Once you've removed the dry dirt, you can start to scrub the glass of the skylight. You may use window cleaning products, but to save money, you may want to try plain ammonia. That should cut through the grease and help you avoid streaks just like most dedicated glass cleaners do.
3. Dry the Glass Thoroughly
To really reduce the appearance of streaks, you need to use liberal amounts of clean but also dry the glass thoroughly. To make that possible, you may want to use a microfiber cloth. Alternatively, you can use lots of paper towels and newspapers are also an option. Some people prefer to use squeegees, and if your skylights are in a very high ceiling, squeegees on long poles can be especially useful.
4. Consider Hiring a Professional for Exterior Cleaning
After cleaning the inside of your skylights, you should be able to tell if you need to clean the outside of the skylights. To clean the exterior of your skylight windows, you need to get on the roof, and to do that safely, you should always have fall arrest equipment. However, rather than investing in special safety gear, you may just want to pay a professional.
5. Replace Glass as Needed
Sometimes, the glass on your skylights may get permanently cloudy or streaky. If you can't get the glass clean, you may want to replace it. If steam seems to build up between the inner and outer panes of glass, the culprit may be gaps in your seals, and you may want to replace the seals or add new caulk around your skylight openings.
To learn more about the best ways to maintain and care for your skylights, contact skylight window manufacturers.