Does it make sense to window clean a 1.5 year old glass condo building?

The clean won't last long. If all the windows aren't cleanable from inside, you're screwed. Too late to ask how the architect supposed the building would be cleaned, I guess.

Initial feedback is the cost will be $30K - $40K and we will have to scaffold the building......so you agree this is a waste and we should wait a few years until the windows show real signs of dirt on them?

Whenever I see one of these glass buildings, I marvel at what most architects thought (or didn't bother to consider) about how they'd look in a matter of months, let alone years, and the quality of life this would impact. And how can you building something without a thought as to how it can be maintained? I also don't understand how people move in without considering this. Scaffold to clean the building? That's practical. Nice planning.

Hope the reserve fund is kept stocked for this which will likely have to occur fairly frequently if you want the place to look 1/2 decent from the inside and out. For 100 units, it sounds like a $250 assessment every year per apartment (on average) would generate funds to clean the building every 2 years. Go longer than that and cleaning it will be harder and living in it will be tantamount to viewing the world through grey grime colored glasses.

yes, but Kylewest remember that an all-glass building should save a ton of money on repointing. Essentially, glass cleaning and maintenance IS their Local Law 11 compliance. Thinking architects today go ahead and design the cleats for the scaffolds as part of their design -- I've seen them, for example, at Riverhouse in BPC.

I highly recommend Frank's Window Cleaning -- of course you would have to get competitive bids but I've always been happy with them -- tell them ali of dgneary sent you.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

but...isn't repointing a once every 30-40 yr event? and, in between repointing, it's not at all like dirty glass. I cannot imagine chosing to live in an all glass building.

you might want to look into some of those self cleaning glass coatings, i have no idea if they are any good or value for money. but here is something to mull over http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/1046/

Is the five-year inspection still required for non-masonry skinning under Local Law 11?

Any engineer will tell you, glass seals all eventually leak. Replacing seals makes masonry look like a modern marvel since repointing is easier. All buildings are subject to the Local Law cycles if they are over a certain number of stories (6?), I believe.

'Dirty windows' is probably an individual thing; you think they're fine while the board thinks they should be cleaned. Cleaning windows once a year doesn't seem excessive &, at $40,000 per year, comes to about $34 per unit per month. That doesn't seem excessive to me; all buildings need some form of regular maintenance.

I know nothing about these things, but I find it hard to believe that individual units' windows can't be cleaned from the inside. I'd try my best to contact the architect, engineer, and developer, and find out what you can; plus it's good to keep a record of the exact make and model of the glass system used, and who installed it. Some of that might be specified in your offering plan (although with the usual "or similar" language.

Cleaning the windows on the inside is one thing but if I had my 20th floor window open or tilted in, etc. for cleaning, I would be VERY careful - & nervous.

hey--once you're above the fourth or fifth floor, what difference does it make?

According to our friends at the Cooperator, Local Law 11 compliance requires scaffolding. seems to me it doesn't matter whether the facade is masonry or non-masonry.

http://www.cooperator.com/articles/57/1/Local-Law-11/Page1.html

ali r.
{downtown broker}

The building is obviously Toll Brother's 110 Third:

http://www.nycondoblog.com/?cat=27

I suspect they did not build in a roof system for lowering window washers in order to have a roof deck for marketing purposes. Most all glass buildings need to have their windows cleaned once a year, hard to believe they did not plan for it. On the other hand, I guess they don't care since they sold all the units and now it is not Toll Brothers problem.

they would have had to have implemented a rooftop cleaning system right?

no one is going to scaffold everytime they want the windows cleaned.

and yes i can imagine not being able to clean the windows, expensiove or otherwise.

Dean

dean, right, as you see at Time Warner. It has tracks on the roof, rigging, etc. So do the Solow tower (where the scaffold fell last year,) the condo on top of Julliard, etc. I'm sure the MOMA condo does, too.

If the building doesn't have openable panes such that you can safely reach the non-openable panes for cleaning, you've got to go with the real deal on the roof. I can see how the developer of a middling building would let that slide, though, as buyers tend to not think about these things. All parties focus on crap like kitchens and baths that'll be gone in 20 years. (Remember that pinkish marble from the '80s? Everything Trump did?)

If you hire someone make sure they are licensed rigger (a special rigger can lift up to 2000 lb and is typical for hanging scaffold)if they are using hanging scaffolds. They need to get a permit from the DoB prior to installation of the rig and then call 24 hours in advance. The DoB will write violations to the building if there is not a licensed rigger on the project. You can always check the rigger license status on the DoB website (on the left hand side ther is a link to a license check. Works for all city licenses, plumbers, electricians etc.)

This whole topic seem absurd to me. It seems inconceivable that 1) there is not some way to clean without scaffolding, 2) this is not ALREADY decided and planned for and reserved for so that no resident ever gives it a second thought. If not, it is truly pitiful and a sign that , I suppose, developers thought they could get away with a half-ass building plan because the market was booming. How could this even be an issue to discuss when it is such an inevitable regularly recurring need?

Inconceivable is right. Take a look at the plans for 200WEA at http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/building/200-west-end-avenue-new_york, where the openable and fixed panes are indicated. No way can the fixed panes be cleaned except by scaffolds suspended from roof-level rigging, as is done at office buildings and high-end residential buildings.

I don't know what the arrangements are at 200WEA. We'll know in a few months. The building does have a wine-tasting room, for those residents without glasses and chairs in their own apartments.

funny you should mention this. we saw a place at 200 wea and i asked about the window cleaning. of course, the broker looked at me like i had three heads---the old, how can you think about something so trivial when this tiny place is so magnificent.

Seen it lately? The lobby door and windows are now bracketed by a huge "Park Here" sign for the garage and by the CVS signage.

nope...haven't seen it in a while. jsut checked..two expensive rentals, at $9k and $10 K. The $10K appears to be the same place that rented a year ago for $14 K. Wonder where these prices will end up.