Squeegee Straight-Pull Method
The beginner-friendly window cleaning sequence: scrub, detail the top edge dry, then overlapping straight squeegee pulls.
Squeegee Windows in an S, Not Up and Down
Start in a top corner, pull across with the squeegee's edge kissing the corner, then sweep down and across the other way — corner to corner in an S. One continuous pass, no stop-start lines, no streaks.
window fanning technique, smear marks on glass, wash windows like a pro
The Problem
The instinctive squeegee stroke is up-and-down lanes, lifting the blade between passes — and every lift-and-restart leaves a wet line that dries into a streak. It's also slow: each lane overlaps the last, and the blade spends half its time off the glass.
The Technique
- Wet the window with your scrubber as usual.
- Start the squeegee in a top corner — top left, say.
- Pull straight across the top, keeping the leading edge of the blade tucked into the top corner as you go, so no dry strip survives above the stroke.
- Without lifting the blade, sweep down and pull back across the other way.
- Keep snaking — corner to corner, down and across — in one continuous S until you run off the bottom of the glass.
Because the blade never leaves the glass mid-window, there are no restart lines — the water gets carried down and off in one connected pass.
Pro tip: The corners are the technique. At each direction change, the blade's end should reach into the corner so the dry zone stays connected — leave a wet island in a corner and it becomes the drip that runs down your finished glass.
DIYsolvr helps you find the best DIY videos. Browse all 526 techniques