While weekends are meant for fun-trips and outings, holiday time calls for completing the pending household works like cleaning your aluminium doors and windows. While aluminum windows and doors require low maintenance, they gather a limited amount of dirt and dust.
Hence, it is important to clean them once in a few months to maintain the shine of the material. These transparent windows and doors provide great elegance to your interiors. In this post, we shall discuss the top tips to help with aluminium window and door maintenance.
Gather the Right Materials
The first step towards cleaning your aluminium doors and windows is to collect all the required materials to clean your windows and doors. It will include- a bucket, mug, window cleaning agent (you can also use mild detergent), a soft-bristled sponge, water (lukewarm water would be best), a dry and soft cloth, sponge, grease, or any lubricant.
Remove the Superficial Dirt and Dust
After gathering all the required items for the cleaning process, let the cleaning begin. The thumb rule for cleaning doors and windows of aluminium is to start working from top to down. In this way, you don’t risk getting dust stuck again on the areas that you have just cleaned.
To start the process, fill up the mug with clean water and gently splash it on the window and door frames outside your house. Repeat the same step if your windows and doors are too dirty. Wait for a few minutes until the water washes off the dirt on the glass and frame.
While frames don’t get too dirty from inside, use a wet cloth to wipe out all the accumulated dust and dirt.
Mix Detergent with Clean Water
Create a soapy solution by mixing the window cleaning agent or mild detergent into the lukewarm water. Please make sure that the cleaning agent used should have a PH level of 7 or less. It is important to consider a non-alkaline solution as an alkaline solution will remove the color-coating finish of your window panes.
Scrub it Gently
Take a soft-bristled brush and dip it in the soapy-solution that you have just created. According to experts, aluminium sliding doors should not be cleaned with steel wool as it will degrade the shine of the material.
Use a nylon brush to scrub the door and window frames gently and remove the patches and dirt stuck to the surface. If you can’t reach the hard-to-reach areas, consider using an old toothbrush to reach those areas and clean the surfaces.
After scrubbing the surfaces, take a wet sponge to wipe the cleaned surfaces to remove all the dirt lumps from your window and door frames. It would be best to put extra effort while scrubbing the joints as they are responsible for opening and closing your aluminium and windows doors.
Rinse Well with Clean Water
Soap residues are known for collecting a lot of dirt and making your doors and windows filthy. Therefore, it is important to rinse out the soap completely from your windows and doors. Take a bucket of clean water and drizzle it gently on all the cleaned structures to remove all the soap residues.
Wipe it with a Dry Cloth
After rinsing your aluminium doors and windows well, it’s time to wipe with a soft and dry cloth. You can also use the same cloth that you used to clean your vehicle, as it works great when it comes to absorption. Instead of using the cloth in a cris-cross direction, wipe your windows and doors in a single direction to give a better shine to the structures.
Please take note, touching these structures before they are completely dry will leave your fingerprint marks on them.
Let’s Grease it
After completing the wiping process, it is important to grease your aluminium doors and windows. It would be best to purchase a silicone-based lubricant to give a brighter look to the structures. Before applying the grease to the locking systems, hinges, joints, or springs, make sure they are completely dry.
If you can’t afford to wait for the drying process, use a blow-dryer to remove all the stagnant water from the places where you need to apply the grease. You can also use automotive wax to beam up your frames further. Please note that it won’t be wise to use car wax more than once on any aluminium structure.
The Bottom Line
You can easily brighten up your aluminium windows and doors by following the above in the order they are mentioned. Remember, pouring water on windows and doors can create a mess in your home. Hence, it would be best to take a sponge, dip it in the clean water, and then wipe out all the dirt from the structures.