Clean and care for yellowed plastic windows and frames

• Clean plastic windows and frame
  • Special cleaner for plastic windows
  • Scouring cream or chlorine cleaner
  • Home remedies at a glance
  • Care when cleaning

Plastic windows become unsightly yellow over time and pick up dirt. This happens not only in the apartment due to smoking or kitchen fumes, but also very much in the outdoor area due to the sunlight. There are, however, some ways to clean the plastic frame while maintaining it.

Just white plastic turns very strong over time. Whether plastic furniture in the garden or the white frames of the plastic windows, from the white surface is not much to see after a while. While there are some home remedies that are quite effective for this purpose, they are not always particularly effective. So you do not spend hours pouring baking soda on a small section of your window frame, we'll show you some cleaners that make the yellowish color as well as the gray streaks of bleeding black rubber seals vanish.

Material and preparation

You need this:

• Eraser
• microfiber cloth
• bucket
• cotton cloth
• sponge
• rubber gloves
• Plastic Cleaner
• Dishwashing liquid
• shaving cream
• curtains White
• Polish (automotive sector)
• Ceramic glass cleaner
• Carpet Adhesive Remover
• Grill cleaner
• Rinse aid (dishwasher)

Cost of cleaning

There are various special cleaner available in the market, sometimes even less good serve their purpose. Unfortunately, the respective price is not an indication of whether the cleaner works. The window frames made of plastic with no cleaner will be as safe as on the first day, but at least the white frames should turn white again. But you will not need a craftsman for this job. You just have to find out the product or home remedy that will help with your window frames perfectly.

• Mellerud plastic window cleaner - 1 liter from about 12, 00 Euro
• Wepos Intensive Cleaner for Plastic - 750 ml from about 11, 00 Euro
• Caramba Plastic Cleaner - 500 ml from about 6, 00 Euro
• Chlorine cleaner - bottle from 2, 00 Euro
• Teppichkleberentferner - Tin 750 ml from 30, 00 Euro

Tip: Many a previous tenant has its fly screens unfortunately not, as it should be pasted into the frame, but outside on the window frame. This adhesive is extremely difficult to remove from the plastic surface. Not cheap but extremely effective in these cases, the remover for carpet glue. If possible, you should test the product in an inconspicuous area as part of the frame.

Clean plastic windows and frame

Among the household tips many different variants and solutions circulate against yellowed window frames. Not all are really gentle on the plastic window or have any effect at all. The first thought that usually comes on the outside of a brownish window frame is the high-pressure cleaner. However, the high-pressure cleaner proves to be an extremely bad idea in this case. The pressure washer damages both the seals and the soft surface of the plastic. Better are special cleaners that have been specially developed for plastic windows and other white plastics.

Tip: Many plastic windows still have black rubber seals. These gums bleed over time leaving annoying gray streaks on the plastic. These stripes are often even more difficult to remove than the yellowed surfaces. The special cleaner from Mellerud also takes these strips with you when cleaning.

Special cleaner for plastic windows

The plastic window cleaner from Mellerud, for example, also removes stains other than the yellow of the plastic surfaces. Above all, it also cleans frames that have been stained with nicotine or grease from the kitchen. The manufacturer states that not only white plastic, but also colored windows are cleaned gently. In this point, the special cleaner offers great advantages over home remedies or a chlorine cleaner, because they must not be applied to colored plastic. Nevertheless, you should check only at an inconspicuous place in the window frame, whether the cleaner really works without color damage.

Tip: Of course not only the cleaner from Mellerud works. Wepos and Caramba have also developed special plastic cleaners that are similar in price. If you have high-gloss surfaces, you should always test the respective cleaner in an inconspicuous place, as glossy surfaces can become slightly dull, depending on the composition.

Special plastic cleaner can be used on the following products:

• window frame
• Plastic doors
• Plastic surfaces kitchen and bathroom
• Shutters / blinds
• Car parts made of plastic
• surfboard

Application of special cleaners

Most special cleaners can be used in three different ways. So you can eliminate extreme pollution with pure cleaner. To do this, place the cleaner on a cotton cloth and dab the surface with it. After a few minutes, the dirt can then be wiped off with the cotton cloth and water. Before you brush the window again as normal, you should wash the remains of the cleaner but thoroughly with water.

For normal everyday soiling and only slightly yellowed surfaces, the cleaner is mixed with lukewarm water. The cleaner should not be diluted too much. For 100 milliliters of cleaner use about one liter of water. The mixture can then be used to clean the frame as normal with a microfiber cloth or a soft sponge. It is also useful here to rinse with clear water.

Tip: These cleaners promise an antistatic effect with regular use, which increases the longer the cleaner is used. Thus, the yellowing can not only be stopped, but also prevented. The customers, who worked in the relevant forums with these three special cleaners, seem to confirm this impression.

Scouring cream or chlorine cleaner

Chlorine cleanser and scouring milk work well with yellowed or gray window frames. With scouring milk, however, you also damage the surface of the plastic a bit. The rougher this surface becomes in the course of time, the more susceptible it becomes again to yellowing. In addition, you must wash off the scouring cream very thoroughly. While doing so, do not allow any of the scouring cream to get onto the glass, as this too will become dull.

Tip: Although both products work to some extent against yellowed or gray window frames. The surface of plastic but also damaged a bit, which favors a renewed yellowing.

But without any harmful chemicals, the above-mentioned special cleaners will not work. Both the scouring cream and the chlorine cleaner lead to an even greater bleeding of the black rubber seals, which additionally damages the seals permanently.

Be sure to wear gloves for the chlorine cleaner and this is where the problem lies, because the chlorine cleaner not only attacks your skin, but also the plastic frame. You also have to wash off the chlorine cleaner very well. The second problem with a chlorine cleaner is the bleaching effect. Chlorine must not be used on colored plastic, in addition, the seals of the window are damaged by chlorine. Indoors, you should only use undiluted chlorine cleaner with the windows open, as the evaporation is very harmful.

Chlorine cleaner causes new problems:

• do not use on colored plastic
• damages seals and rubbers
• damages the surface
• harmful to the skin
• smells strong / airing when used indoors

Tip: Instead of scouring cream, you should use a dirt eraser on small window frames or with limited dirt . These erasers work almost only on a white surface, but there they are quite effective.

Home remedies at a glance

Various household tips deal with the yellowed plastic windows. Whereby with large frame tips like the baking powder are probably rather impractical. For small areas or a single yellowed window frame, however, baking soda, which is first mixed with a little water and then mixed with some vinegar, works quite well. However, the exposure time is about half an hour. Again, this remedy should only be used on a white window frame.

• baking powder
• Baking powder with vinegar
• shaving cream
• Ceranfeldreiniger
• Grill cleaner
• curtain detergents
• toothpaste
• Rinse aid for dishwashers

Tip: With very light Gilb on the plastic frame, however, one of the many home remedies works quite well. To do this, place a few tablespoons of curtain white in lukewarm water and stir until the powder has completely dissolved. Then you can wash the window frame with a household sponge. Similarly, laundry is white, which you also mix with lukewarm water and use for cleaning.

Ceran field cleaner and shaving cream are basically too expensive for cleaning window frames, and the effectiveness should be disputed. Although the plastic composition is always slightly different, which also affects the effectiveness, but shaving foam you should rather use for shaving. The situation is similar with toothpaste, which does not cleanse any other than scouring milk and is therefore quite pointless. Grill cleaners or oven cleaners are also effective in the frame of plastic windows, but damage the surface so much that we do not like to make a recommendation here.

Care when cleaning

Deep-seated dirt in the plastic surface can be removed with a polish . Of course, that does a lot of work. Use a gentle polish, as it is used for the paint of cars. The polish is first applied with a soft cotton cloth and then, after very light drying, polished off with another cloth. If you have a polishing machine for your car, this can also be of great help in cleaning the window frames.

Tip: The principle of the polish provides that the pores of the plastic are closed similar to the pores in the paint of the car. Water and dirt should then roll off the surface perfectly. However, even with the use of polish a small test in the frame is recommended.

Tips for quick readers

• Use special cleaner for plastic windows undiluted
• Check cleaner in inconspicuous place on colored plastic windows
• Plastic cleaner diluted for normal cleaning
• Regular use of plastic cleaner maintains frame
• For high-gloss surfaces, first test the cleaner
• Use scouring cream carefully and rinse off
• Be careful with scouring cream on glass
• Dirt eraser on white plastic effect
• Avoid chlorine cleaner on colored plastic
• Wear gloves when using chlorine
• Ventilate interior spaces when using chlorine cleaners
• Home remedy for plastic windows only moderately effective
• Curtain white with lukewarm water for slightly yellowed plastic frames
• Grill cleaner, Ceranfeldreiniger rather damaging for plastic
• Paint polish for cars cleans and protects plastic