Prestissimo Window Cleaning Company

04/28/2026

Efficient historic window cleaning is an essential component of preservation. Note the dedicated person for cleaning storms while one person cleans outside and another inside. Nobody wants to replace a clean, functioning window.

04/27/2026

Occasionally, I get to work in historic spaces so beautiful, it makes me glad I never graduated college

03/28/2026

19th century houses often need 40 foot ladders, which are the very tallest we use. The first climb up is always a little nerve-racking. This is the second oldest house in Indian village, built around 1896. Do you know who was mayor of Detroit in 1896? yeah it was definitely Hazen S. Pingree. Worth looking up if you don’t know about him. Detroit back then faced so many of the same issues we do today.

02/19/2026

07/31/2025

Cleaning windows at a high school today when the football team saw my coworker Jackson and started shouting “John Wick!”. We laughed so hard. Jackson do be bringin the Keanu energy today tho…

07/07/2025

I had long heard that the brownstone buildings in Detroit brought their stone from Lake superior in the late 19th century by boat and train. I was fortunate to kayak to the Apostle Islands, which are rich in this type of rock and have the now defunct quarries where this amazing iron rich stone was derived from.

06/04/2025

My favorite interactions on the job with jumping spiders. Look at this adorable chonky boy (actually likely a female). Research has shown that jumping spiders have an REM cycle and are highly intelligent. And extremely cute. They are present in a huge portion of our windows, protecting our homes diligently and unwaveringly from pest insects. Next time you see one, please don’t squish it, interact with it you will be surprised at their curiosity, bravery, and perhaps even humanity.

05/23/2025

Broken screens=broken dreams. The mobile screen repair shop is back in session for summer. OG AC.

05/21/2025

CURIOUS GEORGE LEVEL HI-JINX resulted when two separate clients had screen failures that resulted in pets escaping in fantastical fashion. The first had her cat escape through a loose screen and end up in the RED PANDA EXHIBIT at the Detroit Zoo, the zookeeper was called and thankfully was able to rescue the cat before the whole ordeal turned into an international diplomatic incident. The second client was dog sitting her brother’s dog, which took advantage of the broken screen pictured and walked MORE THAN A MILE back to her owner’s home by herself despite never before making the trip on foot. CURIOUS GEORGE LEVEL HI-JINX! We repaired the screens with quality mesh and tightly fitting serrated spline to ensure these Curious Georges would have safer and more contained adventures in the future.

05/19/2025

Peeeeeeellllaaaaaa!!!!!!! I am continuously fascinated by PVA glue. It is both a modern marvel and an abject failure. Also, it is basically what modern chewing gum is made out of, seriously, look it . PVA glue does not stick to itself when dry, rendering much of the woodwork of the 20th century somewhat irreparable due to the need to mechanically remove a bit of wood while removing existing failed glue. Especially in the context of furniture where tight fitting joints are the difference between structural integrity and not. Still, waterproof tight bond is my choice for this repair. As a historic woodworking nerd, I’m a big fan of hide glue, but sometimes modern science is what is called for, even when it has certain limitations. I have seen this delamination failure in many Pella windows. It is definitely not a failure in the historic windows that Pellas often replace.

05/18/2025