Vinyl window frames are so much easier to keep clean. Even when the weather outside has just dirtied up the windows and frames to a point where it looks like dirty snowballs were chucked at your house, these frames still clean up well. But if you see some black mold or mildew collecting on your vinyl window frames, do not freak out. Here is how to clean them.

Step One: Bleach in a Spray Bottle

Bleach will not hurt your vinyl window frames, so you can rest at ease with this first cleaning step. Use a bleach cleaning solution in a trigger spray bottle. It will give you better control and more focus so that the bleach solution does not go everywhere (i.e., drip onto the grass or onto the paint job on your siding). The bleach kills mold and mildew spores so that they do not become airborne when you start cleaning. You may be able to wipe off the mold or mildew after bleaching it, but be sure to use disposable paper towels so that these organisms go directly into the trash and not onto something you have to wash.

Step Two: Hot, Soapy Rags

After you have killed and neutralized the black mold on your vinyl window frames, use a hot, soapy rag to wash down the frames completely, Take care to wash the mold/mildew areas last to avoid accidentally moving any invisible and active spores onto other parts of the window frames. Use a new rag with each window so that there is no question of how any new mold or mildew got to a different spot. (If you follow all of these steps and precautions correctly, you should not experience another mold or mildew outbreak on the vinyl again.)

Step Three: Thorough Drying

Finally, your vinyl window frames need to be dried thoroughly after you have freed them of mold/mildew and cleaned them. Wipe them down vigorously with a dry cloth. If it is not really hot outside, use a blowdryer to make all the surfaces really dry. Even if it is really hot outside, you want to avoid doing this project when it is really humid. Otherwise your efforts may be wasted because you will not be able to get all surfaces sufficiently dry because of the humidity. A dry, hot day for air drying is best, followed by a cooler dry day, and a blowdryer as your second best approach.

For more information about vinyl window frames and how to maintain them, contact a window company, such as Gilkey Windows.

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