Finished Painting

It's taken me near enough a week to finish painting the sashes. I can only do one side at a time, it takes at least 24 hrs to dry and its had an additional 3 coats. I'm now happy with the finish.

I'm not certain about the putty used to fill the screw holes, it had skinned over but was still soft underneath. As a result sanding it flat wasn't very practical. However I got them fairly flat and it's something I can redo after the window is fitted.

When the lead arrives, I'll be ready to fit it. It's going to be tight getting it done before Christmas!

Weight built up - slight problem

Dam - worth a try on to plan B



I cleaned up eight of the cast iron weights and gave them a coat of hammerite. After much thinking about ways of connecting them, articulated so I could feed them in pairs into the pockets, I came up with this solution.

A length of stainless steel cable loops through the hole in the top weight down to the second weight. Both ends are clamped using a 12mm bolt with 2 holes drilled through, a washer and nut.

I had to keep the total length, after re-measuring, within 750mm to get full movement of the sashes. I just managed this, but realised I'd have to be really accurate tying it on to the sash cord.

I had calculated the weight of the sashes and set about adding squashed lead pipe to make up the weight. Easy enough to wind around but it took ages to mange to solder tack the spiral together. It was a cold night and iron took the heat away.

Disaster - I checked actual weight of the sashes using bathroom scales and I was short by 2kg on the made-up weights. More procrastination, I couldn't add enough extra weight without either increasing the width, or adding to the length. So it was back to the calculator and Plan B.

I'll use one cast iron weight and one proper (bought) lead weight. So not a total catastrophe as using the iron will reduce the lead I need to buy by half. I also think the ones I've made up will suit one of the slightly narrower window.

I've now ordered the lead and will be picking it up next week.

Shiny bits-hardware , note on paint

After another coat, Its not as glossy as the previous. I'm wondering if I laid it on too thick, I'll make sure I go really thin on the sashes and see what difference it makes.

But it's good enough, especially as the inside parts will have a final coat after its all fitted.

To free up some space in the front room, with Christmas coming and trees going up, I fitted the pulleys. A good tap in fit. mmm shiny bits. Now its residing on the landing.



I've now got the sashes to paint and weight to sort out. Maybe I'll finish for Christmas?

Glazing the sashes

This is the interface between old joinery with up to date fenstration (glazing)

I picked up the Double Glazed, after a slight delay - I've ended up with two toughened units for the price of one. On close inspection the two panes of glass aren't perfectly aligned and the edge spacer, being a flexible foam, isn't perfectly straight. I don't know what tolerances are usual so I'm not going to gripe about it. The edges are sealed with a hot melt black, slightly tacky stuff. This is uneven on the edges of the glass and compound the slight miss alignment of the two pieces. For the other windows I'll ask if they will pay a little more attention to this.

The sealed units fit in the sashes, resting on 5mm deep bridge packers to maintain ventilation around all the edges This should prevent any moisture from attacking the edge sealant.

The packers I bought are 24mm, the rebate is 28mm so I cut little tabs in edges so the packers will sit in the middle.

I'd ordered the units 10mm under the sash rebate sizes. The sashes are about +/- 0.5mm and the glazing (due to the misalignment and edge seal build up) are about up to + 1.5. So I had to sand down some of the packers to get neat tight fit without distorting the timber of the sash.

Next the adhesive backed EPDM seals are fitted.

The bottom seals extend horizontally and the side pieces end butt up to them.

After tinkering with all packers I was happy to screw the beading/clamp on.

Note: I had counter bored the holes a few mm to much, the head sank a bit more than I expected.

I'm generally happy with the result. The glass held firmly, the seals are well compressed, it looks neat and nothing like a plastic DG window.

The only thing that bugs me is all the screw holes that need filling. It does mean I can dissemble the sashes if or when the units eventually fail. However I keep pondering if there could be a more elegant solution, possibly using the mechanical strength of the actual units ????

Last bit of glazing is to put a bead of silicone around. I choose only to do the outside, I'll wait and see if there is any need to do the inside. In the spirit of experimentation I did one with no masking, point proved, I can't gun and tool neatly without have to scrape loads off the glass and frame. The other one I spent 5 mins masking up and did a much neater job.

USE : Low modulus - Natural cure , this is flexible, and doesn't have the solvents that react badly with Sealed units and glass coatings.

The stuff I found is labeled as a frame sealant, not glazing sealant.

This pic shows the silicone with a layer of paint on it. Can also see the silicone bead doesn't fill the flat on top of the bevel.

Note: Consider adjusting the design bevel. Reducing the flat and the over-all sash thickness.

Also prior to painting I've filled the screw hole with linseed putty. I'm not sure about this but it's reccomended by the paint manufacturer so I'm trying it.

Weights - cheap option

I was ready to order the lead but had a quick look on ebay. I found an auction on with 24 hrs to go for an assortment of 10 cast iron weights, for pick up close to home. So I put a bid in and won for £2.50 - what a bargin. He had a load more when I went to collect so bought the lot for £20.

It will not be a perfect solution as the weights are oly about the right size for single glazing. I've worked out that if the weights are less than 800mm I'll get full movement of the sashes. So I can hang one under another and wrap some scrap lead pipe around them to get enough mass.

If this works out I'll have saved about £300.

Linseed Oil painting

The main drawback with linseed oil paints seems to be the drying time required. 24 hours at 20 -25 degrees centigrade. With the weather as it is this means I've abandened the workshop and taken over the front room.

The first coat is of raw linseed oil, applied hot, 60deg. I decanted some in to tin and warmed it with a hot air gun, it only takes a couple of mins to get it up to temperature. It's brushed in vigerously in a thin coat. I ran over it with the hot air gun as well to aid it soaking in.

It's lovely stuff to use, pleasent smell and doesn't matter if you get it on your hands. The only problem was, due to slippy hands I dropped the tin. Small panic, but most landed on the news paper.

It took three days to dry, at and average temperature of 18 degrees. So a can't get away with not turning the central heating on, we normally rely solely on the wood burner in the dinning room.

Next step - Shellac on the glazing rebates and knots. Easy, Quick job.

The first coat of paint is worked in well and thin as with the raw oil

This dried within 36 hours after I closed the door and put the heating on.

The first coat covers well and dried to matt finish

Untill I've got the glass fitted I can't do anything else with the sashes but I can with the frame.

A light sanding of the frame and filling screw holes with puty, followed by another coat. A patchy gloss is developing,

I think the third coat will give a lovely finish.