To clean exterior windows, brush the frames, wash the glass top to bottom with warm water and a few drops of dish soap, then pull the water off with a squeegee and dry the edges with a lint-free towel. Work on an overcast day, and do only the glass you can reach safely.
That covers ground-floor windows on a calm day. In Victoria, the outside glass also deals with hard water spots, salt film near the water and second-storey panes that sit well past a comfortable reach. Here is how to handle each one, and where the honest answer is to hand it off.
What do you need to clean outside windows?
You need a bucket, dish soap, a scrubber, a squeegee and a couple of lint-free towels. Everything else is optional. A basic kit:
- A bucket of warm water with a few drops of dish soap
- A strip washer or a microfiber scrubber
- A 10 to 14 inch squeegee with a fresh rubber blade
- Lint-free microfiber towels for the edges
- A soft brush for frames, sills and cobwebs
- A garden hose on a gentle setting
- Optional: an extension pole and a cheap water hardness (TDS) meter
Skip ammonia cleaners outdoors. They dry fast in the wind and struggle with real dirt, and a soap-and-squeegee wash does a better job for less.
How do you clean exterior windows step by step?
Clean one window at a time, top to bottom, and never let the soap dry on the glass. The order:
- Brush the frames and sills. Knock off cobwebs, dust and dead bugs first so they do not end up on clean glass.
- Rinse. A light spray from the hose lifts loose grit that could scratch the glass when you scrub.
- Wash. Scrub the glass with the soapy strip washer, getting into the corners.
- Squeegee. Start at the top and pull down in overlapping strokes. Wipe the blade with a towel after every pass.
- Detail. Dry the edges and bottom of the pane with a towel, then wipe the sill.
- Check at an angle. Look at the glass from the side and from inside. Streaks show up best that way.
Pole work is where most homeowners come unstuck. On a pole you still need to wipe the blade after every stroke, which means bringing the pole down each time. Window cleaners say the same thing online: skip that step and upper glass streaks every time.
Why does your water matter more than your soap?
Most streaks and spots on outside windows come from the water, not the cleaner. Hose water carries dissolved minerals, and when it air-dries on glass it leaves a ring of chalky residue behind.
Shine Pros tests the water for minerals and impurities before every window job for this reason. As Alex says, most guys won’t do that. At home, you can get close to the same result:
- Never let rinse water air-dry on the glass. Squeegee it off.
- Test your hose water with a TDS meter if spots keep coming back.
- If you are on well water, which often carries more minerals, do the final wipe with distilled water in a spray bottle.
How do you remove hard water spots from outside windows?
Fresh hard water spots come off with white vinegar. Mix it 50/50 with warm water, let it sit on the glass for a few minutes, scrub, then wash and squeegee as normal.
Older spots, the kind from a sprinkler hitting the same pane every summer, need more. Window cleaners use very fine 0000 steel wool on wet, soapy glass, pressing lightly. Test a small corner first. Many newer windows are tempered glass, and it can scratch more easily than you expect.
If the spots are still there after all that, the minerals have etched the glass. No cleaner will fix etching. Point sprinklers away from the windows so it does not get worse.
How do you clean salt film off windows near the ocean?
Salt film needs a proper soap wash and a rinse, not a quick spray of glass cleaner. Homes near the water in James Bay, Oak Bay and Cordova Bay get a fine grey haze from sea spray that builds up fast.
Never dry-wipe salty glass. The crystals act like fine sand under a cloth. Rinse first, wash, then squeegee. If you are close to the water, a light hose rinse between full cleans keeps the build-up down, and you may want the glass cleaned more often than homes inland. Our post on how often to clean windows in Victoria covers the schedule.
Is it safe to clean second-storey windows yourself?
Cleaning second-storey windows from a ladder is where most of the risk sits. If you can do the work from the ground with a pole, or from inside on tilt-in windows, do that instead.
If you do use a ladder, follow the basics WorkSafeBC and ladder makers set out:
- Set the base 1 foot out for every 4 feet of height
- Keep three points of contact, which is hard while holding a squeegee
- Put the feet on firm, level ground, never soft lawn or a sloped bed
- Do not stand on the top rungs or reach past your belt buckle
Shine Pros uses ladders fitted with standoffs, which keep the ladder off the gutters and siding and make it steadier for the crew. We have also met the other side of this. One customer, unhappy with a mess her previous provider left, tried cleaning her own gutters, fell off the ladder and broke her back. A clean window is never worth that.
When should you call a pro to clean exterior windows?
Call a pro when the job needs a tall ladder, when hard water or salt keeps winning, or when the glass is old or unusual. The clear cases:
- Second and third storey glass you cannot reach from the ground or inside
- Hard water spots that vinegar will not shift
- Heritage homes with old or wavy glass, like the three-storey James Bay home Alex and Emma have cleaned every year since their first year
- Windows over a steep slope, a sunroom or a deck drop
At Shine Pros, exterior window cleaning on a 1,500 sq ft home is $204, backed by a 30-day streak-free guarantee. The window cleaning cost in Victoria post breaks down prices for bigger homes and inside-and-out jobs. If you do book one, this window cleaning prep checklist keeps the visit quick.
Exterior window cleaning questions
Can I use Dawn dish soap to wash outside windows?
Yes. A few drops of dish soap in a bucket of warm water is what many window cleaners use. Too much soap leaves a film, so keep it light and squeegee it all off.
Does vinegar clean windows better than Windex?
Outside, vinegar is better on mineral spots and Windex is fine for light smudges. For real dirt on exterior glass, a soapy wash and a squeegee beat both.
Can you pressure wash windows?
It is a bad idea. High pressure can push water past the seals and damage screens. Use a hose on a gentle setting to rinse, then wash by hand.
What is the best weather to clean outside windows?
A dry, overcast day with little wind. Direct sun dries the soap before you can squeegee it, which leaves streaks. See our best time for window cleaning in Victoria for the seasons.
Is window washing the same as window cleaning?
People use the terms loosely, but they can mean different levels of work. Our post on the difference between window washing and window cleaning explains it.
Clean what you can reach, and leave the rest
Cleaning exterior windows comes down to soap, a squeegee, the right water and a safe reach. Do the ground floor yourself on a cloudy day, and hand off the high glass, stubborn hard water and salty waterfront panes. For those, book a free window cleaning quote, call (778) 743-4377, or see what is included on our Victoria window cleaning service page.
