Window Cleaning in Northfield, uPVC Frames and Sills Included
The case for window cleaning in Northfield is sitting on the front of nearly every house. uPVC went into these semis from the 1980s onwards, and forty years of weather has left the frames grey, the sills streaked and the door surrounds green on the shaded side. Plenty of it has never been properly cleaned. Do the frames alongside the glass and the elevation changes from the pavement.
The stock is mixed but predictable: interwar semis with a front bay, post-war and former council houses with wide casements, and a scattering of bungalows on the estates. All of it can be reached from the ground with a pole, which matters, because nothing should be leaning on pebbledash. Northfield is twelve minutes from our base, so a four or six-weekly interval in B31 is straightforward to keep.
- Service
- Window Cleaning
- Area covered
- Northfield, B31
- Local authority
- Birmingham
- How we do it
- Pure water through a reach and wash pole, from the ground
- From our Selly Oak base
- About 12 minutes
- Price
- Quoted per property before we start (what the quote covers)
- Booking
- Call or WhatsApp 07788 574283
Chalky uPVC and Bristol Road film on Northfield frontages
Two things dirty a Northfield window. The first is the frame material itself. uPVC oxidises in sunlight, the surface chalks and holds a grey film that a squeegee across the glass does nothing about, while the shaded north elevation grows a green bloom over frames, sills and door surrounds. The second is traffic. Bristol Road South and the roads feeding the Grosvenor throw a constant film onto anything fronting them, and it settles on the sill and the bottom rail first. Then there is the pebbledash above the opening, which sheds grit down the pane in heavy rain. A B31 front looks tired well before the glass itself is genuinely dirty.
- uPVC fitted from the 1980s, now chalked and grey, with the film sitting on the frame more than the pane
- Green algae over frames, sills and door surrounds on the shaded north elevation
- Traffic film off Bristol Road South and the roads into the Grosvenor, landing on front elevations first
- Pebbledash and roughcast above the openings, shedding grit down the glass in heavy rain
- uPVC front doors and porch surrounds, which nobody cleans and which show it at eye level
Ground-level pole work that keeps clear of pebbledash and old guttering
The whole elevation is reached from ground level with a water-fed pole and filtered, deionised water, so no ladder ever goes near your pebbledash, which marks, or your ageing plastic guttering, which will not take the weight. No detergent goes on the glass and no squeegee on the outside. Frames, sills and door surrounds are brushed by the pole as deliberately as the glass is washed, with a uPVC cleaner where a frame needs one, and the sill and bottom rail come last, since that is where the run-off collects. Deionised water leaves no residue as it dries, which is why nothing needs towelling afterwards. On a bay we do the side returns as well as the front face, because those are the panes you look through from indoors.
- Worked entirely off the pole from the drive, so nothing leans on pebbledash or on old plastic guttering
- Frames, sills and door surrounds treated as a real part of the job, not a wipe at the end
- Side returns on a bay included, since those are the panes you actually look out of
- Bottom rails and sills finished last, where the run-off from the glass ends up
More detail on the equipment and the order of work: our window cleaning method.
From Bristol Road South to the estates towards Longbridge
B31 bookings take in the streets off Bristol Road South, the estates towards Longbridge, the roads around Victoria Common and the higher ground on the south side of B31, and at about twelve minutes from our base a visit can usually be fitted in the same week. A standard semi is quick work, which is exactly why a short interval is affordable here. Houses fronting Bristol Road South go on the shorter cycle because of traffic film. You do not need to be in for the outside, most drives give the van somewhere to stand, and we drop a card through once the windows are done.
Openings, and how far the frames have gone, on a B31 semi
Two things set the price on a Northfield house: how many openings there are and how far gone the uPVC is. A semi on a regular interval is a short visit and priced to match. A first clean on frames untouched since the day they were fitted is a different job and priced as one, since chalked uPVC usually needs a uPVC cleaner on that first visit, not just a rinse. Worth knowing before you book: cleaning brings badly oxidised frames back a long way, though not always the whole way to white. Where the chalking has gone deep, the result is much improved but not new, and we say which yours is when we quote.
Six weeks for most of B31, four on Bristol Road South
Six weekly suits most B31 houses and is the interval we plan around. Four weekly earns its keep if you front Bristol Road South or one of the busier feeder roads, where the traffic film builds noticeably faster. A sheltered house on a quiet cul-de-sac is fine at eight. What works poorly here is annual cleaning, because a full year of algae on uPVC turns every visit into a restoration job, and you end up paying for that in place of a clean.
Overall satisfied with service this company has provided leaving windows & guttering clean.
Absolutely brilliant service. Adefem was professional, job well done. Everything was left beautifully clean, and I was genuinely impressed.
Great services delivered by Charles recommend for others
Northfield · Window Cleaning
Frequently asked questions
Yes: frames, sills and door surrounds every time, and on a Northfield semi that is where most of the visible difference comes from. Doing the glass and leaving the frames on a house with forty-year-old uPVC gives you a window that looks fine from indoors and a front that still looks neglected from the road.
Not always fully white, but a long way, often further than you would guess. What we will not promise is new. uPVC chalks as it oxidises in sunlight, and where that has gone deep into the surface the frame finishes up much improved without being white again. We tell you which yours is at the quote.
With a pole from the drive, never a ladder. Ladder feet and ladder tops both mark render, and the plastic guttering on a lot of these houses is old enough that we would not want a ladder resting on it either. The pole reaches up to three storeys while we stand on your drive, so nothing touches the building at all.
Yes, and the surround with it. uPVC doors and porches in Northfield grow green on the shaded side and collect road grime on the other, and it shows more than the windows do because you walk past it at eye level every time you come up the drive.
Yes, on request, and if you give us a key or code, you need not be in. Interiors are quoted apart from the regular exterior visit because they are a different job: no pole, everything by hand, sills and reveals included. Having the insides done once or twice a year while the outsides stay on the regular cycle works well for a B31 semi.
Other cleaning we do in Northfield
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