# Whitewashed Windows on Vacant Buildings -- Why?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitewashed-windows-on-vacant-buildings-why/112947
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 8, 2002, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitewashed-windows-on-vacant-buildings-why/112947 "2002-06-08T05:26:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitewashed-windows-on-vacant-buildings-why/112947/1 "2002-06-08T05:26:30Z")
Why do many vacant buildings have whitewashed windows? I recently saw a newly-vacated business in a strip mall that had the windows whitewashed with little circular patterns. I have seen this many times before, but could never figure out why this is done. It doesn’t obscure curious window shoppers; I could easily see into the interior. What is this whitewash anyway? soap? paint?
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitewashed-windows-on-vacant-buildings-why/112947/2 "2002-06-08T12:39:45Z")
Whitewash is a mixture of either gypsum or lime and water. In a construction site where I once worked, an insurance representative showed up and raised hell because the windows weren’t taped up. Apparently, it’s easy for workers in a partially finished structure to get used to openings without glass and may be caught off guard when these openings suddenly have glass in them. I suspect whitewash is a similar safety thingy. Why it’s done in buildings that are just plain old vacant, I don’t know.
A few dollars worth of whitewash or tape is cheaper than a thousand dollar sheet of glass.
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### Author:  [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2002, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitewashed-windows-on-vacant-buildings-why/112947/3 "2002-06-10T11:10:40Z")
Guess: Maybe it’s to prevent them from flying into the big reflection of the sky in the now empty and drapeless windows.
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### Author:  [@bbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbeaty)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitewashed-windows-on-vacant-buildings-why/112947/4 "2002-06-11T00:45:41Z")
Also, your expensive toolbox and power tools will less likely be stolen when unattended if passersby can’t glance through the windows.
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### Author:  [@jawdirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jawdirk)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2002, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitewashed-windows-on-vacant-buildings-why/112947/5 "2002-06-11T07:44:30Z")
The missing drapes idea makes me think it might just be to prevent greenhouse effect. Whitewashing the windows is certainly the cheapest most durable drapery.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2002, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitewashed-windows-on-vacant-buildings-why/112947/6 "2002-06-11T12:12:46Z")
WAG’s:
1 Protect the glass from construction dust
2 protect passers by from having to look at construction workers’ cracks (or to see the unsightly inside of the vacant building)
3 protect opal from having to look at construction workers’ cracks
4 bird warnings
5 person warning (hey there’s glass here - don’t walk through)
6 easier to see if the glass is broken