How To Paint Steel Window Frames

Before I even begin this mail service, let me offer a disclaimer: THIS IS Not A GUIDE TO RESTORING STEEL CASEMENT WINDOWS. It is only a documentation of my repainting of the inside of the window in my kitchen. The photos look like they were taken with a flip phone, for some reason, and any information conveyed will likely be simply minimally useful to anyone needing advice on fully restoring their own steel casement windows. That said, at some point in the future, I will write a more comprehensive mail service on steel casement window restoration. And I'll take pictures with an actual photographic camera. I'll even make clean the lens first!

I have washed a few posts over the years about repairing and restoring sometime windows, but until now, those windows had all been wood sash windows. One of the things I dearest the most nearly this house are the original steel casements. By my approximate, only nearly 25% of the houses in my neighborhood (which was all adult by the aforementioned builder, Allen Stamm) still have their original windows, which is a real shame. I'chiliad not sure if people make up one's mind to rip out the casements for aesthetic reasons or because they think they're drafty (or maybe just considering they call back that's what you're supposed to practice when you renovate a house), but compared to forest windows, steel casement windows are Actually EASY to maintain and refurbish.

That said, over the course of two years, I accept only done this "really easy" refurbishment on one window. One. And merely the inside, considering the exterior is…complicated.

(Briefly: At some point, probably in the 1960s—a decade rife with bad renovation decisions—someone decided to use 90,000,000,000 rivets and some sort of adhesive to permanently adhere storm windows to the outside of each section of the casements, making it impossible to maintain the glazing or repaint the windows. They likewise await terrible, and they do virtually zilch to increase the R-value of the windows because they only comprehend the glass and not where the frame and sash encounter, which is where cold air comes in. Also, did I mention they make it impossible to maintain the glazing? And that they were installed without any weep holes, so they trap wet every time it rains? I hate the storm windows, and at some signal I'm going to have to beginning experimenting with methods for removing the xc,000,000,000 rivets. But I digress.)

Nov 2019

Anyway, let'south hear it for the 1 WINDOW I take actually taken the fourth dimension to repaint on the inside!! Conveniently, it's in the kitchen, so it'south part of this whole series of kitchen renovation posts. In fact, the thing that propelled me to actually take the fourth dimension to paint the window was knowing that pristine white countertops were nigh to exist installed directly beneath information technology, and did I really desire to be using black oil pigment in such shut proximity to those countertops? No, I did not. Plus, doing it beforehand meant I could stand within of the sinkless/countertopless cabinets while I worked, which made the whole thing much easier.

The nearly notable immediate difference between working on a steel casement window and a wood sash window is that you tin can't really remove the old from the framing like you tin can with the latter. In other words, everything y'all do with it really needs to happen while it'south in place. Unless y'all're a pro similar Seekircher Steel Window, only then yous're operating on a whole other level and non merely a regular DIY person similar me. (By the mode, if you love steel windows as much as I do, follow Seekircher on Instagram. Their work is awe-inspiring.) So the weather needs to be uniform, and you need to exist prepared to get out the window open at least a little bit for a few days while stuff dries. Early on November was pretty much the latest I could get away with doing this.

After removing the window locks, I scraped any the lumpy, loose, or peeling paint from the steel, and dug out all of the sometime caulking from effectually the window frame. The previous paint chore was done really quickly and sloppily, with flat paint—probably at the same time the walls were painted to get the house ready for sale. Surprisingly, in that location seemed to but exist ane coat of pigment under that. I'm non certain if the windows were originally bare steel, because at that place was no paint at all nether the locks. That seems unlikely, but I really couldn't discover whatsoever evidence of the original paint colour.

Then it was sandpaper time! I used my trusty niggling Blackness + Decker Mouse sander, naturally. By the fashion, you're only going to buy i power sander, that's the one to get. I apply it ALL the time. You lot don't need to get the pricey Black + Decker brand sandpaper, either—you can purchase compatible sandpaper multipacks for a fraction of the toll, and they fit just fine. Now yous know!

After sanding, I got to work on the hardware. The crank mechanisms were a little tricky, considering removing them means having to likewise remove the operator, and the ankle bone's continued to the shin bone, the shin's os connected to the human knee bone, and then on. Unless you're prepared to really take the window apart (something you'd probably only want to do if you needed to repair or replace the operator itself), it'due south meliorate to just leave the crank mechanism in place. So I did what any pro would practice in this situation, and spent a couple of hours removing the paint with Q-tips and nail polish remover. Hey, whatsoever works.

Once the whole window had been thoroughly cleaned with TSP substitute and re-caulked around the perimeter, it was ready to pigment. This isn't a secret if you lot've been reading this blog for a long fourth dimension, merely I honey Rust-Oleum products (and no, they've never paid me to say that). I've been using them for years and years, and they've never done me wrong. I did a priming coat with their Clean Metal primer (they make a Rusty Metal primer, likewise, which is what I'll employ when I pigment the window exteriors) and let that dry for 24 hours with the windows slightly cracked open. The side by side day I did a coat of Rust-Oleum Protective Enamel in gloss black, let it dry out overnight, and then gave it a terminal coat on day three. And then: One coat of primer, ii coats of paint. 24 hours of drying time betwixt coats. Oil paint is time-consuming, yes, only information technology's the only matter I'd apply to pigment a steel window—especially ane with rust. Realistically, this paint job should final for many, many years, with just minimal touch-ups needed.

Nifty, right?? I'k really blown away past how much more than of import this window is now that information technology's black instead of white. Windows in Pueblo Revival houses typically don't have casing, so creating some definition by giving the window itself some dissimilarity makes a massive difference. I'm just in dear with the event, and I really want to paint the rest of the windows in the house black, as well—inside and out.

Next up, adding boosted cabinetry where the refrigerator used to be! In the hateful time, if y'all demand to get caught up on the kitchen plans and progress…

Kitchen recap:

✚ It'southward fourth dimension to encounter the kitchen!
✚ Kitchen planning!
✚ Kitchen cabinets: Prep + painting.
✚ Painting and stenciling the kitchen floor.
✚ Kitchen countertop demolition.

Source: https://doorsixteen.com/2020/04/13/painting-the-kitchens-steel-casement-window/

Posted by: coxthared.blogspot.com

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