Comments on: Restoring Windows

By: Catherine Broughton

Catherine Broughton — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:13:43 +0000

I read this with great interest. We restored a huge place in France some years ago. I have recently been travelling in Portugal, which |I loved, and wrote a few blogs about it on my site if of interest. I am a novelist and an artist by trade, not a builder, but I loved your style of writing – keep it up!

By: Linda Cockburn

Linda Cockburn — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 17:43:21 +0000

Sorry this is so late for your project,but as a former clockmaker’s apprentice I had a lot of cases to strip/refinish. We used a marine stripping gel, went with the grain,then dusted well with fine sawdust (like you’d get from a bandsaw) let it set for the required time,about 15 minutes and then used a strong natural brush to remove all. The really great aspect of this is clean-up is a breeze and if the gel drips on you (ouch) the sawdust immediately removes it.

Love the windows~!!

By: Ana

Ana — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 22:06:53 +0000

Hi Emma,

I have done a lot of stripping over the years – ‘wood stripping that is’ and have found a heat gun to be very useful in most cases. The only time I had trouble with a heater was with a turn of the century place in Ontario. The house trim had several coats of paint and varnish, the heat created a mass of goo.

Personally if you are going to paint inside, I would paint outside. The paint will protect the wood from the elements.

If you end up with a leftover window or two, I do have a suggestion. My brother stripped down an old pane window and inserted mirrors instead of panes, and then hung it in his living room. I’ve seen a few variations on this, I think it looks really neat.

By: G

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:29:40 +0000

I saw your old French ones on your blog ages ago, they will look great used in pairs but you need shutters. Two bits of glass in a box won’t be enough. I am going to sandwich blown insulation with thin woodish sheet for cheap, light, high R internal shutters but IIRC you don’t like that stuff – foiled bubble wrap type would work too. Even good dg loses loads of heat.

I was told just last week you can strip old paint with strong caustic soda solution which is cheap but refinishing them will be expensive and take forever so I like the idea of a once over & repaint. The lead stays where it is, keeping weather out. Have heard fables of furniture strippers but never found one, or any stripped furniture for sale.

Good luck