1. Egg 2. ? 3. Clean!

June 20, 2005 10:37 PM

How do you remove dried egg from a window?

A house down the street was egged last fall. My neighbor is 81 years old and the area in front of the window is populated by shrubs about four feet high and extending from the house wall to about eight feet out. I want to help but would like to have the right tools before I offer. Any ideas?

posted by arse_hat to home & garden (4 comments total)

The fist thing I would do is scrape it off with a razor blade scraper. Then go to town with a scrub brush and water.

Also, some of the websites I checked out suggested rubbing the glass with damp salt.

In addition, someone else offered the following with regard to cleaning up an egg soaked roof:

"Eggs tend not to be easy to remove. After baking in the sun, the challenge will be greater. You will want to try cleaning on a cloudy day or late in the day when the sun is not on the roof. Use a scrub brush and enzyme digester cleaner. Wet shingles and apply cleaner. Let set. Scrub with brush. Rinse. Repeat if necessary. If you use a water hose, hose downward and not up and underneath shingles."

Last but not least, someone suggested that "egg stains will respond to cold water only, hot water will only set the stain," but they were referring to clothes. not glass.

Hope some of that helps.
posted by JPowers at 11:02 PM on June 20, 2005

"enzyme digester" That's something I did not think of. Thanks.
posted by arse_hat at 11:26 PM on June 20, 2005

Egg white is albumen. You can make albumen more soluable in water by adding table salt to the mix. This probably won't hurt the paint job too much. You probably do not want to use any kind of organic solvent (terps, etc.) or harsh acids, which can strip paint along with the egg white.
posted by Rothko at 11:43 PM on June 20, 2005

I'm with JBPowers on scraping the glass with a sharp razor blade before getting it wet, just as if it were paint-- particularly as it is well baked on & dried by now. Then proceed with scrub brush & solvent/soap of your choice.

You'll either need to stick a ladder into the shrubbery or trim yourself a narrow path between the house and the hedge. If you choose the latter, you might want to plan on doing a little more yard work in addition to de-egging windows.
posted by obloquy at 1:46 PM on June 21, 2005