Finding An Expert For Your Sash Window Repairs

| Friday, March 4, 2011
By Thomas Clinton


If you have an older home retaining the original windows adds value and Sash Window Repairs done by an experienced person could be just what you need. Sometimes a carpenter will know a lot about this type of restoration so it pays to shop around and find someone who has a sense of appreciation for the detail in an older home.

Understanding the project will help you out. First determine whether or not the windows are nailed shut before forcing them to open. You should thoroughly check why they are not working. Sometimes a house can settle and cause the window frames to be out of alignment. In this case they would need to be planed or cut and that would be a job for a specialist. After many years of painting the windows will need to be stripped and that could involve lead paint. Safety precautions be taken in this situation.

Removing the sash will involve prying the front molding off to allow for it's removal. At this point the cords can be accessed and removed in order to measure them for cutting new ones. The molding strips on the upper sash can now be removed and it can be removed along with any hardware.

Scrape out the old putty, clean well with a wire brush and remove the glazer's points. Now you can remove the glass. Check the integrity of the wood and thoroughly remove all dry rot wood and apply epoxy to rebuild damaged areas. Prime the sash after waiting a day for the epoxy to cure and it has been sanded.

Apply hand rolled glazing compound into the exterior groove of the sash and press the glass into it about 1/16th of an inch from the bottom pane opening. Insert glazier's points about every 12 inches or evenly spaced if it's a smaller window, pushing into the wood to hold the glass in.

Use another hand rolled length of glazing compound on top of the glass and bevel it with the putty knife. After it has cured about a week, paint the putty with an oil-based primer and a coat of acrylic latex paint to the entire sash.

Remember to look for the weatherstripping being replaced and the hardware cleaned before reattaching. The pulleys should be sprayed with Teflon or silicone and the cords reattached to the upper and lower sashes. Weights get replaced and the final molding put back into place.




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