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Semi-Easy Refurbishment of an Older Glass Storm Door to Like New
by
Matthew Gingerella
(IC: homeowner)
My friend Alan and his wife have 3 big dogs, 1 cat, and two Glass Storm Doors that are abused by their animals and the elements out in a dusty rural setting. Although Alan owns his own Window Cleaning Services Company, both he and his wife were giving up the fight to try to keep the glass storm doors clean. They were vastly outnumbered and dog slobber and various paw prints and smudges were not easy to clean off the doors - every day.
Last weekend, Alan asked me for my help to make his front storm door easier to clean so that they could at least have a fighting chance to keep it looking descent. Up for the challenge - I drove out of town, navigated the back roads and finally found the dirt road leading to his house.
Alan and the dogs met me and we looked over the well weathered and beaten front glass storm door. It was worse than I thought. The white aluminum frame and glass was well acquainted with mud, scratches, slobber and more. I looked at it and told him - "We can fix it". And here is the procedure that we used to make that dilapidated old door look like new:
Step-1: Since Alan was the window washing professional - I let him clean the glass on the door - inside and out. He used a typical janitorial service window washing solution.
Step-2: We both took turns with a bottle of 409 ® Cleaner to scrub the mud and slobber off the "off-white" door frame until it actually looked WHITE again. This was tedious because I am meticulous and had to clean out all the grooves, nooks, crannies and all edges of the door.
Step-3: This was unplanned; however, the White door was looking so clean against the dirty door jams and aluminum step plate - that we had to clean those with plenty of 409 ®.
Step-4: Alan had to re-clean the glass on the door inside and out because we messed it up while cleaning the door frame and door jams. Voila - after a lot of tedious cleaning - it actually looked pretty nice. But at present the door was unprotected - and if left in that condition - then the dogs would make it intolerable in a matter of minutes.
Step-5: We spray coated the entire door frame, glass, edges, handles, hardware, aluminum plate and painted door jams with Self-Cleen ST3 ™. The door, glass and all was now protected by a thin transparent barrier so no animal or human would touch the original surfaces again.
In addition, the protective coating made the glass ultra-clear and ultra reflective as you can see in the photos provided. And, best of all - the new surfaces are all self-cleaning so anything the dogs and cat can throw at the door will wipe off easily with a light cleaning solution.
Alan was elated to have a real solution to his problem and we were proud of making the Front Storm Door - look like New!
Last weekend, Alan asked me for my help to make his front storm door easier to clean so that they could at least have a fighting chance to keep it looking descent. Up for the challenge - I drove out of town, navigated the back roads and finally found the dirt road leading to his house.
Alan and the dogs met me and we looked over the well weathered and beaten front glass storm door. It was worse than I thought. The white aluminum frame and glass was well acquainted with mud, scratches, slobber and more. I looked at it and told him - "We can fix it". And here is the procedure that we used to make that dilapidated old door look like new:
Step-1: Since Alan was the window washing professional - I let him clean the glass on the door - inside and out. He used a typical janitorial service window washing solution.
Step-2: We both took turns with a bottle of 409 ® Cleaner to scrub the mud and slobber off the "off-white" door frame until it actually looked WHITE again. This was tedious because I am meticulous and had to clean out all the grooves, nooks, crannies and all edges of the door.
Step-3: This was unplanned; however, the White door was looking so clean against the dirty door jams and aluminum step plate - that we had to clean those with plenty of 409 ®.
Step-4: Alan had to re-clean the glass on the door inside and out because we messed it up while cleaning the door frame and door jams. Voila - after a lot of tedious cleaning - it actually looked pretty nice. But at present the door was unprotected - and if left in that condition - then the dogs would make it intolerable in a matter of minutes.
Step-5: We spray coated the entire door frame, glass, edges, handles, hardware, aluminum plate and painted door jams with Self-Cleen ST3 ™. The door, glass and all was now protected by a thin transparent barrier so no animal or human would touch the original surfaces again.
In addition, the protective coating made the glass ultra-clear and ultra reflective as you can see in the photos provided. And, best of all - the new surfaces are all self-cleaning so anything the dogs and cat can throw at the door will wipe off easily with a light cleaning solution.
Alan was elated to have a real solution to his problem and we were proud of making the Front Storm Door - look like New!
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Published July 24th, 2013 6:48 PM
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2 of 4 comments
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Matthew Gingerella on Jul 29, 2013Here are before and after photos for my kitchen window - BIG difference. I could never keep up with my windows before, but now it is easy for me to keep them looking great with very little effort. What do you think?
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Matthew Gingerella on Jul 30, 2013Anybody have problems with sprinkler over spray hitting your windows and leaving hard water spots? If the hard water spots are left on the window for any significant amount of time - the calcium will permanently stain the glass surface - and your window will not be perfectly clear anymore - even after removing the deposits.
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