DIY Cleaning Hard Water Off Exterior Windows

3:24 PM


This Labor Day, we labored away, cleaning our exterior windows. We just moved into a new home and we have to put in some elbow grease to sparkle it up. Lucky we found a way to remove hard water stains naturally and easily.




Here's a closer look at the grossness.  Here's what we did.



Spray window with DIY Natural Hard Water Solution. Recipe below.

The hard water solution is made up of 3 parts; vinegar, dawn dish soap, and lemon juice. Fill a spray bottle half full with vinegar. Fill the remaining half of the bottle with one part dish soap and one part lemon juice. 


Let set for 10 minutes and then get a bucket of water to dip into and a stiff bristle brush, and scrub away. 


Squeegee in downward strokes.


Wipe off excess water.


Dry with a dry rag


There you go! We had to do one window twice because the hard water was so bad, but I think they look beautiful! 



And another window, this time with the kids peering through!










Steph

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Sisters Meg and Steph discovered that while living the life of poor, newlywed, college students, with fresh little babies in the middle of The Great Recession they could still have what they needed and wanted if they got to work and created things with their own hands. This mindset has saved them thousands of dollars in living expenses, and as they share their knowledge with others, the savings keeps growing.

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15 comments

  1. agratefulheartSeptember 11, 2012 at 11:16 AM

    That's a great tip~ can't wait to try it:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. BrookeOctober 26, 2012 at 2:33 PM

    Found you via pinterest. I just tried it and it worked! You are a genius.

    ReplyDelete
  3. siheAugust 21, 2013 at 12:58 AM

    smart idea, I found you via pinterest, I'll try it also

    ReplyDelete
  4. siheAugust 21, 2013 at 1:02 AM

    smart idea, I'll try it, I found you via pinterest

    ReplyDelete
  5. dbApril 27, 2014 at 7:10 PM

    I tried this and was surprised by the shine. It did take a couple of times to remove all the spots but I had years of water spots from the water sprinkler. Thanks for posting this. Thanks to you I have bright shiny new looking windows!

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownJune 4, 2014 at 11:00 PM

    You did a great work on this post. Keep it up! I am looking for a cleaner tips then i got your blog, its really impressive post. I am subscribe you blog. Keep updating us. I would like to share some basic ideas regarding D.I.Y. Window Cleaning. Hope you wouldn't mind putting my link here. Thanks anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Heather BookerJuly 2, 2014 at 10:52 PM

    Do you think this could possibly work on glass shower doors? I have tried everything, and so far nothing has worked. I may just try it anyways and see how it goes :) Thanks for the tip.

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownJuly 13, 2014 at 3:51 PM

    OK, what am I doing wrong? Two rounds of scrubbing and my water spots are going nowhere...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. do it yourself divasJuly 14, 2014 at 9:25 AM

      What are you scrubbing with? We used a stiff bristle scrub brush. And I thought I had bad hard water spots.... Try cutting a lemon in half and rubbing the window with that first. Good luck!

      Delete
  9. LaurieJuly 20, 2014 at 7:14 AM

    Wow!!! Our windows sparkle once again. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  10. Kathy LOctober 20, 2014 at 5:45 AM

    Tried it this weekend and it really works. I used the steel wool after letting the solution sit for 10 minutes. My windows sparkle! Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownFebruary 23, 2015 at 10:02 PM

    Stephanie, thank you so much for the tip! All of the hard water stains on my windows drive me crazy and I feel like I spend hours trying to get them clean, only for them to remain just as bad as before! It has gotten to the point that my mom comments on how dirty they look when she comes to visit! Hopefully this can help me to make them sparkle so I no longer have to look at hard water stains instead of the beautiful scenery around my house! http://www.thermaltechexteriors.com/doors-windows.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. Holly GagnonApril 26, 2016 at 10:51 AM

    Pinning this DIY solution idea! Thanks! Holly

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nancy In BoiseMay 7, 2016 at 11:32 AM

    I'd be afraid of scratching the glass with a stiff brush. Have you tried CLR or Limeaway?

    ReplyDelete
  14. markyb555November 13, 2016 at 8:26 AM

    Our windows are particularly bad as they had never been cleaned at all since there install 10 years ago. After using a UPVC cleaner and nearly neat Hard Surface Cleaner the frames are whiter, which is alot better than they were.
    With the glass I followed your mixture although I didn't have lemon juice in, I used lime juice instead. I believe it's not as potent but using a halved lemon first and letting it soak in first, agitated the lemon on the glass with medium steel wool, put the mixture on, steel wool again and rinse. They have taken 95% of the streaky hard surface water marks off. Thanks for the tips!

    ReplyDelete