All these years and I still haven’t found a surefire way to open those old french single hungs that some contractor painted shut. Short of taking the storm window frames off, any secrets you all can suggest?
I take a towel and place it over each end of the window then rap it with a rubber mallet, then try popping it with a 5 way. There’s gotta be some secret to this.
Had a bid today, 40 window mansion, just about every window was painted shut on the outside.
Yikes thats rough. Its super annoying to deal with.
Rubber mallet is a good start. There isn’t really a super easy way to do it thats always guaranteed to work as each window is different.
Place a wooden block on the window sash. Then tap it with a hammer being carefull not to hit to hard and crack the glass.
We have a 30 second rule.
If we cant pop it open in 30 seconds or less, they need to call whoever painted it shut, and we will do what we can access.
I used to get in way over my head trying to open these things.
Not bad I’m @ 10 seconds
Yep, rubber mallet amd tap, tap, tap, on the top of the lower sash. I’ll go around the edges first with a bent putty knife to try to break the seal.
I too used to go above and beyond. No more. I’ll give it 30 seconds to a minute and will just move on if they won’t budge. If I feel any movement after the 30-60 seconds I may go back and try some more. Maybe.
