Weight Watchers method of sash restoration

I keep telling myself...."self, just finish stripping and sanding 1 more sash and you will be halfway done with the nasty part of this job." I then go on to tell myself, "If you don't do something, the other housebloggers will think you're a slacker." See I know you are all watching and thinking, "better her than me." Don't think I can't see you snickering, either.

This job, just like any other home maintenance job, has it's tedious, boring parts and it's fun and enjoyable parts. The trick is to get through the nasty part so you can get onto the fun part. In this case the fun part would be the painting and glazing part. The portion of the job where you can actually see progress and results because in the end.....isn't that what we want....progress and results? Hence the Weight Watchers method of sash restoration. You're watching and I better produce some results.

I was really pressed for time today so there will not be any photos......sorry. I also didn't do anything when I got home from work last night. I found the remains of a pizza in the fridge and ate a piece. R must have ordered a pizza for dinner before he went to work. Well, all it took was a measly 10 hour work day, 2 hour drive (1 hr each way), and 1 piece of pizza....OK dammit....2 pieces of pizza and I was in a coma. What sashes?????

So today, though still extremely busy, I felt I must do something so I finished sanding a sash and started another one. I still need to glue a joint on the last one but I don't know yet which type of glue I want to use...Elmer's wood glue or Gorilla glue. Any thoughts about which is better. I'm leaning towards Gorilla because the glued area will be outside in the elements.

This next sash has it's own small problem. This particular sash has an extra piece screwed to the outside of the inside stile (pair of sashes makes up 1 window) so that this sash over laps the other sash. It is attached with 5 small cap screws. The bottom screw appears to have rusted and broken off. The remaining part of the screw will need to be removed. The trick will be to remove it without making the hole any larger. Might be a job for R. He's real good at getting out broken bolts. I'll ask him to look at it, that way he won't feel left out of the project. Ha Ha!!!!!! He's been staying so far away from this project it's not funny. He likes big projects with big power tools and even better if the said power tool/equipment has an internal combustion engine, i.e. tractor, chainsaw, etc. He is not a painter and he never will be. He can paint with a spray can. He has that down pat. But "The Gear" doesn't need a Krylon rebuild, so he'll be left out of any painting.

So today I worked on sashes for 1 hour. Total time invested so far 5 hours and 55 minutes.

One sash down.......five to go

After I arrived home from work last night (3am) I removed the form and sanded the patch. Here's what it looked like after sanding with a palm sander and 60 grit sand paper.

Not too shabby but notice the voids??? I knew there would be some so I was not too surprised. I mixed some more filler, filled the voids, and went to bed. Time spent......35 minutes.

Fast forward to morning....I sanded some more. To make sure it was smooth I usually close my eyes and run my fingers over the area. I probably don't need to close my eyes...I could look away...but I don't.

Here is how it looked after scraping, sanding, filling, and some more sanding.

Not too bad considering how 'damaged' it was before I started. By the way, that palm sander was only $10.00 at Home Depot. About 3 years ago, during a trip to Home Depot, I noticed a big display with Skil palm sanders and jig saws for $10.00 each. Sounded like a good deal so I nabbed one of each.

I scraped sash number two. Removing all the paint and glazing compound before it was time to get ready to leave for work. I'll sand when I get home tonight.

Time invested....35 minutes last night and 1 hour today....4 hours 55 minutes total.

Double hung windows...let the fun begin

Over the last 3 or 4 months, I've read just about everything there is to read about double hung windows. I even bought a DVD, on double hung window repair, off of eBay. I now know just enough about double hung windows to be dangerous....so I guess it is time to start refurbishing THE DOUBLE HUNG WINDOWS!!!!!!

Removing the sash stop wasn't too bad. Three little nails and poof they were out all in one piece. Even the bottom sash came out fairly easy, once I was able to cut the proverbial cord. Holy cow. I don't see how a sash cord could ever possibly break, especially once it is encased in a bazillion layers of oil base paint.

Now the parting bead was a WHOLE different story. It came out in splinters. As a matter of fact some of it is still in place. I'll need to use a small chisel to remove the remaining parting bead.

The top sash is a different story. It is firmly stuck in place. I will need to score the paint on the outside before I can even think about removing it. But since Mother Nature hasn't cooperated this past weekend, removal of top sash will have to wait. I was in no hurry to remove the wooden storm window and let all the warm air out of the house while I tried to remove the top sashes of the three dining room windows.

I spent the majority of the Easter holiday weekend with heat gun in one hand and scrapper in the other. All three sashes and sash stops are paint free. We have removed the loose glazing compound and the two broken panes. Over the next week I'll try and get them sanded, primed, and glazed. AND if it ever decides to quit snowing and warm up, I'll remove the top sashes and strip the outside trim. Who would have known a week ago that it was 80 degrees. Only in Michigan. Where's global warming when you need it?????