Eko-Okna

Quick Facts

Brand at a Glance

Product Range

Why This System

Step 1 of 2: Manufacturer Recommendations

Official Care Guidance

Glass

• ✓Lukewarm water with mild soap or a dedicated glass cleaner. Volume production means consistent specifications - but confirm coatings on any specification you have not cleaned before.
• ✓Microfibre T-bar on the wash, professional squeegee on the pull. Fresh rubber. At volume, rubber condition degrades faster - check and replace rubber more frequently on large-site cleans.
• ✓No razor blades without confirming the glass specification. Eko-Okna products in the new-build market frequently include easy-clean or low-E coatings.
• ✓After squeegeeing, wipe the frame perimeter - at volume, this step is the one most commonly skipped. Squeegee drips on white PVC frames dry as visible marks.

Frames

• ✓Wipe with damp cloth and pH-neutral cleaner. On large sites, use a bucket system that keeps the cleaning solution clean - dirty solution redeposits grime on frames.
• ✓No bleach, chlorine, or strong alkali. No solvent-based products. No abrasive pads.
• ✓Clear drainage slots at every window. On a development with 200 windows, this takes time - but blocked drainage on any window causes water damage that is expensive to remedy.
• ✓On colour laminate installations, handle the foil edges at corners carefully. Test any new cleaning product on one inconspicuous window before applying across the full development.

Hardware

• ✓Wipe hardware with a damp cloth and dry immediately. Steel hardware on volume-tier PVC is durable but not corrosion-proof when left persistently wet.
• ✓Check hardware function on every window - at volume, a stiff mechanism that needs lubrication is easy to miss. Operate each window through the full range.
• ✓Lubricate all moving points annually. On a large development, annual hardware lubrication should be a separate scheduled service item, not an afterthought on the glass clean visit.

Step 2 of 2: The Orloffs Protocol

The Orloffs Protocol

Pro Tools

My daily tool list. This is what I carry to every job.

Follow these steps in order. Each one builds on the last. This is the same sequence I use on every Eko-Okna installation.

1. 1

   Site setup and product check

   On a first visit to an Eko-Okna development, walk one elevation and identify the profile series, colour specification, and glazing type before starting. Confirm the glass specification with the site manager or building manager if possible.

   Identify the drainage slot position on the specific profile series present. On Eko-Okna products built on different profile systems, the slot is in a slightly different position - find it on the first window and it will be consistent across the development.

   Set up your cleaning station with enough solution to cover the full site without needing to remix mid-clean. Consistent dilution matters at volume - too much soap creates foam and residue; too little leaves the solution ineffective.

2. 2

   Glass wash

   Work in a consistent sequence across the development - top floor first, ground floor last, or left-to-right across each elevation. Consistent sequencing prevents skipped windows on large sites.

   Apply solution with the T-bar in overlapping passes. Rotate T-bar covers more frequently than on a single-property job - a cover that has been used on 20 windows carries accumulated grime that scratches the glass on the 21st.

   Allow dwell time on any windows with heavy soiling. New-build developments often have construction dust or paint splatter - dwell time is more effective than pressure on these soils.

3. 3

   Drainage check

   Before squeegeeing each window, check the drainage slot condition. At volume, this is the step most likely to be skipped under time pressure - build it into the sequence so it happens automatically.

   On Eko-Okna volume installations, drainage slots are frequently clogged with dust from the construction phase if the windows have not been cleaned since installation. Construction dust in drainage slots sets hard - it needs the wooden pick rather than a brush.

   If a drainage slot is blocked solid and will not clear with a pick, flag the window number to the site manager. A blocked slot that has been wet repeatedly may have water behind the glass unit already.

4. 4

   Squeegee

   At volume, a consistent squeegee technique is more important than a complex one. Side-to-side passes with a 45 cm channel covers standard residential Eko-Okna panel sizes efficiently.

   Wipe the rubber after every pass. On large sites, rubber condition degrades through the day - check the rubber at every floor break and replace if it is leaving marks.

   Bottom pass: direct the bead toward the drainage slot and away from the frame. At volume, squeegee bead left in the bottom frame rebate dries as a white mineral line across the full width of every window - visible from outside.

5. 5

   Frame wipe-down

   Wipe all frame faces with pH-neutral cleaner on a damp cloth. On volume sites with identical windows, develop a consistent sequence for the frame wipe - top rail, left stile, right stile, bottom rail, sash perimeter. Consistent sequencing prevents missed sections.

   Pay attention to the welded corners on every window. Grime accumulates in the PVC corner weld and is consistently missed at volume. A detail cloth at each corner adds 10 seconds per window and produces a significantly better result.

   Rotate cloths frequently. A cloth that has wiped 10 frames carries enough accumulated grime to redeposit visibly on the next frame.

6. 6

   Hardware and completion

   Operate each window through the full range. At volume this takes time - but a stiff or non-functioning mechanism on a new-build property is a warranty issue as well as a maintenance issue, and finding it during the clean is valuable.

   Record any hardware issues by window number or position on the elevation. On a development with many windows, an unrecorded hardware issue is an unfindable hardware issue when the site manager follows up.

   Do a final walk of each elevation after cleaning. From 10 metres away, any missed squeegee drips, frame marks, or skipped windows are visible. At volume, the walk saves remedial work.

Pro Tips

• ★ On new-build Eko-Okna developments, construction dust in the drainage slots sets as hard as plaster - clean these with a wooden pick on the first visit, then they are manageable with a brush on subsequent visits.
• ★ Colour laminate Eko-Okna windows in woodgrain finishes are common in the German and Austrian market. The foil edges at the corners are the vulnerability - check corners on every window of a colour install, not just the ones that look problematic.
• ★ Volume PVC cleaning is a quality discipline as much as a technique - the challenge is maintaining standard on the 80th window as well as the first. Develop a sequence and stick to it.
• ★ Eko-Okna hardware in UK-market products is sometimes from a UK fabricator specification rather than Polish standard - if the hardware operates differently from what you expect, identify it before lubricating with the wrong product.
• ★ At volume, squeegee rubber condition is a bigger variable than on single-property cleans. Replace rubber at fixed intervals rather than waiting for visible performance degradation.
• ★ If the development has both white PVC and colour laminate windows, clean the colour laminate windows first with a fresh solution - the foil surface shows solution contamination more clearly than white PVC.
• ★ On large Eko-Okna new-build sites, the first professional clean after construction is significantly more intensive than subsequent cleans - price it accordingly and bring more T-bar covers and cloths than you think you need.

What NOT To Do

Bundle Kits and Tool Recommendations

Cleaning Frequency

Glass: 2x per year minimum (Spring and autumn. Urban and roadside locations: quarterly. New-build first clean: as soon as construction dust allows.). Frames: 2x per year (Same visit as glass. New-build first clean requires more frame cleaning time than subsequent visits.). Drainage slots: Every clean (At volume, this is the step most at risk of being skipped. Build it into the sequence.). Hardware lubrication: Once per year (Separate scheduled visit on large developments - do not attempt hardware lubrication as part of a volume glass clean.)

Frequently Asked Questions

Field Notes

“Eko-Okna new-build developments in Poland and Germany are often the first professional glass clean these windows have received since installation - construction dust in the drainage slots and on the frame surfaces is more severe than on a maintained property. The profile variation across Eko-Okna product lines means the first visit to any new Eko-Okna site should include a 10-minute walk to identify the specific profiles present - this saves time and prevents mistakes during the clean. UK-market Eko-Okna products are sometimes sold under a different brand name by the importing distributor - the profile and quality are Eko-Okna's, but the brand label may differ. The cleaning approach is identical.”

Justin Orloff