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Why spend a fortune on a specialty cleaner for your outdoor windows? Here’s an easy homemade outdoor window washer recipe you can make for a lot less!
Homemade Outdoor Window Washer Recipe
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- Author: Tawra Kellam
Ingredients
Units
3 Tbsp. liquid dishwashing soap
1 Tbsp. anti-spotting agent (Jet Dry)
1/4 cup ammonia (Optional for extra cleaning power and degreasing)
Instructions
- Put soap and anti-spotting agent into a spray bottle attachment for your garden hose.
- Add ammonia, if desired, for extra cleaning power and degreasing.
- Fill the bottle to the top with water.
- Attach sprayer.
- Spray upper windows and let them dry.
This outdoor window washer recipe is for cleaning the higher windows on your house that you can’t reach except with a ladder.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
- Dreama
Really?! This works?? I’ve wanted to buy the name-brand item at the store, but deterred buy the price! I’m gonna try it! THANKS!
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- rose
hehehee .. i saw the heading of this and the pic .. and i thought .. its a good idea to get the kids to wash the windows .. heheeee ..
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- Peg
Wow! I went to Walmart yesterday to buy 3 bottles of Windex Outdoor but they don’t carry it in the store and she said they had it online for $40 each! Major price gouging as it’s usually $11. I came home and found your recipe and used it this morning on all my windows. I’m thrilled with the results! I didn’t have any Jet Dry but our water is so soft here that we never get water spots and my windows now look so clean and clear and it only cost me pennies to do 36 windows and two patio doors. Thanks so much!
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- Jill
I am so glad it worked for you Peg.
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- grandma
I like your cleaner send him up.
will even feed him.
what does he charge?Reply
- Herry Smith
Very simple and effective window cleaning method. But this won’t work for out of order dirty windows. I found Using Vinegar with lime solution work pretty well.
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- Jill
Just a tip for any outside window washing. Don’t forget to cover your plants under the windows. Many cleaners (that use vinegar and ammonia etc.) can kill plants so be careful. Soapy water is fine because it doesn’t hurt the plants and kills many bugs.
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- Jill
So, don’t add the ammonia if using near plantings? Just the soap and jet dry?
ThanksReply
- Jill
I probably would leave the ammonia out or cover the plantings. Now certain types of ammonia and if it is diluted properly can fertilize grass and plants but to be safe I usually cover my plants and not chance it.
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- Maggie
Our house fronts on a well-traveled main street. The front windows (5 of them), are dirty all the time due to the dust and dirt from this road. There is a lot of construction going on in our neighborhood now, too, and the trucks carrying dirt are many. I’m going to try this solution and see if I can get my windows clean. With my chronic shoulder issue, washing windows by hand is not easy so this might be just the thing. I get so tired of grimy windows.
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- Grizzly Bear Mom
Maggie, perhaps your church’s youth group could help wash your windows. Or a friendly neighbor? God bless.
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- Laura Hendricks
nice thought
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- Cee
I have white fascia / trim on the outside of the house that’s has black mold in spots all the way around. It comes off with my Mr. Clean purple cleanser and a rag, but the smell is very strong. Bleach works wonders, but I’m wondering if there is something natural that I can mix together that would work, and that doesn’t really need to be rinsed just scrubbed in with a sponge mop or something.
Bless You AllReply
- Jill
That is a nasty job and I know what you mean about not wanting to have to rinse it and all. There are some natural things you can try like vinegar, hydrogen peroxide but I would rinse those too if I used them and the vinegar does not kill the mold as well as the bleach. People wonder why they keep having trouble with the mold returning so quickly often and it is because they are using vinegar and other natural things which don’t kill the mold totally and so it then begins growing back pretty fast. Even using bleach mold can eventually grow back but not at the rate when you use other things.
For example vinegar kills 80% of the mold that means 20% is left there and what does that 20% start doing – growing like crazy.
Maybe some of our readers have found something else. Just be aware though that even though sometimes seem to work great if it does kill everything you will have to do the work again sooner.Reply
- Amy
Oil of cloves works to kill mold spores and helps to stop them returing and is pretty natural. Works better than bleach ive found.
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- Ron Stith
I have grass and plants under the Windows. I understand vinegar is not good for them. Just water, Dawn and Jet Dry? Will the Jet Dry harm the plants?
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- Jill
Ron I wouldn’t use this recipe if you have plants under the windows. I would just use a little Dawn with some water and then dry them quickly with a soft rag. It you have mineral deposit built up you could use the Dawn and water and use a scrubby pad to wash the windows to try to remove hard water deposits. If there are no hard water deposits then just use the Dawn and water. To be honest if my windows aren’t grimy I just use water and then buff dry.
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- Kathy
Mold is a tough one…I have had great luck with this recipe below from: http://www.solventfreepaint.com/linseed_soap.htm
Boric Acid – 16 oz bottle
You can add Borax to the Allback linseed oil soap EXTRA in a second application. Let the Borax fortified linseed oil soap EXTRA dry on the surface for extra protection from mold and mildew. Add 2-3 ounces per 5 liter of linseed oil soap EXTRA. This Boric Acid, a white powder, is mined from the Mojave Desert in California and is nature’s proven long-term treatment in eliminating co*ckroaches, Palmetto bugs, Waterbugs, Ants, Silverfish, Carpenter Ants, and Termites. Learn more about Boric Acid – nature’s own pesticide.
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- handyman707
Try Wet-N-Forget. Mix it according to product instructions. This stuff works like a miracle.
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- Erica
Wet & Forget is the best
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- Amy
Fantastic, im going to try this. What brand is the sprayer, I havent seen the dial kind in Australia before so I want to try and hunt one down.
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- Jill
You don’t need to really need one with the dial. You can use any sprayer like that that hooks on to the end of a hose.
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- Jackie
Jill, where do I get one of those? Our garden center had a very expensive one. Doesn’t it need a reservoir to put the solution in and then the sprayer part?
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- Jill
Jackie I am not sure because I just saved a bottle from some store bought window cleaner that I had gotten at the recycling center but I am pretty sure you could get one at some place like Lowe’s, Home Depot etc. Also I have used a bottle from some fertilizer that I had used up and just cleaned the bottle out really good.
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- Lena
I was so excited to try this recipe after reading about it and watching Tawra demonstrate how to use it on YouTube. I bought a sprayer to fit on the hose, made the cleaner and washed my windows. The windows did not come clean, and I was very disappointed. This was a few weeks ago, but yesterday I decided to try it again thinking maybe I made a mistake or something. I washed the windows again, and my windows are still both very dirty and spotty. Is it possible that this method will not clean dirty windows? Do you need to either use some sort of brush to scrub the dirt off, or use a squeegee to get rid of the excess water and dirt? I really, really want the “spray-soap-on-the-window-then-rinse-and-walk-away” method to work, it would be wonderful. Do you have more tips that may help?
Reply
- Jill
Lena if your windows are really really dirty you may have to use something to scrub them with I’m afraid. What happens sometimes is grime from the roof and different sources that are really “gummy” like can get on the windows so they really need to be scrubbed. Once they are cleaned then if you use something like this recipe on a regular basis and keep up with them it should work for you.
It is like if you move in to a house that has really bad build up from hard water and generally no regular cleaning you will need to use a pumice stone and some major elbow grease to clean it but once you get it clean, regular cleaning will be easy and you can use a different product. Same thing with the windows.Reply
- Lena
Thank you for your reply Jill, I appreciate it. I will give your suggestion a try :)
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- Kathy Hedke
How much water do I start with for the outside window cleaner.
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- Jill
Just experiment with your personal sprayer and adjust it as you think you need too. Spray some on the window, if it doesn’t seem to be cleaning it then adjust it to less water until it is cleaning it.
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- Jk
How much water?
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- Jill
You need to pour it into one of those bottles you attach to the end of the hose and the water sprays through it so there is no exact amount of water.
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- JoAnn
Will the ammonia kill plants, shrubs, and grass?
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- Jill
Yes it like vinegar will kill it all
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- Par
So one doesn’t rinse the window after soaking it ????
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- Jill
No the jet dry type thing allows it to dry streak free
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- Stephen Donahue
WIth Windex Outdoor sprayer, you do rinse. I wouldn’t leave soap on my windows!
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- Christine
What size spray bottle to use? I have a one quart bottle…. do I need to adjust soap and Jet Dry?
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- Jill
That size is just fine and you don’t need to adjust anything
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- Deb B
Can I sub vinegar for jet dry?
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- Jill
It should work because vinegar is good at removing hard water spots and preventing them too which is basically what jet dry does.
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- Sue
So the directions don’t say to rinse with water after? Is that right?
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- Jill
That is right Sue.
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- Linda in LaGrange
I used this recipe today and it worked great!! I have two 8’ 8” tall windows in the front that are not easy to clean, but this worked like a charm. No streaks or water spots at all. I put the cleaner in a spray bottle and connected the hose. I set the ratio to 5 tablespoons of cleaner to 1 gallon of water. I’m surprised how little cleaner was actually needed.
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- Sue
Thanks for this! In the past, I’ve used commercial solutions and they’ve worked fine, but omg the $$$! So today I used your recipe, and it works beautifully!
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- Sue
This worked great ! I even sprayed it through screens. Also cleaned some areas in siding. I let it sit a few minutes and then rinsed off. Thanks!
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- Jill
You are so welcome.
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