Window Cleaning--Part II

The old saying is absolutely true...You do learn something new every day!

Last week I wrote a story about cleaning the new windows in our house. The story closed with a plug for GANA's window cleaning procedure. After all, I am in the glass industry, and GANA is the loudest and most knowledgeable voice in our industry. I have always, and still do believe, that if GANA's technical committee publishes a standard or procedure it is correct.

Here is what I learned...A gentleman named Gary Mauer sent a couple of replies to that post, with a couple of good questions. I thought back and did not ever remember coming in contact with Mr. Mauer. Who was he? I looked at his e-mail address on his note, www.window-cleaning.net and my learning for the day started.

This is an association of professional window cleaners. There was a lot of vendor info and a couple of technical papers. I read one on 'tempering debris' and why poorly cleaned and maintained tempering ovens can cause dust to be baked on the glass during tempering. When this glass is cleaned in the field these microscopic particles dislodge and these particles are the cause of the scratches, not the razor blade or paint scraper in the hand of the window cleaner.

The writer of the paper goes on to say that he disclaims scratches in any event on any tempered glass.

What a fascinating thought this is. I looked at our industry from the other side and found that we are not perfect. This truly was an "AHA" moment for me. Sure, I had customers want to remake glass because of problems, but that came from glass shops in my industry. I had never looked from the outside in.

I remember many times my tempering managers shut down one of our ovens for cleaning because of specks in the oven. I never thought of the results of not cleaning, as we always did clean. I imagine there are temperers who do not clean often enough and produce glass with embedded debris.

I don't agree with the web site that all scratches on tempered glass come from this problem, but it sure was interesting seeing the other side of the coin.

Mr. Mauer certainly did me a favor by taking the time to write his note. Thank you Gary Mauer for showing this old dog a new trick.

We're Cleaning Our Windows

We finally have our new windows installed in our house in New Hampshire. We chose metal-clad wood Marvin Windows with Cardinal Soft-Coat Low-e. We were replacing single paned wood windows, originally installed in the house in 1940. To say that we will have improvements in our energy usage is an understatement.

The picture is the view from our living room, with Mount Monodnack about 5.5 miles away, in the upper left, and Bowker Pond at the base of the hill. We see roughly 100 square miles of forest and lakes through these windows, and they just had to be perfect.

And they were. The delivery was on-time, the installation was steady and didn't bring any problems, and we were ready for the finishing touch...the cleaning of the windows. The windows were protected in transit from Marvin, and only got dirty with the construction needed to put them in. A lot of saw dust, some fingerprints, and a few specks of paint.

The assumption here is that I know something about glass. I really do. Honest. But what I know about glass has not been transferred to my wife.

She wanted to help in this project so she volunteered to clean the windows.

Elaine started with a spray bottle window cleaner and did a great job, until she hit some adhesive residue from the manufacturer's labels. Manufacturers and fabricators have to walk a fine line between too little adhesive, which leaves no residue but often leaves no label, and too much residue, which guarantees information, but also guarantees left-over adhesive.

Marvin's adhesive was pretty good...just a slight amount of residue.

Elaine didn't ask me for advice. She could handle this. I saved our marriage at the last second as I saw her carrying a bottle of abrasive cleanser towards the living room windows. Another few seconds and, well you know.

All's well that ended well, but this little incident reminded me of some comments I wanted to make to our glass industry readers.

The GANA (Glass Association of North America) website has a great informational bulletin on cleaning glass. Go to glasswebsite.com, click on publications and scroll about halfway down to "Proper Procedures for Cleaning Architectural Glass Products". You should print this and make it a part of every job submission you do.

Every one reading this article has gone back to a job site that has 'scratches', which the customer wants you to fix, where the scratches have the telltale marks of razor blades from cleaning.

Unless you will be present at the cleaning, it becomes your word against theirs...and no matter what, you loose. There will be an argument, an upset customer, and a question mark about getting new work. Take five minutes out of your schedule at the turnover time, speak with the owner about proper glass cleaning, and send a copy of the GANA Procedures to the owner and to the glass cleaners. Most professional window cleaners are good...you just have to help a little. It is a good investment on your part to ensure your last check and retainage come in on time.

Many Shades of White, The Easy Way

This past week I was discussing laminated glass with a client and remembered this inexpensive way to make some unique glass. We once had a customer ask for a glass facade made up of many shades of white glass, going from darker to lighter up the building.

We suggested using laminated glass, two lights of Starphire(tm), with two .030 white interlayers for the base. The next step was using one .030 white and one .015 white. The next was one .030 white, and the top was one .015 white along with an .015 clear. Each step was just a little bit lighter in color intensity. We made a mock-up, the customer loved it, and we sold a nice job. The alternative would have been sandblasting with different grits. Using lami was cleaner looking and less expensive.

We made alternate samples changing one lite of the lami to acid etched glass, which doubled the number of shades of white. The customer stayed with just the original four shades. This was an easy way to create additional color change in white glass.

Do you have any stories about color in glass? Post them at the USGlass News Forum pages, and...we thank you.

The All Star Game

Come on, you knew this was coming...it is the time of the Major League Baseball All-Star game, and you thought it would be skipped here?

It is time for each of us to think about the All-Stars in our life... but that is easy...our families, our parents, our kids, maybe even a puppy, that is the first team.

Since this is supposed to be a glass blog, (Deb Levy tells me this), lets look at the All-Stars in business. Think about it, who are the people you would send to the glass industry all-star game.

Drop me a note at paulbaseball@msn.com and tell us who is:

The best glass salesperson that calls on you....
The best metal salesperson that calls on you....
The best glass telephone salesperson you work with....
The best metal telephone salesperson you work with....
The best supplies salesperson you work with (phone or in person).....

Send us your list, we may not be able to publish each one, but I will try to get every All-Star's name published. This is your chance to recognize the All-Stars in your life.

P.S When I ran this idea past a few people they were hesitant to list the best employees in their company, for a couple of reasons, and they were right. Think of who your all-stars are, go tell them they are an all-star, you'll feel good and so will they.

How to Make Up Your Mind on the Oldcastle-Vistawall Combination

Is it time to make up your mind on THE news story of the week in our industry? People have been calling me and asking if I think the merger will work. This is an easy question, but not THE question of the week.


Of course it will work. If you define work as making money for Oldcastle Glass. The people putting this merger together are pros at what they do. Oldcastle Glass' growth comes as much from acquisition as it does from real business growth. This is their declared policy, and they are good at it. After they acquire companies they are tops at combining knowledge and cost savings to the benefit of all.


Do you define success as keeping all the employees happy? This benchmark wouldn't happen even if every employee was given a million bucks. Some people will grouse they should have had a million and one. A lot of people will be nervous about their jobs. Rightly so. An acquiring company usually changes people. Some people will get new opportunities, and some people will get early retirement.




But that still is not the right question. You might think it is "What will the competitors do in the face of this change?" Well, don't bother with this one. Unless you are one of a hand full of people, you can't impact this decision. Certainly the marketplace will change to some degree, but with no way of knowing what the change will be, all will be waiting.




Open the envelope already, what is THE question?




Will the Oldcastle-Vistawall acquisition affect me and my business?



Yes.



You will have to decide if you want to buy from a super-sized conglomerate or from a local source. The super-sized one will have all the answers, will improve our industry with knowledge and vision and should give a return to its shareholders. The local sources will have to get better at what they does in order to compete. They must carry a fuller line, have better training for people and be able to support you on energy savings and structural information. In other words, every vendor has to get better in order to earn your dollars.



I think we all come out ahead in this. The only one who doesn't is the one who will sit there and watch the changes in our industry go by without them.




This acquisition will ferment change in our industry. Roll with the changes, or they will walk right by.