§ DIAGNOSTICIAN
The Diagnostician
Start with what's wrong. Find the cause.
№ 001
Why your windows look worse after you clean them
Streaks, haze and smears after cleaning are almost always residue you added, not dirt you missed. The three causes, and …
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№ 005
White spots on your windows after it rains? Here's what's actually happening.
Those chalky white dots that appear on your exterior glass after a storm aren't from the rain. They're from what the rai…
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№ 006
Foggy windows that won't clear: the failed-seal diagnosis no one wants to hear
When the haze is between the panes, no cleaner on earth will touch it. Here's the materials chemistry of why your double…
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№ 007
The rainbow film on your glass: outgassing, off-gassing, and why your new house is sweating chemicals
If your windows show a rainbow sheen, an oily haze, or a stubborn film that resists every cleaner — especially if your h…
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№ 008
Scratches that appeared after cleaning: fabricating debris and the dirty secret of tempered glass
Fine, hairline scratches that appear after a single cleaning — usually after using a razor blade — are almost always not…
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№ 009
The streaks that come back overnight: humidity, hysteresis, and the cleaner you can't see
If you wash a window, it looks perfect, and by morning the streaks are back — you didn't fail to clean it. You succeeded…
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№ 010
Black mold around your windows: frame vs. glass, and the diagnosis homeowners get wrong
Black spots on the rubber gasket. Dark patches creeping along the wood frame. A speckled stain at the corner of the glas…
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№ 011
Sap, tar, and bug residue: the solvent ladder for the things you can't just wipe off
Pine sap, road tar, dead insects, and old adhesive all look impossible to remove with normal cleaner. They aren't. They …
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№ 012
Hard water etching vs. surface deposits: the test that tells you which you have
Both look like the same chalky white residue. One comes off with vinegar in five minutes. The other has chemically bonde…
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№ 013
Cloudy windows after pressure washing: capillary intrusion and the sin of detergent runoff
You hired someone to pressure-wash your siding. Or you did it yourself. Now your windows are uniformly hazy, and no clea…
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№ 014
The 'permanent fog' myth: when your hazy window is fixable, and when it really isn't
Most windows that homeowners describe as 'permanently fogged' are not, in fact, permanently fogged. They have one of six…
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№ 015
Soap scum vs. hard water: the shower glass diagnostic
White film on shower glass is two substances needing opposite chemistries. Five tests, using what is already in your bat…
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№ 016
Cloudy shower glass that won't come clean
When shower glass stays hazy after a real cleaning, the surface itself has changed. How to tell corrosion from its three…
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№ 017
Why windows sweat on the inside
Water on the room side of your glass is almost never a window fault. It's your house saying its humidity is too high for…
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№ 018
Why windows crack on their own
Nobody threw anything. The crack has a shape, and the shape names the cause: thermal stress, edge damage, or a nickel su…
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№ 019
Artillery fungus on glass
Tiny brown dots cemented to the glass, usually blamed on tar or insects. They were fired from your mulch bed by a fungus…
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№ 020
Glass oxidation: the haze with the wrong name
Glass is already an oxide — it cannot rust. What you have is one of three different problems, and the usual internet fix…
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№ 021
Why windows leak when it rains
Your window is not a seal. It is a drain, water-tested to about 33 mph and no further — and the wet patch is almost neve…
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№ 022
Drafty windows: where the air actually gets in
The cold you feel at the glass is usually not a leak, and the leak is usually somewhere you cannot feel. Four tests that…
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