Mullions and Mullions
Whew. Seven windows. Seven large, painted windows in our sunroom. And I'm seeing mullions in my sleep.
But the work has been paying off.
Whoo hoo! Stripped windows! I've been using a special scraping tool on the mullions and it's been working pretty well. (It looks like this...except mine has a tiny bit of a curve on one side to follow the pattern of the mullions.)
I just have to be careful around the few damaged places that I've found. Decades of condensation soaked into some places and rotted a little bit of the wood because the windows had never been cared for.
I'll have to carefully sand these places down and try to match the stain.
The old shellac and tiny flecks of paint need to be carefully removed with denatured alcohol and steel wool. Then we will need to reapply the shellac.
After that, I'll weatherstrip them, insulate the window wells and the spaces behind the trim, and tighten the hardware. And we should have nicely restored windows! Someday.
Back to the mullions...
(3)
Looking for More?
| Search for more on 'restoring windows' on this site. |
| Search for 'restoring windows' on on other houseblogs like this one. |
| Search for 'restoring windows' on Google. |
| Search for 'restoring windows' on Amazon.com. |
Cabinet Refacing:
Face Your Kitchen | Your Guide to Kitchen Cabinet Refacing |
Comments
Apply some boiled linseed oil thinned with turpentine or paint thinner to the wood and it will help preserve it for another 100 years.
If you can't get rid of the flecks of paint, touch over them with a darker shade of brown. The amber shellac will mask it. You would never know it was there.
Posted by: Gary | April 20, 2005 8:01 PM
Looks good! We have some window work to do (some broken rope/pully/weight thingies), and I'm dreading it. Windows make me nervous for some reason.
Posted by: Kristin | April 21, 2005 9:56 AM
I am IMpressed! That takes so much patience. I did one window well in our pantry and it took ages. Those windows are even more priceless than they were before now!
Posted by: Jocelyn | April 22, 2005 8:01 PM