Re-puttying windows

Hi all !

We live in a 25+ year old house which has narrow 800mm awning windows (I think - they are hinged at the top and have a winder at the base to push the bottom outwards).

The problem I have especially with some of them is that the putty on the outside of the window frame is starting to crack and break off. Before it all cracks and falls out I'm thinking of scraping it off and either re-puttying them or replacing the putty with hardwood beads.

Is this a job best left to a trades-person or can an amatuer like me handle it ?

What I think I'd need to do is to (gently) scrap off the putty so that the window glass can be removed, clean up the rest of the putty, prime and repaint the frame, reinsert the window glass, install new putty or hardwood beads, and paint it.

Have I left anything out ?

Cheers,
Leon

Leon,

You forgot to mention sweeping up the broken glass. Seriously, reputtying is a job requiring only moderate skill, but getting the glass out without breaking it can be a bit of a challenge. I would be inclined to leave it in place.

Leon,
I have an old weather board house in Brisbane and I only just re-puttied all the windows last year, all 30 off them with 4 panes of glass in each so that makes 120 pains of glass and about 14 kg of putty.
My best advice is to chip out all the old putty best way you can and don’t take out the glass and then re-putty the windows. I chipped out the putty then I painted linseed oil around the area where the putty is to go waited a little while and then worked the putty around the window pushing it in with my fingers then I took a putty knife dipped in a little linseed oil and with a little care run the knife on an angle top to bottom side to side and collect the off cuts in you hand and reuse them. I will say when I first started it took a long time to do a window but by the end I could do a window in no time. Be patient it is a slow job but worth the effort I think.

Webby

Thanks for the advice Ken and Webby !

Webby, my frames have already been painted - should I still use linseed oil ? Or should I just repaint the exposed frame prior to applying the putty ?

Also, any advice on brands/types of putty ?

Has anyone tried the wooden beads ? It might be more expensive, but I thought it might also be quicker and easier, especially since the beads could be painted first, and I would only need to cut and tack them into place.

Cheers,
Leon

Leon,

Go to a hardware store and just buy some Linseed oil bases putty and raw linseed oil the brand I have is call Polyfilla Putty for wood and metal frames it is in a plastic bucket 4.5 kg .

As for painting on linseed oil around the frames, only paint where you have removed the putty even if the area has had paint on it the reason I say this is that if you don’t the timber will suck the linseed oil out of the putty.

On the hardwood beads I think you will be wasting time and effort, the reason you put putty on the outside of a window is to SEAL it from the weather and after 2 coats of paint it is sealed .I have only put timber beads on French light doors and only on the inside where the weather can’t at them.
Hope this helps,
Webby

you are wasting your time if you dont remove the glass,and redo the back putty in the frame .
Hack out all the old putty with a hacking knife and you will proably find some little triangular sprigs holding in the pane ,remove these and chisel the back putty out,and repaint the frame with a good quality oil or water based acrylic (whatever you are going to use)this seals the frame and stops the putty from drying out,rebed the pane and put the sprigs back in,then redo the outside frame.When you are rebedding the pane apply pressure so that the putty slighly oozes from the frame ,it can then be trimmed when you finish the outside ,be careful when applying pressure, slowly does it.
Redo the outside with a putty knife ,but dont repaint until six to eight weeks to allow the putty to "skin over",other wise your paint wont stick.

you are wasting your time if you dont remove the glass,and redo the back putty in the frame .
Hack out all the old putty with a hacking knife and you will proably find some little triangular sprigs holding in the pane ,remove these and chisel the back putty out,and repaint the frame with a good quality oil or water based acrylic (whatever you are going to use)this seals the frame and stops the putty from drying out,rebed the pane and put the sprigs back in,then redo the outside frame.When you are rebedding the pane apply pressure so that the putty slighly oozes from the frame ,it can then be trimmed when you finish the outside ,be careful when applying pressure, slowly does it.
Redo the outside with a putty knife ,but dont repaint until six to eight weeks to allow the putty to "skin over",other wise your paint wont stick.

Just a couple of thoughts - I am certain I heard on This Old House, of a method of easily removing putty via apllying heat..... anyone got an idea about that?

Also, I can't help wondering why a tube-based product hasnt supplanted linseed putty by now - or has it?

Finally, why would you need to remove "everything" glass and remaining intact putty included? It seems like a huge amount of added work to return the windows to full serviceability.... of course, I am near-genius in being wrong about things

:)

The easiest way I know of of removing old putty is to use a small angle grinder but tape up the inside of the window with newspaper and masking tape first as it is quite dusty.

I have been using the cartridge gap filler ( Bunnings $ 1.95 a cartridge) together with the beading strips cut on the Triton for a couple of years now and I have had no problems with them remaining waterproof or vibrating. Much cheaper and you can paint it next day.


Regards,


Peter.

Hmm, ... being able to paint the next day (rather than several weeks) would be a great plus - I had planned to finish the job in a week, if possible.

I've also noticed that on most windows, not all four sides are puttyed - normally only the bottom and top - the vertical sides are wooden beads. This being the case, I might not want to try to remove the beads, especially if they are in good nick and only replace the bad putty.

We have a huge old house with some huge old problems - one of them being windows. All of the windows had at least one sash cord broken and most had a pane of glass cracked. Putty was in very poor condition - at least cracked and often missing, particularly from lower sides of the frames.

When you replace a sash cord, you have to take the window out and while you've got it out, you may as well do something with it - like completely renovate it.

The two of us perfected the art of "window rejuvenation in one weekend" - replace both sash cords, sand back, fill and prime and undercoat window frame, strip back windows, sand and undercoat, remove old putty and glass, replace tacks with those little triangular things, refit glass using new panes where required, reputty and prime and undercoat. I did the stripping, sanding, filling and painting. He did the glass stuff.

What we have learnt..

It is much easier to work on a window when it is lying flat and you have both feet on the ground.

It is a snack to sand and paint a window frame when you are standing in the empty window space.

A heat gun softens old putty - it can be removed with a paint scraper. In the "old" days, he used to use a hacking knife (think that's what it's called) and a hammer - beware of broken glass. The heat gun technique was discovered by accident when I was stripping paint. Angle the gun towards the frame from the glass side to keep the heat off the glass. Direct heat to the glass will crack it.

Keep some spare glass on "hand just in case". Some law says that you will crack your glass when the glass cutter is closed.

Apply Penetrol directly to old timber, and add some to primer - paint goes on like a breeze. We primed, including the rebate, before we replaced glass. Priming last step on the Saturday, undercoating first step on Sunday. You gotta move fast!

Buy your putty in bulk from the hardware store or glazier.

Have on hand a window opening sized piece of heavy plastic and some thumbtacks - the rain god knows what you are doing.

Be prepare for the unexpected - we discovered that some idiot had replaced a pane of glass with plastic wood.

It takes around six months to psyche yourself up to do the next window.