How To Easily Clean A Window With The Power Of Magnets

The exterior of your windows is hard to clean in a high-rise apartment building or even just on the second or third story of your house. That is unless your landlord — or you — hires a professional window cleaner, but that may not satisfy your DIY heart or your wallet. It is possible though to clean the outside of your windows with an unusual gadget. There's a pretty genius idea that several brands have turned into a reality — it's a set of two magnets that are outfitted with little sponges that allow you to clean exterior windows from the inside.

If this is new to you, you might be wondering how exactly the magnet cleaner works and even whether it works. The idea is that the magnetic action keeps the two pieces locked together as a unit, so by wiping the surface of the glass from the inside, you're actually cleaning the outside. Both magnets are stacked on top of each other from opposite sides of the window, so moving one moves the other. They're each housed in plastic and have little grips or handles that allow you to maneuver them. Pro tip: because it'll leave behind streaks, don't make the mistake when cleaning your windows of wiping in circular motions 

The outside window's magnet has a cord that attaches to your wrist. Since you don't want to bonk the person who happens to be walking 38 stories below while you're cleaning, tie it to your non-dominant hand's wrist! To clean windows that don't open, get a buddy or a neighbor to squirt warm water and sudsy dishwashing liquid onto the glass. Then they might position the magnet onto the window for you with the help of a broom, as in this TikTok video.

Cleaning windows that do open is much easier to navigate. You can spray on cleaning liquid or homemade window cleaner and dip both magnets into warm soapy water. Then hold one magnet outside and place the other one directly "on top" of it from the inside. Squeegee your window in lateral movements. Some models come with an extra pair of sponges, and we recommend you swap out the soapy sponge for a dry one and squeeze away the water drops for a mark-free clean.

Although this hack hasn't worked for some people, it's possible they were using either a cheap knock-off version or the wrong magnet type. If you have double-paned glass and use magnets only suitable for one thin pane, they won't adhere to each other. For ideas, look at the Three Orchids Adjustable Magnetic Window Cleaner Tool is $45 on Amazon, and Tyroler has one for $100, also on Amazon.