Painting Double Hung Windows?

[CohenCottage]

The husband and I are going to finish the exterior painting tomorrow, and we are debating on what method to use for the window frames. I would love your feedback on what you think we should do!

He wants to paint the windows while keeping them in place using this (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/skill-builder/0,,20174632,00.html?xid=hinewsletter-051209-paint-double-hungs) technique so we don't have to take the windows out.

I want to take the windows out (they pop out easily) b/c I think it will be less tedious if they are flat on sawhorses/work table. This will enable us to paint both sides at once (the Aura paint has a super-fast dry time) and clean and wd-40 the tracks really well too.

[chyna]

I was going to suggest This Old House but I like your idea much more. If you can pop those windows out then I'd do it. Painting windows is mind numbing and not all that easy (who knew something with so little trim could be such a pain!!).

[CohenCottage]

I'm for anything that means I don't have to teeter on a ladder all day! My master plan is to set up a painting and drying station in the shade...

[Heather]

If they pop out easily, I'd do that!

So, you're going to finish the exterior painting tomorrow, eh? Could you come over here then?

[CohenCottage]

Sure, isn't it just 1200 miles or so to get to your house? I hope we finish tomorrow. I'm guessing that it will be at least Sunday before we get another coat on the porch floor, so it will be next week before we are done with that part, but I want everything else done. So far, the crawl space and porch posts are done, and there is one coat on the floor. I'm glad we are only having to do one coat everywhere else. That Aura paint is awesome. Hubs said the porch and floor paint was like painting with chocolate milk in comparison.

[cheapdiva]

I'll have to do this to at least the 2 windows in the kitchen this summer - can't have a "new" kitchen with the windows looking like old, junky, overpainted windows. let me know how it goes.

[Heather]

How did your painting go CohenCottage - sounds like you got into the vino... reminds me of that one time I was drinking/gardening - NOT GOOD. Anyhoo, did you install that fireplace you bought for the porch? Post pics when it's done, K? I liked the sounds of your colour scheme!

[CohenCottage]

Hi Heather, the painting is currently in progress, and we are going slowly b/c there is one screw holding the bottom of each window in place and we can't figure out how to get it out. So we tilted the windows out so we can reach all the surfaces, but it's not as easy as we had hoped. Isn't that always the case!

Yes, there was some wine-drinking last night, but luckily I must have some type of genetic superiority b/c I have never had a hangover! We went to dinner and then to a friend of a friends house. They have the coolest pool with a water slide, and we left just before we were forced to swim. We haven't put the outdoor fireplace in yet, but I will be sure to post pics when we do. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

[CohenCottage]

Ok - We finally figured out how to get the windows out completely. DH did it, and he said that you had to tilt them at a specific angle to get the screw to release from a spring. Now the painting is going MUCH faster!! Here are my helpful tips so far:

Figure out how to pop your windows out before you get ready to paint

We wiped the window frames down with a microfiber cloth that had been moistened with alcohol and then used a tack cloth.

The Purdy natural bristle 25mm/1" angled brushes are the best! They say they are for oil based, but we think they work better for latex too.

We gave up taping the glass and are just painting the edges of the glass. The plan is to use a scraper to clean up the edges. This will give us a good seal too (according to the painting articles on the interwebz).

[CohenCottage]

We finished the second coat on the front windows (8 total) and on the outside of the back door!!!!! Once we figured the process out, it went pretty quickly. Because we were short on time and the humidity increased our dry time, we opted to only paint the outside and are saving the insides for another day.

The fastest and most thorough way to paint the window frames was actually with a small roller. That made it really easy to get an even finish and get a good seal on the glass. We are going to scrape the windows in an hour or so before we put them back in the tracks.

So, we didn't finish as much as we wanted to (of course), but we did get all the windows you can see from the street done and we perfected the process so next time will be much faster!

[annielinz]

CC I'm impressed, painting windows is very time consuming, I bet they look great!

[Gigi]

Now that a BIG project!

Glad you were able to get the windows out and painted~ have you put them back in yet?

We never tape the edges of the window before painting~ for the same reason~ it's a nice seal.

[CohenCottage]

It was a big job, but not as bad as we thought it would be. They are going in right now...4 windows and a back door down, 7 windows and a front door left to go. We still need to scrape 4 of the finished ones, but it's too late, so we are going to do that in the am.