The brief
Inland Algarve glass is a different job to coastal glass, and the difference is water rather than air.
On the coast the enemy is salt film, which hazes everything evenly and comes off readily. Inland, around São Brás de Alportel, you get two other things instead. Dust blows down off the Serra do Caldeirão and settles into a gritty layer that has to be washed off rather than wiped, because wiping it dry drags it across the pane. And the water is hard, so wherever irrigation reaches the glass it dries into mineral spotting that sits on the surface and will not shift with a cloth.
This villa had both. It is set among the cork oak country north of Faro, with shuttered windows and planting close to the house, which is exactly the arrangement that puts sprinkler water onto low panes every morning through the summer.
The ask was the one we get most on villas: every pane, both faces, done properly, without a ladder leaning on anything it should not be.
How we cleaned it
Traditional method throughout. Applicator and solution to wash the glass down, squeegee to take it off, microfibre to detail edges, frames and sills. Reachable glass by hand, higher panes worked from the ground on a pole.
Washed down before anything is wiped
With serra dust the order matters. The pane gets flooded and the grit floated off first, because taking a dry cloth to a dusty window is how you put fine scratches in it.
Top down, so nothing runs back
Upper panes before lower ones on each elevation, so dirty water never runs across glass that is already finished and dries there.
Frames, sills and shutters alongside
Shuttered windows collect dust in the louvres and the sill channel, and it blows back onto the glass the moment the wind picks up. Cleaning the pane and leaving the frame is a false economy.
The hard-water panes given longer
Where irrigation had left mineral spotting, those panes were worked separately rather than at the pace of the rest. Some spotting takes a second pass. Some has etched in and will not come back, and we say so on the day rather than afterwards.
Checked at an angle before packing up
Glass gets checked in raking light rather than straight on, because that is the only way to see what has been left. Anything missed is redone before the van moves.
The result
“Algarve Cleaning Crew did a great job. They arrived exactly on the agreed time which is not common for Portugal. The guys were very professional and did a very thorough window cleaning service for our villa in Sao Bras de Alportel. I highly recommend to anyone who needs their windows cleaned or driveways pressure washed in the Almancil / Sao Bras / Loule area. They also do tile cleaning and cleaning the window shutters, so we will ask them to come back very soon.”
Common questions
Do you cover São Brás de Alportel?
Yes. It sits outside our core Golden Triangle round, so it is quoted as a trip rather than a local call, and we are straight about that at the survey. If you are inland and wondering whether we come out that far, ask and we will give you a plain answer.
Is inland villa glass different to glass on the coast?
Yes, and it changes the method. Coastal glass carries a salt film. Inland glass carries dust off the serra and hard-water spotting from irrigation. The dust has to be floated off wet rather than wiped, and the mineral spotting needs working on separately, which is why an inland villa can take longer than a coastal one of the same size.
Can you get hard-water spotting off completely?
Usually, yes. Sometimes no. If mineral deposits have been left on the glass long enough they etch into the surface, and at that point the damage is in the glass rather than on it, so no amount of cleaning brings it back. We tell you which one you are looking at during the survey.
Do you clean shutters and frames as well as the glass?
Yes, as part of the job. On a shuttered villa it is not optional if you want the result to last, because dust sitting in the louvres and the sill channel ends up straight back on the pane.
Do I need to be at the property?
For the outside, no, as long as we can get access to the elevations and there is an exterior tap. For the inside we need someone there or a key arrangement. A lot of our villa work is for owners who are not in the country.
