Picture holiday hope and beauty from your home’s windows

Picture waking Christmas morning to find a carpet of fresh-fallen snow gently laid across the ground outdoors, a glaze of snow intricately outlining each branch on every tree. Looking out on this picture of nature’s majesty, it’s enough, for a little while, to sweep away any thoughts of the trials and tribulations of 2020 – to give you a fresh perspective on the hope and opportunity of the New Year approaching.

Of course, you want to ensure that the Currier & Ives scene outdoors is not hindered by layers of dirt on the window. We say layers because the dirt accumulates inside and out. Together, they can serve as lens filters casting a pall over the winter wonderland where white is interpreted as a shade of brown and the uplifting and joyous scene, as though it were an over processed film, is lost. But what can you do about it now that winter is setting in?

Qualified window cleaning companies, such as Northern Illinois Windows, clean glass at temperatures far below what we’re experiencing now or likely to see before December 25th.  In other words, you still have time to have those windows, the picture frames on the world outdoors, pristinely cleaned in time for the holidays.

Here at Northern Illinois Windows, we wish you many picturesque visual experiences outside your home this winter. We hope you have a chance to get outdoors to hike, sled or ice skate as part of the panoramic splendor of the season. With the lockdown and its quarantines, getting out of the house for a little while is probably something we could all use about now.

More than that, we wish you a wonderful holiday – a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year.

For NIW, community and giving back leads to Operation “Wild Horse”

The shared experiences of 2020 have shown us all the importance of community and on giving back. Here at Northern Illinois Windows, one way we’re giving back is by supporting a wonderful cause – Operation “Wild Horse.”

Operation “Wild Horse” is a program that helps veterans to overcome PTSD. Veterans suffering from PTSD are partnered with horses, caught in the wild, and a miracle connection inevitably grows between them. The horses help bring peace to the veterans and the veterans help to calm the horses.

In support of this worthy program, Northern Illinois Windows is contributing 5% from all Residential Services to this 501C organization. If you want to learn more about Operation “Wild Horse,” visit: https://veteransrandr.org/operation-wild-horse/

Safety and security film for commercial windows enhances multi-functional aspects of glass

Installers apply commercial
window film to a building
in Barrington recently.

Commercial windows are multifunctional equipment for your store or office and that includes providing security. With commercial window security film, that efficiency is significantly enhanced. They let sunlight in while keeping bugs, birds, and other animals out. But security film can help keep two-legged intruders out, as well.

In a serious storm, windows keep most wind and wind-blown objects out of the store. But with commercial window security film, the storm needs to blow a lot harder to breach the glass in your office windows. 3M, a champion of safety and security window film, has done test after test-firing 2X4s and other objects at windows. The windows with safety and security film can take a brutal beating before they give way. Without the film, the glass can shatter with very little provocation.

When windows shatter, dangerous shards of glass can go flying into your store. But, though the glass will eventually break, commercial window security film will generally hold the pieces safely in place. Of course, as mentioned above, Mother Nature isn’t the only one who might try to come in through your office windows.

Some people would rather smash your windows when the store is closed, and help themselves to your goods than come in the front door and pay like the rest of us.

3M, the leader in safety and security commercial
window film, conducts extensive testing of the window
film they produce.

3M has tested safety and security film with hammers, bricks, crowbars, and almost anything someone would use to break the glass in your windows. Without commercial window security film, one hit, and the glass is smashed. But with safety and security film on your store or office windows, that burglar will have to beat on the glass repeatedly. All the while, the police have more time to arrive on the scene. Commercial window security film is a real deterrent to burglars.

Oh, and there’s another multifunctional aspect of windows with commercial safety and security window film; 3M and other manufacturers of window film also provide tinted versions.

As Illinois reopens, commercial window cleaning gets businesses off on the right foot

As the state starts phasing back into an ‘open-for-business’ status again, commercial window cleaning offers an opportunity for businesses here in Northern Illinois. Customers, clients, and prospects will increasingly appear on the roadways and walkways outside your place of business. This is a rare chance for a second first impression as they pass by or approach the front door.

Your business can dazzle them with brilliance as you welcome them back into your store or office, a store or office that is spic-n-span from the floors and walls to the sparkling clean windows. If you’re in the food industry, your windows will beckon them inside with a sanitary shine that reflects proudly on the quality of the cuisine you offer.

Commercial window cleaning will help you knock the dust off your business and set the stage for eager customers who can’t wait to return – who are eagerly looking forward to that day almost as much as you are. Offices, from consulting firms to medical facilities can let the sunshine in for a bright inauguration of the post-shutdown rebirth of business in Northern Illinois. And a quality commercial window cleaning company can help ensure the day’s success.

This is an opportunity for a fresh start you couldn’t have planned for. Clean windows are the portals to the magic of what you do inside your, restaurant, store or office. Commercial window cleaning is the welcome mat as customers and clients escape from isolation as the economic engine begin roaring to life again. 

Clean windows are part of what you can do to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But it’s a part you don’t want to neglect.

Can window cleaning help endure isolation?

Hopefully, you’re managing through our shelter in place order. However, it’s understandable if you may feel a little edgy these days. You sit inside looking out the windows thinking about how much more you would enjoy the springtime if not for the coronavirus. But then you start to notice the dirt on the windows and even looking out the windows on a sunny day diminishes your optimism.

When you’re stuck at home, at the very least, you should be able to look out on the world through clean windows. And you can. There are window cleaning companies that will come out and safely clean those windows for you. Clean windows will give you a chance to feel a little normal again.

Sunlight has a positive effect on people in the best of days. It makes people feel better. It can put a smile on your face. In the days of our pandemic, sunlight potentially offers a significant amount of relief for people during the pandemic.

Established window cleaning companies will clean your windows, inside and/or out while practicing COVID-19 guidelines. When they’re done, the sun will shine in without having to pass through dirty layers that have accumulated on your windows.

It’s easy - just call 815-385-6646 for your appointment.

Northern Illinois Windows conducts review of CDC guidelines to protect customers and staff

After a careful review of business practices, NIW is
available for essential janitorial and maintenance services.

Northern Illinois Windows is continuing to serve the Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin region with essential janitorial and maintenance services while abiding by social distancing requirements related to the coronavirus pandemic. Following a week-long review of business practices, the company is confident they can safely provide those services they’ve offered to residents and businesses of area communities since 1991.

“We’ve adjusted our work activity with employees respecting social distancing guidelines,” said Bill Thomas, the CEO and founder of Northern Illinois Windows. “We’re sending crews out on a limited basis.”

The review was Thomas’s way of ensuring that the company is doing its part to help during the emergency. By complying with all the new mandates, he’s helping to keep employees off the unemployment rolls. The review included time spent finding the components of the CARE Act that will offer the best coverages for NIW employees and their families.

“Our primary focus is to keep our customers and employees safe during this crisis,” said Thomas. “At the same time, we’re using all the tools offered by the government to keep our employees working. We’re trying to do our part.”

Thomas recognizes that the war on COVID-19 has two fronts: the war on the disease itself and the fight to limit the economic damage wrought by the pandemic. In the latter regard, the company has made a commitment to supporting other area businesses. They realize that supporting businesses also entails supporting employees at those businesses.

“When the crisis passes, we’re going to have to get the economy going again,” said Thomas. “Anything we can reasonably do to save businesses so they can recover when the time comes is to everyone’s benefit.”

Northern Illinois Windows stands with you in COVID-19 fight

We're all in the fight against COVID-19 together, even
if we have to maintain social distancing. At NIW,
when we're able to go back to work cleaning your windows,
we'll do so while practicing the best possible safety standards.

With the COVID-19 pandemic that has swept across the country, these are hardly ordinary times. At Northern Illinois Windows, we are dedicated to doing our part to support our community while joining the fight against the spread of the disease.

As a concerned business owner, we will follow all mandated state and federal measures to mitigate the disease and shorten the life of the pandemic. Currently, this includes a ‘shelter-in-place’ order from Gov. JB Pritzker. This order requires Illinoisans to remain at home unless their travel is of an essential nature.

Here at NIW, we tend to think of our window cleaning services as essential. However, we understand that our definition may not coincide with the governor's. Therefore, until the order is lifted, we are unavailable for the quality window cleaning, window tinting, gutter cleaning and other services we customarily provide.

In the meantime, we will do all we can to support our community. We will continue to order food, for delivery or pickup, from restaurants in the area. We will shop responsibly for groceries in town and use any other essential services we can during this time of crisis.

At NIW, we’re prepared to do our part after victory over coronavirus 

Most importantly, we are prepared to support the local economy in a broader sense once the crisis has passed. We believe in America and the American spirit of entrepreneurship and enterprise. When things begin coming back to normal, we’re ready to do our part there, too.

When things do return to a semblance of normality, many of you will find that your windows are dirtier than your accustomed to seeing. We intend to be responsive to increased demand at that time. However, as normality may come in stages, while the ‘shelter-in-place’ order may be rescinded, we will continue to provide our services with the utmost care to avoid any spread of COVID-19 or other diseases.

Our strict policy for your safety

With that in mind, we will institute a strict policy for our employees who exhibit any flu symptoms or have come into contact with others who are. Our policy will require that, under these circumstances, they not report into work and will stay home until they are deemed safe to return to work.

Upon request, our staff will wear protective gear and wipe down surfaces in our work area with disinfectant wipes so as to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

When providing window cleaning services for senior homes or other businesses/facilities that serve the aged, we will only clean the outside of windows. This policy will be applied at the homes or businesses of any of our customers who request it.

These are difficult times. But we’re convinced that we will get through this with faith in American ingenuity and by sticking together in these days of crisis.