Both methods can leave glass genuinely clean. The difference is what stays behind. Deionized water has had its minerals stripped out, so it dries with nothing left to spot. Soap works too, but any residue it leaves grabs dust. Method matters most on upper floors, frames, and tracks.
Tap water is water plus a load of dissolved minerals: calcium, magnesium, sodium, silica, measured as total dissolved solids in parts per million. Treasure Valley tap runs high. Spray it on glass, let it dry, and every one of those minerals stays put as a white spot. That is all a spot is. Not dirt, just the leftovers of evaporated tap water. Deionization pushes water through resin beds that trade those mineral ions for hydrogen and hydroxide, which recombine into more water. What comes out the other end reads near zero on a TDS meter. Sprayed on glass and left to air dry, it leaves nothing behind because there is nothing in it to leave. Pure water is also a mild solvent on its own. Chemically it wants to pull dissolved solids back in, which is part of why it lifts road film and pollen without any detergent at all.
A traditional clean is soap, water, and a blade. The detergent breaks surface tension so the solution sheets across the glass and floats grime loose, a scrubber works it, and the squeegee pulls the water off in overlapping passes. Edges and corners get detailed with a cloth. In the hands of someone who knows the tool this is fast, and it works. A good squeegee hand at street level produces glass you cannot fault. Two things follow the method around. First, whatever the squeegee misses at the perimeter dries as a run, and if that water came out of a hose it dries with mineral in it. Second, soap film left on the surface is faintly tacky and starts collecting dust the same week. Neither problem is fatal. Both are why the finish tends to drift a little sooner than people expect.
On one pane at eye level, both finish the same. The gap opens everywhere else. Height: a water-fed pole reaches second and third story glass from the ground, so nobody sets a ladder in your flowerbed, leans off a roofline, or presses ladder feet into your gutters and siding. Frames and sills: the pure water brush scrubs the frame, and the rinse carries that dirt down and away. With a squeegee, dirty frame water tends to run back onto glass that was just finished, which is where those streaks appearing an hour later come from. Residue: nothing is added to the glass, so nothing is left to attract dust. Drying: the glass is left to sheet off and evaporate, so nobody touches a wet pane with a cloth, which removes an entire category of smearing. None of that is magic. It is just fewer chances to make a mark.
Pure water is a cleaning method, not a restoration method. It will not touch hard water staining. Mineral baked onto glass by months of sprinkler overspray is bonded to the surface, and rinsing bonded mineral with clean water accomplishes nothing. That job is abrasive polishing, quoted separately after somebody looks at the glass, and if the deposit has etched in, nothing brings the pane back. Pure water also does not scrape. Paint specks, silicone smears, and construction overspray need a blade. Interiors are a traditional job, because nobody should be spraying water at your drywall, so any honest pure water company still cleans the inside with a squeegee and a cloth. And the entire method depends on the water actually being pure. Resin exhausts with use. A crew running spent resin is spraying ordinary tap water at your house, and that result is worse than a careful squeegee job.
Four questions sort this out no matter who you call. One: what does your TDS meter read at the pole today? Anyone serious carries one and answers in numbers, single digits, ideally near zero. A shrug is its own answer. Two: how do you handle interiors? The right answer is squeegee and cloth, not a pole. Three: is hard water staining priced separately from the wash? It should be, because it is different work at a different pace. Four: does the price include screens, sills, and tracks, or are those add-ons? Then decide honestly. If your home is single story, the glass is only moderately dirty, and a traditional cleaner with a long local track record quotes less, take that quote. At that height the method difference is small and the crew's care matters more than the equipment. Pure water earns its money on height, on frames, and on how long the finish holds.
Reflekt cleans exterior glass with 100% pure deionized water and no soap: brush the frame and the pane, rinse, walk away and let it dry, then finish with RainShield, a hydrophobic treatment that helps rain bead and shed instead of sitting and drying on the glass. Interiors get the traditional treatment. The fair limitation to weigh: Hunter Stevens and Ethan Seusy started this company in Meridian in April 2025, so several valley outfits have close to a decade on us and longer review histories to show for it. Ours reads 4.9 stars across 115+ Google reviews. Windows start at $199 by pane count, screens add $50, and every job carries a 7-Day Rain Guarantee. Monthly and Quarterly memberships have no contract and include a free annual screen cleaning. Fully insured, locally owned, same-day and next-day slots. Call (208) 453-6760.
Compare →
Compare →
Compare →
Compare →
Compare →
Compare →
Compare →
Compare →
Still wondering about something? Call or text us at (208) 453-6760.
Yes, when the water is actually pure. A spot is dried mineral, so if the water carries none, drying leaves none. The failure mode is not the method, it is exhausted resin. Once the beds stop stripping minerals the pole is spraying tap water and you get spots anyway. That is why the meter reading matters more than the brand of pole.
It depends on the house. Two or three stories, a lot of frames, glass that faces weather: yes, the reach alone is worth it, and the finish holds longer without soap residue collecting dust. A single-story home with easy access is closer to a coin flip, and a skilled traditional cleaner will do fine work there. Pay for the crew's care first and the method second.
Yes. Poles commonly reach three stories from the ground, which is the practical safety argument for the method: no ladder set in a flowerbed, no ladder feet against gutters or siding, nobody leaning off a roof edge. Some glass still defeats a pole, like deep recesses, obstructed balconies, and interior atriums. Those get handled another way and should be called out in the quote.
No. Pure water lifts dirt, pollen, and road film that sit loosely on the surface. Hard water staining is mineral chemically bonded to the glass, and rinsing bonded mineral with clean water accomplishes nothing. Removal means abrasive polishing, quoted separately after someone inspects the pane. If the deposit has etched into the glass, polishing will not recover it either, and the fix is new glass.
No. Interior glass gets the traditional treatment: solution, scrubber, squeegee, and a cloth for the edges, with drop protection down. Spraying water at interior walls and sills would be a bad trade for a marginally different finish. The pure water method belongs outdoors, where glass can be left wet and allowed to dry on its own without anyone touching it.
It is a hydrophobic finish applied after the rinse. Water beads and runs off instead of pooling and drying in place, so less of whatever the rain is carrying stays behind between visits. It is a treatment, not a permanent coating. Sun and weather wear it down, so it goes back on at each cleaning. It stretches the interval, it does not replace the cleaning.
Free estimate in 60 seconds. Same-day and next-day slots available.
Get Free Estimate Now