How to clean a skylight

Skylights are a great addition to a home for their aesthetics, energy efficiency, and natural lighting and heating which is why many people decide to install skylights. One thing everyone should think about when deciding to get a skylight is the maintenance and cleaning of a skylight as these need to be done often and can be quite labour-intensive. We will go over some tips and tricks on how to clean your skylights most efficiently and a step-by-step walkthrough on how to clean them.

What you will need.

Firstly, two parts of the skylight will need cleaning the inside and outside of the skylight so you will need a few things to clean the skylight effectively mainly a ladder (or skylight cleaning pole or a broom/mop handle and string), clean rags/dishcloth/cleaning cloths, warm water, dish soap, a bucket, white vinegar, towels/tarp and some safety equipment like non-slip shoes and a safety harness that can attach to a point on your roof. Now while that may seem like a lot depending on the position of the skylight you may not need all of these, but this should be everything needed regardless of the individual circumstances.

Precautions to take.

Make sure not to use any abrasive cleaners or cleaners with ammonia as these can damage the skylight’s protective coating. When cleaning the inside of the skylight, move any furniture underneath it and put down a plastic tarp or some towels, if possible, to catch any debris or water that will fall off the skylight. Rain will help keep the outside of the skylight clean while the wind will help keep debris off the skylight, but it is still best to clean it often.

Cleaning the interior side of the skylight, step by step.

So, let’s go over how to clean your skylight.

1. Create your cleaning solution, mix a few drops of dish soap in warm water
2. Setup your ladder under the skylight if it’s out of reach or wrap and tie a clean rag/dishcloth to a long handle of a broom or mop
3. Gently wipe the skylight with a dry cloth to remove any dust or debris from the skylight
4. Now wet a clean cloth with the cleaning solution and wipe down the skylight like any other window
5. If there are any tough grim stains that the soap water didn’t clean up mix up some white vinegar and warm water in about 1:2 ratio and try again to remove the grim if that doesn’t work add more vinegar
6. If used vinegar mixture use normal soap water again to wipe away any of the remaining vinegar mixtures
7. Wipe dry with a dry cloth

Cleaning the external face of the Skylight.

For the outside of the skylight, you may need to work over your roof, or you may be able to reach from a ladder, this is the more dangerous task so if you are not comfortable doing this getting a professional to clean the outside of the skylight is the best method. If you are cleaning the outside of the skylight yourself, follow the same step as for the inside but be sure to remove any built-up debris that could have built up around the frame of the skylight and in the joins of the skylight and roof. After cleaning the skylight rinse with a hose instead of drying as it will dry naturally with no issues.