Window cleaningin Pompano Beach, FL.

Hillsboro Shores sits just south of the Hillsboro Inlet, with the 1907 lighthouse on the far side of the water and private beach access for residents. It is as close to the ocean as housing on this route gets, and the glass there takes salt spray on every onshore day.

Salt on glass is a thin, sticky film that holds dust and pollen and scatters light, which is why the view looks hazy in the afternoon. A proper wash and squeegee clears it, and frames and sills are wiped because they hold salt too. It returns faster here than anywhere inland, so beachside glass is on a three to four month cycle. Aluminum frames that are rinsed regularly pit far more slowly than ones left salted.

In Garden Isles, more than half of the roughly 1,600 homes back onto canals, and the back of those houses is mostly sliders and French doors facing the water. Salt, sand and pollen settle in the tracks, and in the humidity they cake into grit that makes a heavy slider drag and wears the rollers.

Every slider gets its glass done, its frame wiped and its track brushed and vacuumed until it runs clean. Screens are pulled, washed and refitted. If a slider still drags after the track is clean, the rollers are probably worn, which is a repair rather than a clean, and Michael will tell you so rather than charge you to scrub something that will not fix it.

Away from the water, the spotting on Pompano glass usually comes from the sprinklers, not the air. On OASIS reuse irrigation, which may run any day outside 10am to 4pm, a head that throws water on the lower panes can hit them far more often than a drinking-water system on the county's two-day schedule would.

Fresh spots come off in the normal clean. Spots that have dried on again and again for years can etch into the glass and need a mineral remover, pane by pane, and some only lighten. Michael checks one pane before quoting so you know which you have. Turning the heads so they water the beds and not the house keeps the lower panes clean between visits.