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Sonlight serves 66 markets across five Southern California counties, from Malibu to Redlands and from Lancaster to San Clemente. We opened here in August 2026 after 48 years on Colorado's Front Range, and the first thing we did was stop treating this metro as one place. It is not. A Malibu window and a Rancho Cucamonga window have almost nothing in common except the company cleaning them.
This page is the guide we wish somebody had handed us: which water your address actually drinks, what salt does that dirt does not, why the wind here loads the wrong side of your house, and why seven months without rain changes the whole schedule.
This is the most useful thing anybody can tell a Los Angeles homeowner about their windows, and almost nobody says it. The mineral load in this metro varies by a factor of two and a half depending on which supply reaches your pressure zone, and mineral is what turns a cleanable film into permanent etching.
It also means a neighbour's advice is not reliable here, and neither is a contractor's experience across town. Before we quote mineral restoration anywhere in this region we test the actual deposit on your actual glass.
Eastern Sierra snowmelt out of the Owens Valley, reported around 112 milligrams per litre. Genuinely soft by Southern California standards. Reaches most of the City of Los Angeles, including the San Fernando Valley and the western Westside.
What it means for your glass
Hard-water restoration is a rare need. Mineral etching found on this water almost always has a specific local source: one sprinkler head, a pool splash-out or a hose rinse baked dry.
Colorado River Aqueduct water blended with State Water Project supply, reported around 270 milligrams per litre in the LADWP zones that receive it. Very hard. Serves Beverly Hills, Malibu, the Conejo Valley, the beach cities, Palos Verdes, coastal Orange County and the LADWP Harbor system.
What it means for your glass
Mineral is the dominant deposit. On coastal elevations it bonds into the damp salt film and produces a composite deposit that survives an ordinary wash entirely.
The Orange County, Chino, Main San Gabriel, Raymond and Bunker Hill basins, filtered through limestone-rich alluvium off the ranges. Anaheim publishes 18 grains. Santa Ana reports 12 to 15. Ontario is around 15.2, Rancho Cucamonga around 15, Riverside around 12.3, Chino Hills around 10.8.
What it means for your glass
The highest rate of permanent glass etching in the metro. It is also the most preventable, because the mechanism is almost always a sprinkler head rather than the tap itself.
Almost every window complaint in this metro is one of these seven, and they need different answers. Three of them are not dirt at all and will not respond to washing no matter who does it. Work out which one you have before anyone quotes you anything.
How to recognise it
A hard white haze or spray-pattern spotting concentrated on the bottom third of ground-floor glass, on the elevation your sprinklers face.
Why it happens here
Most of this metro drinks 12 to 18 grain water. Anaheim publishes 18. Ontario is around 15.2 and Rancho Cucamonga around 15. A head that clips a pane three mornings a week sheets mineral-loaded water down the glass, the sun evaporates it within minutes, and the calcium stays. There is no rain between May and November to dilute any of it.
What actually fixes it
Restore once, then move the head. Deposits under about five years old lift completely. Past a decade in this sun the carbonate has etched into the silica and restoration improves the appearance without perfecting it. Paying for restoration every spring because a sprinkler still hits the window is money spent on the wrong problem.
How to recognise it
Frames pitting rather than rusting, screen spline hardening and shrinking out of its channel, hinges seizing, and eventually a haze on the glass that will not wash off.
Why it happens here
Within a couple of miles of surf, airborne chloride runs about an order of magnitude above inland levels, and coastal humidity of 70 to 90 percent keeps the film damp instead of letting it blow off. A permanently damp salt layer is an electrolyte sitting on every metal part of the assembly.
What actually fixes it
Interval and hardware attention rather than technique. Three cleanings a year within about a mile of the water, tracks cleared and vacuumed dry, weep holes confirmed passing, and screens inspected as they come off. The assembly almost always fails before the glass looks bad.
How to recognise it
Gritty tracks, abraded screen mesh, and a fine even film heaviest on the elevation facing away from the ocean.
Why it happens here
Santa Anas run offshore, October through March, with the highest event count in December, gusting 50 to 70 mph through the passes and canyons. They carry decomposed granite and dry-season dust from inland, which is why the loaded elevation is the inland-facing one rather than the coastal one everybody expects.
What actually fixes it
Tracks must be cleared dry before any water is applied. Wetting embedded granite and dragging a squeegee through it is running sandpaper across the glass, and it is the most commonly skipped step in this metro. Clean after the wind season closes rather than during it.
How to recognise it
Glass that looks acceptable through the summer and then looks terrible the morning after the first storm of the season.
Why it happens here
Downtown Los Angeles averages 14.25 inches of rain a year on the 1991-2020 normal, and takes nearly all of it between December and March, with February the wettest month at about 3.8 inches. For roughly seven months nothing rinses anything. The first rain does not make the glass dirty, it mobilises six months of accumulation and dries it into streaks.
What actually fixes it
Book late October, before the first storm. A house cleaned then goes into the wet season with nothing on the glass for the rain to move, and looks right through the winter instead of looking worst on the first grey day.
How to recognise it
Glass that darkens rather than clouds, smears under a dry cloth, and looks grey again within days of a cleaning, always worst on the elevation facing the road.
Why it happens here
Tire wear, brake particulate and diesel soot come off the roadway and the goods-movement corridors as fine carbon bound in oil. Oil-bound carbon behaves nothing like mineral dust: detergent moves it around the pane rather than lifting it, and it lands several times harder on the corridor-facing side.
What actually fixes it
A degreasing pass with real dwell time before the wash. The corridor-facing elevation also honestly needs a shorter interval than the rest of the building, and any company that prices the whole property at the worst elevation is overcharging you for the sheltered side.
How to recognise it
A sticky, glossy film under a blooming jacaranda in May, turning to black sooty mold on hot glass within days if it is left.
Why it happens here
It is not sap and it is not nectar. Aphids feed on the tree and excrete honeydew, which rains down continuously through a bloom that runs from late April to mid June. On a sun-heated pane the sugar cooks in and then grows mold on itself.
What actually fixes it
Timing beats chemistry. Fresh honeydew comes off with plain water, so hosing the worst panes during the bloom is worth more than an extra service call, and the appointment that actually holds is early July once the drop has finished.
How to recognise it
A film that is grey rather than brown, smears oily under a cloth, and feels gritty. Frequently accompanied by ash in the tracks and on the sills.
Why it happens here
Wildfire residue is a mix of fine carbon, alkaline ash and condensed organic tars, and it behaves nothing like road film. The ash is caustic enough to etch glass if it is left wet on it, the tar fraction is oily and smears rather than lifting, and the carbon is abrasive.
What actually fixes it
A flooded neutral-pH pass to carry the alkaline fraction off before anything with an edge touches the pane, then a separate solvent step for the tar, then the actual wash. Never a dry wipe. It is a different job than a maintenance clean and it is quoted as one, and we will tell you honestly where a pane has been etched past what cleaning can fix.
Greater Los Angeles is more than eighteen million people across five counties and about a hundred miles corner to corner. Each of these regions has its own water, its own wind, its own building stock and its own seasonal calendar, and each has a guide written for it rather than a copy of the one next door.
Three separate supplies across one small region: imported Metropolitan near 16 grains, Los Angeles Aqueduct snowmelt near 6.5, and Santa Monica's own wellfields.
Two supplies inside one utility: Owens Valley aqueduct snowmelt near 6.5 grains in most zones, purchased Metropolitan supply near 16 in the Harbor and Eastside.
Zero to six miles across the whole region. Chloride near the surf line runs about ten times inland levels and the film stays damp.
Mostly Los Angeles Aqueduct snowmelt near 6.5 grains, genuinely soft. The Calabasas end is 100 percent imported Metropolitan near 16 grains.
Basin groundwater from the Raymond and Main San Gabriel basins, routinely 12 to 18 grains per gallon. Among the hardest municipal supplies in the county.
SCV Water's Saugus Formation and Santa Clara River alluvial wells blended with State Water Project supply. Hard, and it varies with the blend.
State Water Project deliveries through AVEK and Palmdale Water District, blended with Antelope Valley groundwater. Hard, and it varies with the blend.
Conejo Valley is essentially all imported Metropolitan supply near 16 grains. Ventura and Ojai run fully local Casitas and Ventura River supply, also hard.
Orange County basin groundwater at 10 to 15 grains typical, Anaheim published at 18. Irvine Ranch sells both a 6-grain and a 16-grain supply.
The hardest in the metro. Ontario ~15.2 grains, Rancho Cucamonga ~15, Riverside ~12.3 and fully local, Chino Hills ~10.8.
Our Southern California service area covers 472 ZIP codes across Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, western San Bernardino and western Riverside counties. If your address is not on this list, put it into the quote form and it will tell you in about thirty seconds whether we reach you.
Residential window cleaning means a full clean of every visible window, inside and out, including screens, sills, and frames.
Professional gutter cleaning removes all debris from your gutters and downspouts so spring snowmelt and summer storms drain properly.
Pressure washing uses high-pressure water (~3,000 PSI) to remove dirt, mildew, and stains from durable hard surfaces.
Solar panel cleaning restores lost output by removing dust, pollen, bird droppings, and mineral deposits without damaging the panel surface.
Soft wash kills mildew, algae, and bacteria on exterior surfaces using low pressure (~500 PSI) and a biocidal cleaning solution.
Most window screen problems can be repaired on-site: torn mesh, bent splines, missing handles, at $25-$45 per window.
Hard water stains can be removed if treated within ~6 months. Older stains may have etched the glass and require professional cerium oxide polishing.
Post-construction window cleaning is a deeper clean for new builds, it removes silica dust, paint specks, stickers, and construction film that standard cleaning won't touch.
That you may not need hard-water restoration. If you are in the San Fernando Valley, the Palisades, Brentwood or the Hollywood Hills, your tap water runs around 6.5 grains per gallon. Restoration is heavily sold across this metro and on that water it is usually the wrong purchase. Where we do find etching there, it came from one sprinkler head, and moving it is the fix.
That your roof may have no gutters to clean. Barrel tile here frequently carries gutter runs on only some elevations, and low-slope and flat roofs drain through internal drains and parapet scuppers instead. We look at the roof before quoting and recommend the service the roof actually needs.
That the stain may not be your sprinkler. Recycled water through purple pipe irrigates a large share of association and municipal landscape here, and it carries a higher dissolved-salt load than potable. If a common-area head is overshooting onto your wall, adjusting your own system does nothing. We identify the source and document it for you.
That some glass has gone past what cleaning can recover. Deposits under about five years old restore fully. Past a decade in this sun, carbonate has etched into the silica and the honest options become polishing or replacement. We test an inconspicuous section before quoting so nobody pays for a result that is not available.
That we have not been here for fifty years. Sonlight has been family-owned in Colorado since 1978 and opened Southern California in August 2026. Every page on this site says so. What we brought here is a real price before we knock, crews who understand why salt and imported water behave differently on glass, and a 24-hour guarantee.
It depends on your address, and the spread is bigger than almost anyone realises. Los Angeles Aqueduct water, which reaches most of the City of Los Angeles, has run around 112 milligrams per litre, roughly 6.5 grains per gallon. Metropolitan imported supply, which reaches Beverly Hills, Malibu, the beach cities and the LADWP Harbor zone, has averaged around 270, close to 16 grains. Basin groundwater across Orange County and the Inland Empire runs 12 to 18, with Anaheim publishing 18 outright. Two houses eleven miles apart can be at opposite ends of that range.
Twice a year for a sheltered inland house, three times within about a mile of the water, near a freeway or port corridor, or near working agricultural ground. The reason is that there is no rain between May and November, so nothing is being cleaned for you in between. The two appointments that do the most work are late October, before the first storms mobilise a dry season of accumulation down the glass, and March, once Santa Ana season closes out.
Because the rain did not make them dirty, it made the existing deposit visible. Six or seven months of dust, road film and salt sits on the glass with nothing to move it, and the first storm wets that layer just enough to run and then dries it into streaks that follow the pane. That is the argument for cleaning in October rather than in December.
Usually the inland-facing side, which surprises nearly everyone. Santa Ana winds run offshore, from the desert toward the ocean, October through March, so wind-driven grit lands on the elevation facing away from the water. Near the coast the ocean-facing side gets a salt film instead, which is a slower and more chemical problem. They are different deposits and they honestly need different treatment.
Yes, including rope descent and bosun chair work. Above roughly the third floor, exterior window cleaning is a licensed, OSHA-governed discipline with anchor inspection and rescue planning attached, and most companies quoting window cleaning in this market cannot legally go above pole reach. If you have bids on a tower that vary wildly, the difference is usually not price. It is which floors each bidder was planning to clean.
In Southern California, we opened in August 2026. Sonlight has been family-owned in Colorado since 1978 and has completed more than 41,000 jobs across our markets, and we opened New Mexico in 2026 and Greater Los Angeles the same year. We are not going to tell you we have a fifty-year Los Angeles history, because we do not. What we brought here is a firm price before we knock, crews who know why salt and imported water behave differently on glass, and a 24-hour guarantee.
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