Afraid of heights? This job's not for you

Clean windows are important for a positive outlook. Or something like that.

Published June 18, 2014 at 5:21 p.m.

Thomas Ellis has been a window washer for 45 years. His father owned a window cleaning business in Milwaukee called Dons Window Cleaning where he started working at the age of 14.

"Back then, wed just hang over the side of a building and wash the windows," says Ellis. "Theres a lot more to it these days. And its a lot safer."

Since 2002, Ellis has run operations at Als Window Cleaning, the company that routinely washes the windows of the U.S. Bank Center, which with 42 floors and at 601 feet is the tallest building in the state.

Ellis and his team clean the windows of the first two floors of the building located at 777 E. Wisconsin Ave. every other month. They wash all of the windows twice a year in the summer and in the late fall. It takes three full weeks of work for two washers to clean all of the windows on all four sides of the building.

The washers are able to access the windows through a sky climber and a "stage," both of which are stored in a garage thats on top of the building.

They dont go out in rain or high winds. Occasionally, however, they get caught in bad weather halfway through a job which can get a little dicey. However, Ellis says he always keeps his cool.

But does he ever get vertigo?

"No, not me," he says. "Most people would have white knuckles. Its not a job for everyone."

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Afraid of heights? This job's not for you