February 2020 - Sparkle

Feb 13, 2020

Fun in the rain this week

The rain finally arrived, and we can wash our cars again!

It was a long time coming but when it arrived, it certainly dropped buckets of water. I spent the weekend attempting to entertain my two sons and maximised the dry spells as best we could.

Clarrie Hall Dam is now at 100{d12e4e8a8c1640984f0eca68f6b0b7acbcd56278aaec25ab720ad48d45e4c9f3} capacity and this means that the water restrictions have now been lifted – Hooray! The Pressure Washing machines have had a long rest and are now raring to go and ready for their next job. First stop – Murwillumbah on Friday.

The Sparkle Mobile has not been in such a sorry state before and is looking forward to its first bath in almost 2 months.

Selling your home? Let us maximise kerb appeal

If you are selling your home, it pays to make a good first impression and investing in improving a property’s kerb appeal can maximise the chances of selling your home faster and help to get you the best price possible. Otherwise it can be like trying to sell a car without cleaning it first.

This Kingscliff Beach Property above is being sold and the vendor wanted to make sure it was looking its best for the open house that was coming up. All windows and pool glass were cleaned and left sparkling – the pool man did a top job too.

The driveway in the next photo had a rust stain that was coming from below the expansion joint and looked unsightly. Fortunately it was just on the surface of the concrete and hadn’t penetrated deeply so we were able to remove it ready for Inspections.

The Instructions we received for the house below were to make it look as presentable as possible but keep the cost low. So we agreed to Pressure Wash the driveway, front facing walls and roof and gutters above the garage. This gave an immediate positive impact and upon first glance from the roadside it looked great.

In other news…

There I was, minding my own business, trying to keep myself hydrated when who should I find guarding my water bottle? I have no idea of its name, but it was rather large.

Did you know that Sparkle offers commercial cleaning services as well?

Local Businesses are trusting the Sparkle Window Cleaning Team to keep their properties looking great. To find out about our Complete Maintenance Schedule Program

Call Now

0426 146 684.

If you would like any more information about our services, please check out our website using the big blue button below. You can’t miss it 🙂

Until next time,
Tim Slade
0426 146 684

Feb 3, 2020

Sparkle stays grounded with Telescopic pole system

sparkleadmin Blog

You may have caught an article in the news last week after two window cleaners needed to be rescued from a suspended platform while working on a high rise building in Oklahoma. The wind caught the platform, causing it to swing violently while they were 50 storeys high!
I’m happy to stay on the ground for now and have in my arsenal of equipment a telescopic water fed pole that can clean windows up to 5 storeys. The system works like this:

Pure filtered water is fed through the pole to a brush at the top
The window is scrubbed clean with the specially designed bristles
It is then rinsed with the pure water
Leaving the window spot free and sparkling

There is a bit of science behind it as the water is deionised which ‘charges’ the water which means that dirt and dust are attracted to the brush and lifted from the glass.

Here’s Duane in action at Fingal

The safety advantages are key as it means that we can tackle high awkward windows from the safety of the ground, it also means we can keep a safe distance from prehistoric looking creatures (see below)

This guy was happy to get back on the window ledge once I’d finished

Meet The Team

Here’s Duane…
This happy fellow managed a paint suppliers before deciding that Window Cleaning was to be his occupation of choice. Another Englishman, he loves it when it rains and can’t wait to get the gum boots on for another Pressure Washing job.

…And Ross
Ross knows the locality very well and has in fact been in many of the houses and properties we work on. He was a Telstra technician for 34 years but assures me he gets no special treatment when trying to get through to their customer service line and has to wait just like everyone else.

In other news…

To say I am a huge fan of the Australian wildlife would be an understatement, so on occasion I may just share some photos of the creatures I spot while at work.

This beauty was on the back door handle of the van which gave me a shock and helped me to remember that I had a side loading door I could use instead.
It travelled from Banora Point to Pottsville with little complaint

Mould? Repaint ? You may not need to

Our wonderful climate is great for enabling us to spend hours at the beach or visiting the creek, but that same climate is also perfect for mould growth. We often clean windows that are more dirty on the inside than the outside and this is because mould can manifest anywhere creating unsightly marks and even stains on various substrates around the home.

The photo above is a perfect example of delaying the need for a re-paint and saving $1000’s.
With a combination of mould treatment followed by pressure cleaning we can transform your home and save you money.

The longer the Mould is left on the surface, the more likely it is that it will penetrate the top layer and become harder if not impossible, to remove without painting.

Did you know we can also set up a regular maintenance cleaning schedule?

Why not let us shorten your ‘to do’ list and allow us to schedule in a regular clean. You don’t need to worry about remembering either as we will contact you.
Here are some common examples:

Annual House wash
Annual Gutter clean
Annual Solar panel clean
3 or 6 monthly window clean

Imagine knowing your house will be sparkling and you don’t need to lift a finger

Call Now to arrange a quote
0426 146 684.

If you would like any more information about our services, please check out our website using the big blue button below. You can’t miss it 🙂

Until next time,
Tim Slade
0426 146 684

Feb 3, 2020

Sparkle becomes Magician in time for 2020

sparkleadmin Blog

Firstly I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I hope you had a great festive season.

We at Sparkle were extremely busy prior to the holidays and took a well earned rest to recharge the batteries.

Now what’s all this Magician carry on? I hear you say …
Well If you look at the photo above and take note of all the equipment neatly laid out on the floor, I managed to get it all in the van as you can see from the photo below and I even managed to close the doors securely, which I think is pretty magic.

In the few weeks prior to Christmas we completed various jobs of various sizes including Pressure Washing and window cleaning the high level areas at The Commons in Casuarina – It was a challenge to work around all the retail tenancies and their opening times but the main objective was a success, which was to rinse the salt and dust away from the modern development to keep it looking fresh.

We also undertook by far the largest job in Sparkle Window Cleaning history at the Gold Coast Airport. It took 5 men, 8 nights to get through it and the whole team worked like Trojans, learned a great deal and overcame some technical difficulties in the process.

The task was to hoover all of the dust from any surface above 2 metres high, this meant scissor and boom lifts and also telescopic vacuum cleaners were utilised , working within a tight time frame around flight times and secruity protocols.

Aaron and Wellington giving their shoulders a work out to hoover the lattice frame

These are the dust bags from 3 vacuum cleaners

And Below – The Team – Aaron, myself, Mike, Wellington and Lee

Water Restrictions and Permits for Hosing

Water Restrictions have been enforced by Tweed and Byron Shire Councils currently, which is limiting some areas of work for us. However, I have a permit from Tweed Council to use a hose where required for cleaning fly screens and high level water fed pole work.

So we will continue as normal with window cleaning while being mindful of water usage during this extremely dry period we are experiencing. The use of pressure washers is not allowed currently unless it is for the purpose of improving public safety and with Councils Approval.

In Other News…

We came across this multi-home project down in Ballina where some birds had set themselves up rather comfortably. This was one part of the job that couldn’t be completed as there were birds flying in and out of the nests.

Don’t forget we can arrange a full Maintenance Schedule for your Property…

Window Cleaning, House wash down, Gutter cleaning, and of course solar panels too.
We will put it our diary and contact you to arrange a convenient time when its due.

Call Now to arrange a quote
0426 146 684.