Scratched Glass issues
Scratched Glass is not an uncommon issue in the world of construction. Most people are familiar with the number of subcontractors that come in and out on a construction project. The windows can take brutal abuse from all the subs. Anybody working on a project around a window has the potential to scratch, break, or damages the glass in some form. Most of the time the windows take the abuse of collecting paint, stucco, mortar, silicon, and many other forms solidified debris. At the final stages of construction the home or building is in need to be cleaned. It is the responsibility of the window cleaner to evaluate the windows and debris that may be on them. At this point the trained technicians are truly separated from the inexperienced cleaner. A professionally trained technician knows how to properly remove debris from the window without damaging the window any further in the process.
To understand the correct processes to clean these windows in a post construction situation a technician needs to understand the different kinds of glass he may encounter and how to handle that glass. The most common glass to be aware of is Tempered Glass. Tempered glass is also known as Safety Glass. This glass is created to shatter in small pieces in the event of a break. This is to prevent serious injury to anyone around when it breaks. To understand the reason this glass needs special attention we need to look at the way it is created. Tempered glass is created by reheating a normal pane of glass to a high enough temperature that the glass will almost liquefy. If this process has taken place in a room that is not 100% clean dust particles and other microscopic particles will settle on the glass in the cooling process. This step in the process of tempering the glass can allow the particles to embed themselves in the glass.
Most people have seen a tray of ice in the freezer with a cube of ice that had a crumb or item that had fallen on the ice before it solidified. What you end up seeing is a small mountain like bump of ice formed around the particle. In the glass most of these mountain like bumps are not visible to the naked eye. When a razor is used to clean off the paint or debris on the window the razor will run into these small mountain like bumps, chipping them off and wedging them between the razor and the glass causing a scratch to form in the glass from the piece chipped off. In these situations it is critical that the technician cleaning the glass on a construction site understands the type of glass he is working with and how to properly clean it using the correct equipment.
This information is off the hziool!