Impact of Rainy Weather on Windows and Front Doors
Before I became a window cleaner, rainy weather was as much associated to dirt to me as it probably is to most people in the world. And rightly so. Everyone knows that, on the ground level, the rain water mixes with soil, sand, oily spillages from motor vehicles, animal droppings, plant parts and pollens and numerous other pollutants, resulting in this dirty soup contaminating everything that comes into contact with it: pavements and carriageways, shoes and clothes of people, dogs, cats and any other animals, all road vehicles - you name it.
Only as a window cleaner I have had to carefully tell apart the impact of rain water on the ground-level horisontal surfaces, on the one hand, from that one on the above-ground-level vertical surfaces, on the other hand.
First of all, I have had to realise that the rain water as such, before it mixes with any pollutants on the ground, is actually extremely pure. So it is pure, that for some purposes it can be easily used instead of the deionised water, or even the distilled one. As a result of their purity, the rain water drops fallen directly on the glass surface leave no spots on it after their decline and evaporation.
Does this mean that the rainy weather can leave no negative impact on the cleanliness of windows or front doors whatsoever? Unfortunately, that easy it is not. But it is true that the negative impact of rain on such surfaces is rather surprisingly limited in its scope and it occurs in only few, rather specific, circumstances.
For instance, when the rain is very heavy, the rain water drops have sufficiently big momentum to bounce against the windows sills, door steps or pavements, and the resulting droplets, rich in solid particles, can later contaminate the glass panes or upvc frames. This is also the reason, why long time neglected window panes typically have numerous small dirty spots close to their top edges. They are the areas, where the rain drops will almost never directly fall, and where therefore the solid particles from small, bounced heavy-rain droplets have plenty of time to sediment and cumulate.
Last but not least, albeit much less often, the rainy weather can obviously foul the window panes and surrounding vertical surfaces also, when the gutters above them leak, or when the windows are shallow enough to take some splashes from the walls above them (often resulting in stubborn hard water spots).
In spite of the above mentioned few occasions and their mostly limited impact, the rain water is generally no fatal enemy to windows and their cleanliness. Often even the reverse is true - as the rain water also splashes away some pollens, dead insects or solid exhaust particles from petrol and diesel engines, lingering on the glass, upvc, wood, metals and other materials.
If the opposite was true in that regard, any regular window cleaning would make no sense whatsoever, because whenever would windows get cleaned in a dry weather, it would always be only a matter of days or even hours, before another rain would come, instantly resulting in dirty windows, and so forth over and over again. Window cleaners would have to be called extremely often but irregularly, basically after every single major rain, so probably only the higher classes would be able to afford keeping their windows reasonably clean at all times.
But you do not need to take my word for what I say. At your leisure, you can, if you wish, on your own systematically assess the impact of any heavier rain on your house’s outdoor vertical surfaces: by taking note of their state just before the rain, and later comparing it with what you see after the rain is over, and the wet vertical surfaces all around your house dry out again. I bet you will be surprised how minor the overall impact of rain will actually appear.
In any case, I will welcome any your comments, remarks, observations and/or experience regarding the impact of rainy weather on windows and front doors. Please do not hesitate to share your views on my Facebook profile or contact me directly.
Only as a window cleaner I have had to carefully tell apart the impact of rain water on the ground-level horisontal surfaces, on the one hand, from that one on the above-ground-level vertical surfaces, on the other hand.
First of all, I have had to realise that the rain water as such, before it mixes with any pollutants on the ground, is actually extremely pure. So it is pure, that for some purposes it can be easily used instead of the deionised water, or even the distilled one. As a result of their purity, the rain water drops fallen directly on the glass surface leave no spots on it after their decline and evaporation.
Does this mean that the rainy weather can leave no negative impact on the cleanliness of windows or front doors whatsoever? Unfortunately, that easy it is not. But it is true that the negative impact of rain on such surfaces is rather surprisingly limited in its scope and it occurs in only few, rather specific, circumstances.
For instance, when the rain is very heavy, the rain water drops have sufficiently big momentum to bounce against the windows sills, door steps or pavements, and the resulting droplets, rich in solid particles, can later contaminate the glass panes or upvc frames. This is also the reason, why long time neglected window panes typically have numerous small dirty spots close to their top edges. They are the areas, where the rain drops will almost never directly fall, and where therefore the solid particles from small, bounced heavy-rain droplets have plenty of time to sediment and cumulate.
Last but not least, albeit much less often, the rainy weather can obviously foul the window panes and surrounding vertical surfaces also, when the gutters above them leak, or when the windows are shallow enough to take some splashes from the walls above them (often resulting in stubborn hard water spots).
In spite of the above mentioned few occasions and their mostly limited impact, the rain water is generally no fatal enemy to windows and their cleanliness. Often even the reverse is true - as the rain water also splashes away some pollens, dead insects or solid exhaust particles from petrol and diesel engines, lingering on the glass, upvc, wood, metals and other materials.
If the opposite was true in that regard, any regular window cleaning would make no sense whatsoever, because whenever would windows get cleaned in a dry weather, it would always be only a matter of days or even hours, before another rain would come, instantly resulting in dirty windows, and so forth over and over again. Window cleaners would have to be called extremely often but irregularly, basically after every single major rain, so probably only the higher classes would be able to afford keeping their windows reasonably clean at all times.
But you do not need to take my word for what I say. At your leisure, you can, if you wish, on your own systematically assess the impact of any heavier rain on your house’s outdoor vertical surfaces: by taking note of their state just before the rain, and later comparing it with what you see after the rain is over, and the wet vertical surfaces all around your house dry out again. I bet you will be surprised how minor the overall impact of rain will actually appear.
In any case, I will welcome any your comments, remarks, observations and/or experience regarding the impact of rainy weather on windows and front doors. Please do not hesitate to share your views on my Facebook profile or contact me directly.