Window cleaning keeps crews busy
By Jenny Brannan Special to the Kansan
Jack Beerbower spends most of May high above the ground with a bucket of ammonia and water in one hand and a squeegee in the other.
Beerbower and his housekeeping crew have the job, among their many jobs, of washing the windows on campus before commencement each year.
"Anything anybody doesn't want to do, we do," Beerbower said.
The entire custodial crew helps with the department project of washing the windows. The project takes about a month with the help of the entire staff from both the day and evening shifts. The staff begins to wash around 7:30 a.m. and continues until it is too dark to work.
Beerbower, a 33-year veteran of the custodial crew at the University of Kansas, said that the most important thing you needed for a job such as washing windows was a sense of humor. Most of the crew has been together for more than 10 years, so crew members have a casual working atmosphere, he said.
Beerbower recalled a time when a member of the housekeeping crew got stuck in a window that she was washing on the second floor of Strong Hall.
Another woman who was not tall enjoyed riding in the cherry picker. The cherry picker is a truck that has a basket attached that extends up to 50 feet in the air. Beerbower said that the walls of the basket were almost as tall as she was.
"Sometimes you could only see a
squeegee sticking out above the basket," he said.
Not everyone on the crew is brave enough to ride in the cherry picker. Beerbower said that he was afraid of heights and that he always remained on ground level when he washed windows.
"One guy who had been a paratrooper in the Air Force didn't mind it a bit," Beerbower said. "For him it was like flying airplanes. He would ride that thing up and down. He got a real kick out of it."
Lanora Hundt, custodial supervisor, said that members of the custodial crew could not be required to work any higher than 8 feet above the ground. The cherry picker machines reach up to six stories high. No member of the crew is required to use the machines.
"You can't get just anybody to get up in those buckets," Hundt said. "If someone has high blood pressure or dizzy spells, then we can't take the chance of having them fall."
Even though the crew maintains the safest conditions possible, Beerbower said, it is not always fun and games when it is washing the windows. Sometimes accidents can happen, although they are rare, he said.
A member of the crew who had paralysis in his left hand had a window break while he was washing it in Twente Hall, he said.
"He cut the living heck out of his hand," Beerbower said. "He had to get several stitches."
Hundt said that the worst part of washing windows, however, was not the danger of the glass but the danger of working high
"It's dangerous when you're hanging out of the bucket, reaching over, trying to wash the windows." Hundt said.
above ground.
Hundt said that she would never let her crew wash the outside windows on the seventh floor of Fraser Hall.
"There are different ledges by each window," Hundt said. "If you miss your footing one time,you go down."
A safer option that the crew uses is a device called a Tucker pole, which allows the washers to wash windows on the fourth floor from the ground. The Tucker pole is a long tube that has a brush on the end. Water runs through the pipe and onto the brush.
"We all take turns because it gets pretty heavy," Beerbower said.
Beerbower said that the only way he would wash windows with ammonia. Some of his workers can't stand the smell, but it doesn't bother Beerbower, he said.
"We'll see who can outdo who," Beerbower said jokingly. "Everybody's eyes will be watering, and I'll say 'What's the matter? Are you soft?' and just keep on washing."
When Beerbower began working on the KU campus 33 years ago, he started as a custodian and worked his way up to assistant custodian manager. Hundt has been with the crew for 14 years and is a custodial supervisor.
The windows on campus are usually washed once a year, in May. However the workers wash them when they get special requests.
Because there is so much time between washings, residue that has been sprayed on the buildings as a weather protectant can
get on the windows and make them difficult to clean.
"If the windows are really bad, they'll have to be done twice at least." Hundt said.
The chancellor's windows also are washed once or twice a year.
Hundt said that the windows on the east side of Green Hall were some of the most dangerous to clean due to their height and location.
It is impossible for the crew to wash the windows in some of the buildings such as Fraser. Hundt said that the budget would not allow the crew to hire professional window cleaners. For the time being, those buildings simply go without having the windows washed.
"Really dangerous areas should be contracted to real window cleaners," Hundt said. "We are not equipped to handle extremely high buildings. It's dangerous work."
Hundt said that the first two weeks of May involved the heaviest work.
"I think it's smart to start in April because the crew is pressed to be finished by commencement." Hundt said.
She said that bad weather could make it difficult to finish the project in time but that she found her work rewarding. Between the camaraderie of the crew and the approval of the building managers, the six or seven hours they spend washing windows a day seem worth the work, she said.
"The students stand below watching because we're up so high," Hundt said. "Everybody gets thrilled when you clean their outside windows."
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INSIDE KU • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN • April 20,1994