Upper windows are usually clean enough on the inside and neglected on the outside. The dirt is the same road film, pollen, and weather that lands on the first floor. The difference is reach. A lot of people assume the only way up is a ladder against the house, so the second storey waits until the glass is obviously dull.
A ladder against the frame or the siding is also how scratches and dents happen. Feet and rails rest on the surface, and a slip is a risk for the person as well as for the wall. The approach used here skips the ladder. A pole fed pure water system reaches up to 60 feet from the ground. The brush is at the top of the pole. The person stays down. Water is fed up the pole, so the pane is brushed and rinsed in one pass.
Sixty feet covers a typical two-storey house with room to spare, and it covers many three-storey homes as well, depending on grade and roof overhangs. What matters on the day is a path along the wall wide enough for the pole to stand off the house and still meet the glass at a workable angle. Dense shrubs tight against the foundation, a narrow side yard, or a deck that blocks the wall are the real limits, not the height of the second floor by itself.
The water is the same pure water used on first-floor glass. It has been through four stages of filtration, so the rinse does not dry into mineral spots. That is what produces spot-free glass once the pane dries. There is no chemical left on an upper window that rain has to deal with later. Windows and frames at that height are cleaned together, because a dirty upper sill will streak the pane the next time it rains.
What to clear, and what to expect
Before the visit, walk the sides of the house where the upper windows sit. Move what you can from the bed along the wall. Note low wires, a pool cage, or a fragile light fixture the pole needs to pass. If a window is above a sloped roof or a sunroom, say so when you book. Those panes are still often reachable, but the angle is different and it helps to know about them ahead of time.
Screens on upper windows follow the same rule as the rest of the house. Unless screen cleaning is included in the package, screens need to be removed beforehand or an additional charge is added. Upper screens are awkward to pop out from a ladder, which is another reason to decide that before the appointment rather than during it.
How often those upper panes need the same attention as the first floor depends on trees and the road, which is covered in how often those upper windows need attention. They do not stay cleaner just because they are harder to see from the sidewalk. Pollen and traffic film settle on them too. You notice it from inside a bedroom long before a guest notices it from the curb.
The same height as the eavestrough
The top of the wall is also where the eavestrough sits. People often look at dull upper windows and overflowing gutters in the same week, usually in fall. They are different jobs. Glass is brushed with pure water. Gutters are cleared of leaves and debris, and that work is not always a safe one to improvise. If both are on your list, it helps to understand eavestrough and gutter cleaning as its own visit, with equipment and safety training for the roofline, rather than as something to attempt with the same ladder you were hoping to avoid for the windows.
From the ground, the test is the same as any other pane. Stand back in daylight after the water has dried. The upper glass should read as clear, the frames should not be carrying a line of dirt, and the siding should not show new marks from equipment leaned against it.