Cleaning Skylights?

[puntloos]

So we are considering skylights almost at the top of our 2 storey house, to form a double height hallway all the way up, so these windows would be about 9m up, on a pitched roof? Given the current design of the house, they would not be (easily) reachable from inside the house. Maybe with lots of ladders..

 

A bunch of questions came up:

 

1/ How quickly do they dirty? (There's no big trees near) Would they become noticeably grimy after.. 6m? 1y? 2? 5?

2/ With zero accommodations for cleaners, when will cleaners simply say "NO". E.g. is there a certain steepness of the roof that has most/all of them refuse to do it because of danger?

3/ Would any window in the loft help? Would they want to climb out there? Or would they simply use their own ladders?

4/ We are thinking of a smallish balcony on the 1st floor, would installing a permanent staircase from there to the roofline help?

 

Or are we overthinking this? 

 

 

[ragg987]

After 3 years ours were looking a bit grimy. Our window cleaner now comes round every 3 months and can just reach them with his longest pole - he uses just de-inoised water and a brush, they look much better now.

Edited February 23, 2020 by ragg987

[Ferdinand]

Are you talking about cleaning the inside or the outside?

 

Can one specify self cleaning glass on the outside?

 

I think you may perhaps be not quite up to date with modern window cleaners, and their poles which go up to 10-12m from the ground or more.

 

For the outside you need a roof angle step enough such that a long pole can reach past the gutter without being Made unable to reach the skylights. Otherwise they will have to use elevation or some other method.

 

I think a conversation here about cleaning the inside might be helpful.

 

This is the box mine for cleaning solar panels arrived in (plugs into a hose), which is not the biggest. There are 3 sections this long. That is 8m plus 2m of me.

 

 

Ferdinand

 

There was a conversation wrt solar panels here

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by Ferdinand

[puntloos]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

Are you talking about cleaning the inside or the outside?

Fair question, I'm assuming the inside is permanently fine ? - we aren't smokers. But perhaps that's a little optimistic, but still, indeed I was assuming the poles would reach

 

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

Can one specify self cleaning glass on the outside?

Dunno, maybe?

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

I think you may perhaps be not quite up to date with modern window cleaners, and their poles which go up to 10-12m from the ground or more.

 

For the outside you need a roof angle step enough such that a long pole can reach past the gutter without being Made unable to reach the skylights. Otherwise they will have to use elevation or some other method.

 

Yeah I was wondering about this, I haven't done the math yet (hmm pytagoras where art though) to figure out how long a pole you'd need and how steep a roof. My hunch is the pitch has to be more than 45 degrees, at least? And then not *too* far off the ground, but we only have ground, first, and "loft/roof" so shouldn't be insanely high..

 

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

I think a conversation here about cleaning the inside might be helpful.

 

This is the box mine for cleaning solar panels arrived in (plugs into a hose), which is not the biggest. There are 3 sections this long. That is 8m plus 2m of me.

 

It is an interesting point that indeed also any PV might need an occasional good clean.. 

 

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Ferdinand

 

There was a conversation wrt solar panels here

 

 

[Ferdinand]

I went for window cleaning poles, as my windows cleaners do offer a solar panel cleaning service but it is a little prohibitive at £1.20 per panel and it would need doing regularly as quite a few of my panels are tree sheltered (plan is to move them in due course onto a South facing car port when it has been built). I have 35 panels in toto which adds up quite quickly at those rates.

 

I have the normal window cleaning at only about £9 a month to keep the front facade tidy.

 

I have skylight but I can reach most of those.

 

I would guess they would need cleaning maybe once a year, and that cleaning the outside will show up the inside .. spiders and so on.

 

A bit more of the justification for an 8m scaffold tower?

 

Ferdinand

Edited February 23, 2020 by Ferdinand

[MJNewton]

2 hours ago, puntloos said:

Fair question, I'm assuming the inside is permanently fine ? - we aren't smokers. But perhaps that's a little optimistic [...] 

 

Very I'd warn! Being skylights they'll be magnets for flies in the summer who will leave poo specks on the glass. 

[puntloos]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

I went for window cleaning poles, as my windows cleaners do offer a solar panel cleaning service but it is a little prohibitive at £1.20 per panel and it would need doing regularly as quite a few of my panels are tree sheltered (plan is to move them in due course onto a South facing car port when it has been built). I have 35 panels in toto which adds up quite quickly at those rates.

 

I have the normal window cleaning at only about £9 a month to keep the front facade tidy.

 

I have skylight but I can reach most of those.

 

I would guess they would need cleaning maybe once a year, and that cleaning the outside will show up the inside .. spiders and so on.

 

Thanks for all the info!

 

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

A bit more of the justification for an 8m scaffold tower?

Not sure I get this one, other than a joke

 

 

30 minutes ago, MJNewton said:

 

Very I'd warn! Being skylights they'll be magnets for flies in the summer who will leave poo specks on the glass. 

Huh, didn't think of this one. But clearly we'd have laser anti-fly defense.

 

Seriously though, from the inside it will still be a bit of a faff, but the windows, from the 1st floor, would be only maybe 4-5m away from my head, I expect, so that's doable once in a while? 

[Ferdinand]

A bit more of the justification for an 8m scaffold tower?

>Not sure I get this one, other than a joke ]

 

OK. Explanation ? .

 

You have designed your house to incorporate an essentially 10m high void, which requires to be maintained. Cleaning skylights, painting every so often etc. 

 

To do that safely you either work from the ground (no good for painting) or find a safe way to work from height, or another solution. Ladders are not considered a safe option for other than the lightest jobs. I would not do anything heavier than empty gutters from a ladder (but I am cautious).

Which leaves you with hiring a pro, hiring a means of accessing height safely, a scissor lift, or a portable scaffold tower. 

 

That is leaving aside all the outside maintenance - gutters, render etc.

 

It is also leaving aside eg doing your ceilings (esp. cathedral ceilings), plasterboarding, insulating, wiring, and all the other stuff whilst building it. 

 

Significant nos of BHers get a scaffold tower during the building process.

 

That seems the practical solution for building and continued maintenance - including safely cleaning your skylights every year or so.

 

A good quality portable scafffold tower would cost approx 1-1.2k new or £500-600 secondhand. Mine was £400 from a BHer for a 5.7m German made tower, and has been used in 2 years for building a car port, rendering a gable end, doing cathedral ceilings, repainting an industrial unit, and is currently doing the ceilings in a small cafe at a gym that i have a small stake in. It is about to be borrowed by my b-i-l to do work on his fascia boards and gutters on his house.

 

To hire one will be £70-100 a week.

 

Mine can be built by 2 people in 90 minutes and dismantles to fit in my estate car. I think it will still fit once I have an extra 2m stage,

 

May seem surprising, but worth considering.

 

"Partial justification" was aimed at the 9m high skylights adding another job to the 27 we can already identify.

F

Edited February 23, 2020 by Ferdinand