Friday, September 14, 2012

Upstairs Sitting Area Window

Hello everyone,

Holli here.

Yesterday, Tom and I removed the sashes from the upstairs sitting area window.  Well, I should say sash, as one had already fallen out last year.  I got this on video and hopefully I can figure out today how to edit it and get it posted.  I also have some photos loaded on Picasa. 

Please bear with me as I learn this blogging bit.  If you have visited more than once you have noticed the layout changes daily.  There is a lot more to learn than I thought.  I should have been getting this blog going before we ever started the first window and now I am playing catch-up.  Don't be discouraged. We will get it all gussied up functional. I will get photos and videos posted along with all the other things I want to share with you.

Now, back to the window...



This is the worst window in the house, and probably not the greatest example to start out with, but being the worst, and the fact that it was already half out, made it on obvious candidate for repair.

This window is on the west side of the house, which is where all our "big problem" windows are located, but this window also had the added bonus of having water funneled straight onto it when it rained.

The box gutters failed, we imagine about 30 years before we bought the house.  The previous owners had them shoddily repaired a couple of times resulting in water being directed right onto this window.  At some point the sashes were completely replaced because the window we removed yesterday is nothing like the rest, in construction or style.

We arrived here to work one day last summer and the glass from the top sash had fallen out and was just sitting there on the ledge, two stories up.  We rescued the glass and boarded the window from the outside and made an interior storm window for it and just ignored it for a year.

So, now it's out and work has begun.  We carried the sashes outside where I used my heat gun to soften what little glazing putty was left for easier scraping. Then, I removed the glazing points and the glass.  Tom stashed the glass in a nice safe place. 



Using the heat gun I softened and scraped the paint and shellac left on the sashes.  After that I hand sanded the sashes with 80 grit sand paper.  Finally, I vacuumed them with the shop vac and wiped them down with denatured alcohol.  All that took about 2.5 hours from start to finish.  Please be aware though, this window did not have much paint left on it or, much glazing putty in it either.  It was also missing a rail so, the time is not very represntative of what it will actually take on a whole window.

Now, after all that work, we are not sure what we are going to do with this window as far as repairs go.  Tom, will have to make a new bottom rail for the top sash, as it has disappeared.  He will also have to make new stiles to make it look like the rest of the windows in the house.  That just leaves the top rail of the top sash and he might a well make that too, while he is at it. 

The bottom sash was intact but the bottom rail is in sad shape.  Fixable shape, but sad.  If this was an original window we would do the repairs but, since it is not, Tom will probably be making a new bottom rail for it also. 

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