The brief
The more glass a villa has, the less forgiving it is. On a house like this one there is nowhere for a missed streak to hide.
This is a modern villa in Vale do Lobo where the architecture is essentially glass held apart by dark timber. The upper floor is one vast single pane. The terrace is enclosed by glass balcony walls rather than a solid balustrade. There are full-height sliding doors onto the pool, a long ribbon window down the side, and a skylight overhead.
Each of those is a different problem. A pane that size has no divisions to break the work into manageable pieces. Balcony glass is dirty on both faces and sits at eye level. A skylight faces straight up, so everything that lands on it stays there and dries on. The one thing they have in common is that on a house made of glass, every one of them is visible from everywhere.
The brief was the whole property, inside and out.
How we worked it
Traditional method throughout: applicator and solution on, squeegee to take it off, microfibre to detail the edges, frames and tracks. A ladder and pole for the high glass, so nothing had to be improvised on the day.
Work out the order before touching anything
On a property with this much glass the sequence is most of the job. Outside before inside, high before low, so nothing already finished gets run over by dirty water coming off something above it.
The big pane in continuous passes
A single sheet that size cannot be done in sections. Each pass runs the full width and overlaps the one before it, blade wiped every time, because on glass that big any hesitation in the technique shows up as a line straight through the middle of the view.
Ladder for the high elevation
The upper glass was reached from a ladder set on the terrace, rather than anything resting against the cladding or the glass itself.
Balcony glass on both faces
Glass balcony walls are two-sided by definition. They take pool splash on one side and salt off the air on the other, and they sit at eye level from the terrace, so they get the same attention as the windows rather than a wipe on the way past.
The skylight, washed rather than wiped
Horizontal glass collects everything that lands on it and holds water where it falls, so dust and hard water dry on in place. It is the pane nobody thinks about until the light coming through it starts looking grey.
Frames, tracks, then checked in raking light
Sliding door tracks cleared out along with the frames and sills, then the whole property walked and checked at an angle before the kit went back in the van. Anything missed gets redone before we leave.
What was included
- Single-pane picture window
- Glass balcony walls, both faces
- Full-height sliding doors
- Ribbon window
- Skylight
- Every pane inside and outside
- Frames and sills
- Sliding door tracks cleared
The result
Why big glass takes longer than it looks
A villa like this has fewer panes than a traditional house and takes considerably longer, which catches people out when they try to price window cleaning by the window. The size of each sheet is the work. A single pane has to be washed and pulled in one continuous go before the solution starts to dry, and on a hot Algarve afternoon that leaves a narrow window to work in.
It is also why we survey before quoting rather than giving a price per window over the phone. Four hours here was an honest reflection of the glass on the property, not padding.
Common questions
How long does it take to clean the windows on a villa like this?
Four hours here, two cleaners, inside and out. On a glass-heavy villa the time is decided by the size of the panes far more than the number of them, which is why a modern house with fewer, bigger windows often takes longer than a traditional one with dozens of small ones.
Do you clean glass balcony walls and balustrades?
Yes, on both faces. They are usually the dirtiest glass on a villa because they catch splash from the pool and salt off the air, and they are the glass you look straight through from the terrace, so leaving them undoes the rest of the work.
Can you clean a skylight?
Where it can be reached safely, yes, and it is worth doing. Horizontal glass gathers dust and dries hard water in place, and because you are looking up through it rather than across it, the difference afterwards is more noticeable than people expect.
Do you clean the inside as well as the outside?
Yes, both faces of every pane as standard. On a villa where the whole elevation is glass, doing only the outside leaves you looking at the half we did not touch.
Do you cover Vale do Lobo?
Yes. Vale do Lobo is inside our core round along with Quinta do Lago, Vilamoura, Almancil, Loulé and Quarteira, so it is a local job for us rather than a trip.
