How to you clean in between storm windows without taking out the glass?

Question

We recently bought a house and it has storm windows, two sets of windows, not sealed with gas, how do I get in between them to clean them, without taking out the outer windows? Help, they are really dirty, don't think they have been cleaned since the house was built (1974).

Answer 1

You don't.  One of the rituals of my growing up in the upper Midwest was removing the storm windows every spring and putting up screens, then reversing the process in the fall.  The storm windows may be mounted with hooks at the top and turn buttons near the bottom that allow you to swing them out and, in theory, clean underneath, if you are built really funny (to lean back and clean above you while on a ladder, but it is best to take them off.  If you are just cleaning, one person can stay on the ladder and clean the house windows and another person can take the storm window, clean it, somewhat dry it and pass it back up.  Normally the ladder, if needed, must be moved after every window.