Window treatment to make them easier to clean?

[Murmansk]

A friend of mine lives in a second floor flat in a seaside location.

Window cleaners come every month and attempt to clean the windows using a long pole with a brush and water supply on it but the windows often aren't clean enough or end up getting dirty quite quickly because of the salty spray and high winds.

I vaguely remember there are types of glass with a coating on that makes them self-cleaning to a degree. Replacing the glass would be a big job but are there any coatings/sprays once can apply to make windows easier to clean?

[Jack Harry Teesdale]

When I had a glazed balcony fitted, I was advised against having 'self-cleaning glass coating' because I live in a seaside location!

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Yes, well this is on the same lines as the one about car glass a few days ago. Salt water can shorten the life its true, and in the example I used, they use some coating on Hovercraft, and probably some ship windows, but it has to be fully cleaned and sprayed back every so often. Might be a bit difficult on a 2nd floor flat. I never really understood why, when buildings were designed, they did not think about the difficulty of cleaning windows and install some device like a platform capable of being lowered to any level for this and other maintenance purposes. Brian

[Tim Lamb]

In message <sud6lq$vl9$ [e-mail], "Brian Gaff (Sofa)" [e-mail]> writes

Some of them did. Winched cradles on rooftop rail systems. I once had the pleasure of trying to use a soldering iron in a strong wind to change an a/c switch. Back to back Thyristors as it was before the invention of Triacs. Nice view of London.

[fred]

Tilt and turn windows can be reversed for cleaning

What about those sponges with built in magnets allowing the outside one to imitate the motion of the internal one Often wondered how effective they were.

[Murmansk]

This place was built in 1893!

[Robin]

when sash windows were common and routinely cleaned all-over from inside

[charles]

My parents' last housem, built in 1939 had hinges onto which you could place the lower sash and swing it inwards for cleaning.