We recently moved into a very old house that has it's windows painted shut. The windows are suppose to open from bottom to top, not side to side. Does anyone know of how to reopen old painted shut windows? Thanks!
Cheryl from Oregon
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My husband's parents old house widows were that way. They took a metal putty knife and just tapped it into the seam line across using a hammer to loosen the paint from between to open.
Yup - you are going to have to break the seal of paint that keeps the windows shut - using whatever works, including a chisel! Then think about touching up the paint job.
The ideal tool is a cabinet maker's flat-iron crow bar/nail puller. Both ends are sharp like a chisel. Put the short end of the L onto the seam, and tap the heel of it with a no-bounce rubber hammer. That method is easy enough and foolproof enough, that you can send a kid up the ladder.
Have FUN! DearWebby
webby.com/
All the suggestions offered here are good ones. Just don't do what I did: Several years ago I painted my kitchen right before Thanksgiving.
Well, Thanksgiving that year was very warm and with the oven going, I really needed to open a couple windows.
I tugged and pounded and did everything I could think of. Finally I climbed up on the counter and started kicking around the window frame. I got one unstuck and opened and moved on to the next one. Well, I misjudged a little bit and my foot went right through the glass pane!
Luckily, I didn't get cut and I did have air coming through two windows. The rest of the windows had to wait until I got a putty knife!
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I was trying to save a few bucks and trying to help my unemployed brother so we hired him to paint the outside of the house last fall. Now it's spring and the windows are nearly all painted shut! Any suggestions on how to release them? The house is a ranch but we are senior citizens and not that great on ladders.
I would try running a razor blade along the seam and it should release, unless it leaked between the sections. (03/24/2005)
By Barbie
