How to Clean Windows and Grilles in a Delhi Home

What is the right order to clean a window?

Top down, dry before wet, and glass last. Getting the order wrong is the main reason a cleaned window looks streaky within minutes.

• 1. Dry-dust everything first. Grille, frame, mesh, sill and the glass itself, with a dry brush or a dry microfibre cloth. Delhi dust turns into mud the second it meets water, and mud spreads.
• 2. Vacuum or brush out the bottom track. The channel the sliding panels run in collects a compacted line of grit. A brush and a dustpan, or a vacuum nozzle, before any water goes in.
• 3. Do the grille and the frame. These are dirtier than the glass, and any water running off them will end up on it.
• 4. Then the mesh. Also dirtier than the glass, and it needs a different approach.
• 5. Glass last, and dry it. This is the step that gets the visible result, so it should not be undone by drips from above.

Pick a cloudy day or a morning if you can. Glass cleaned in direct hot sun dries before you can wipe it, and that is exactly how you get streaks and, in Delhi water, mineral spots.

How do I get the dust film off window glass?

Wash it, do not polish it. Spraying a glass cleaner onto a dusty pane and rubbing just smears a gritty paste around, which is why so many people conclude their glass cleaner does not work.

• Wash first with plain water and a drop of dish soap. A sponge or a soft cloth, working the whole pane, to lift the dust and the winter smog film off. Change the water when it goes grey.
• Squeegee or rinse, then dry immediately. Because Delhi water is hard, glass left to air-dry will dry to a spotted finish. A squeegee pulled in overlapping strokes, wiped on a cloth between passes, gives the cleanest result.
• Finish with a dry microfibre cloth. Two cloths is the professional trick — one damp for washing, one dry for finishing. Newspaper works too and costs nothing.
• Use glass cleaner only on already-clean glass. It is a finishing product, not a washing one.
• For hard water spots that survive washing, use a mild acid on the glass only. Diluted white vinegar, left to dwell on the spots, then washed off and dried. Keep it off any adjoining stone sill.
• Never scrape with a blade or use abrasive powder. Fine scratches in glass are permanent and hold dirt afterwards.

Detail on removing set-in mineral marks is in how to remove hard water stains.

How do I clean window grilles and mosquito mesh?

Grilles need a brush and patience; mesh needs to come out if it possibly can. Both are dust reservoirs, and both are what makes a room dusty again a day after you cleaned it.

Grilles. Painted or powder-coated steel grilles hold dust in every corner and every weld, and near a main road they collect an oily film that plain water will not shift.

• Dry-brush the whole grille first with a stiff brush or an old paintbrush, working from the top down.
• Then wash with warm water and a little dish soap or a mild all-purpose cleaner, using a brush to get into the corners and joints.
• Dry it afterwards, especially at the welds and where it meets the wall. Standing water on steel is how rust starts, and rust bleeds streaks down the wall below.
• Check for rust while you are there. Small patches caught early can be cleaned back and touched up; ignored, they spread and stain the paintwork.

Mesh. A clogged mosquito mesh blocks light and airflow and quietly re-dusts the room every time the wind blows.

• If the mesh panel lifts out, take it out, lay it flat, brush both sides dry, then hose or shower it and let it dry standing up.
• If it is fixed, vacuum it with a brush attachment or press a slightly damp cloth against it from the inside while brushing from the outside. Do not scrub hard — mesh stretches and deforms permanently.
• Torn mesh is worth replacing rather than cleaning, particularly before the monsoon when mosquitoes arrive.

Sliding tracks deserve one more minute: brush the grit out, wipe the channel, and only then run the panel. Grit in a track is what makes a window stiff and eventually damages the rollers.

What about high windows and the outside of the glass?

This is where the honest answer is to stop. The inside of any window is yours to clean. The outside face of glass above the ground floor is not a DIY job, and the number of accidents from people leaning out of flats to reach the far side of a pane is the reason we say so plainly.

• Never sit on, lean out of, or climb through a window opening to reach glass. There is no cleaning result worth it.
• Never stand on a chair, a stool, a bed, a washing machine or a balcony railing. If you use a ladder indoors, use a proper step ladder on level ground with someone holding it.
• An extendable-pole squeegee is the safe answer for reachable outside glass. A telescopic pole with a squeegee or mop head lets you wash outside faces from inside the room or from a balcony floor, feet flat on the ground.
• Full-height or fixed exterior glazing is a specialist job. High-rise facade cleaning is done with proper access equipment and trained people, and in most societies it is arranged by the RWA or the building management for the whole tower. Ask them before you arrange anything yourself.
• Check what your society allows. Many buildings have rules about working at exterior openings and about who may be on a facade.

How do I keep windows clean longer in Delhi?

You cannot beat the dust, but you can slow it down a lot, and the biggest gains cost nothing.

• Dry-dust the grille and mesh often, wash them rarely. A two-minute dry brush every week or two keeps the reservoir empty, and then the full wash is needed far less.
• Keep windows closed on high-smog and high-dust days. That is also the single biggest thing you can do for indoor dust levels generally — see air quality tips for Delhi homes.
• Ventilate at the cleaner times of day. Mid-morning to afternoon is usually better than early morning or late evening in winter, when smog settles low.
• Deal with the source of the mud streaks. Streaking down the outside of a pane after rain usually comes from dust sitting on a ledge, a sill or a rusting grille above it. Clean the ledge and the streaks stop.
• Wash the curtains and blinds on the same day. They hold the dust that lands on the window and put it back into the room. There is more on the whole dust routine in dust cleaning tips for Delhi homes.
• Do the full window round seasonally. Once before the monsoon and once after the smog season covers the two times of year when it makes the most difference.

Windows, grilles, mesh and tracks are normally part of the scope of a full home deep clean rather than something you book on their own — what that should include is set out in what is included in deep cleaning.