Scrubber sleeve

NGA's published routine method names the applicator without naming a brand: “Apply generous amounts of solution to the glass surfaces with a brush, strip washer or other non-abrasive applicator, and lightly agitate to loosen the soil and debris.” A strip washer, in the makers' own product descriptions, is a T-bar handle carrying a fabric sleeve that holds solution, and that sleeve is what this entry defines.

Strip washer is NGA's word; sleeve is the makers'. NGA's paper does not use the word sleeve at all. Unger sells its fabric covers as StripWasher sleeves, and Ettore sells a washer sleeve with a scrubber end and files its washers under “Washers/Scrubbers” on its site.

Maker product pages describe the sleeve as a plush woven synthetic or microfiber fabric that holds water and solution and fits a T-bar handle, with Unger's fastening by hook-and-loop. Ettore's version adds a scrubber end for stubborn spots or buildup.

Those pages describe what the sleeve is; they are not a standard. NGA's paper sets no fabric or material for the applicator, beyond listing the strip washer among the non-abrasive applicators it names.

The use steps on Ettore's sleeve page run in this order: attach the sleeve to a T-bar, dip it in window cleaning solution, apply the solution to the glass to loosen dirt and debris, use the scrubber end on stubborn spots or buildup, then follow with a window squeegee to remove the solution. That order agrees with NGA's routine method, in which the solution goes on with the applicator and a window cleaning squeegee removes all of it immediately afterward.

What goes into the solution the sleeve carries is a separate question, worked through at do window cleaners use soap, and the tool that follows the sleeve in this sequence is defined at squeegee. Whether the squeegee pass outperforms a plain cloth on a given pane is covered at is a squeegee better than a cloth on windows, and the full routine method in order is on the window cleaning method page.