Old windows

Need to know if there is any way to remove window sash in 1940s house. They have the rope pulley. The windows were painted on the outside by a very sloppy person and there is paint all around the grids. The downstairs windows are not a problem but we need to scrape the paint off and clean the windows and the second floor is just too high for us cowards to climb a ladder. Any help will be appreciated.

 

The windows that you have are designed to be taken out and be painted. If they are painted while they're in, they will bind up. What this means is that they are very easy to take out. There's a molding on the side of the sashes that are known as a blind stop. Take a small pry bar and remove the moldings. The inner sash comes out. The next piece is known as a meeting rail, this is usually not even nailed in but painted over. Pry those out and the outer sash comes out. I can take a both sashes out in five minutes. Your first one will probably take 30 minutes. By the time you're finished with all your windows, you'll probably take you five minutes to take one out.

 

Thanks for your help on the windows. I managed to get one complete window out yesterday. However, it was difficult to get the outer sash out. In looking at an illustration on working with old wood windows (on the Amazon site), the meeting rail was on the bottom of the outer sash. The pieces that were necessary to take out were called the parting bead. However, the molding on the bottom of the outer sash, which they were calling the meeting rail, prevented us from prying out the parting bead. We pryed it out as far up as we could and ended up cutting it there, lowering the window, and prying the remainder out. We only had to take it out on one side. Now the work begins. One more question - in scraping the outer window, chunks of the grids came out, along with all the old dried up and cracked paint? Is it best to try to fill these back in with wood filler, wood putty, window putty, or a silicone caulking? You were a lot of help, however with 18 double-hung sashes, we really have out work cut out for us. By the way, just found out the house was built in 1939, making it 63 years old.

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean by chunks but I'm assuming you're referring to glazing. You're going to have to re-glaze any window you take out and scrape. You can buy glazing compound at any hardware store. If you have cracks or splits in the wood sashes, then a good marine wood filler is recommended. You have to remove all the rotted wood and sand. If the crack is large, do it in layers so that it dries properly. Let each layer dry first before putting the next layer.

If I were you, I would get rid of the pulleys, ropes and weights and replace them with CBW's. You can go to http://www.WindowRenu.com and you can purchase them there. They also give instructions on line. The only thing that I would recommend that this site does not is remove the weights too and insulate the pockets.