My Voyage into the World of rustic (?) Window Renos

Introduction:

While we wait for the workroom to air out to assess further work there fully, we have continued our ongoing renovation journey. We tackle another window located on the house this time. Even though I have torn down the window and framing in the workroom, there are still a few unknowns for me as I have never worked with a window like this, and I don't have a reference to the era-style window construction. Each window on the house seemed to have differences, making it hard to determine what the original design would look like and what additions were made. This makes it more complicated as we want to maintain the museum preservation of the windows.

One way to quickly figure out what the ideal window is supposed to look like is to visit the old towns nearby to check out what the windows look like from other buildings. Unfortunately, this would prove futile as the windows in the old city would have either been modernized to help prevent water damage or designed differently.

Example of an external window from a museum house in the old city

Example of an external window from a commercial building in the old city

Finally, we figured another way was to ask stores that sold window restoration tools for advice on window restorations. This did help somewhat, but it seemed that each store's procedure on restoration strongly differed, and cross-checking on the web also compounded the complexity.

Luckily, one of the products we would use for the restoration had some instructions on its website, https://linoljeprodukter.se/video/#, that we could follow. Additionally, a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-bUMg8xUjA) provided detailed instructions on redoing the windowing. Unfortunately, we found this after starting the window work. Now, we will move on to window removal and checking the inside structure for leaks.

Assessing the Situation:

We started by conducting a visual inspection of the window. At first glance, we wondered why they used a glove to insulate/patch one side of the window frame and a piece of metal on the other. Something was not right inside the structure.

Beyond the gloves, there was also a noticeable gap in the frame. This kind of gap would easily let in water, which would cause the wood to rot and possibly mould growth inside. Also, cold air during winter could make its way into the house, making the room less energy-efficient and uncomfortable. We knew that simply patching it up wouldn't be enough—we had to figure out what was causing the problem in the first place.

We decided the best approach was to remove the window frame entirely and figure out what was happening in the back. This would allow us to check the condition of the surrounding materials and ensure everything was properly insulated. Also, two experts who inspected the house before we bought it strongly recommended looking into the windows to see what's happening and restoring the windows, frame and sill.

Getting to Work:

Our first task was to carefully take the window apart, being mindful of the age of the materials. Given that this house was built in the 1800s, we expected to find some interesting construction methods—though gloves weren't exactly what we had in mind.

Once the frame was off, we noticed that rodents or other animals had entered the window sill and eaten some insulation material. In addition, they made nests in the wall as there were skeletal remains. We put on masks and gloves (irony, I know) to remove the nesting material underneath the window frame.

Bottom left window frame showing the metal sheet blocking the hole and parts of the rodent/animal nest.

Bottom right window frame showing the glove removed from the gap revealing parts of the rodent/animal nest.

Since time was short for my time in the countryside, we just focused on dealing with the windows and their immediate frames to hold the glass into the frame. We will address rebuilding the entire frame and wall structure next summer, and now we understand the needed materials.

We proceeded to remove the side frames and the windows. Once that was done, we sealed the exterior window with a plastic sheet lining in case of rain in the next few days.

Paint Removal and Inspection:

The next order of business was removing all the paint on the windows to see how much damage had been done to the wood. Given that we are unsure how old or when the wood was replaced, we just err cautiously and remove all the paint.

One of the windows with the paint removed for inspection of the wood condition

The condition of the first window seemed OK, but the second window clearly showed some rework was done on the corner. Seeing how the window was repaired gave me some indicators of how to proceed in the future and how I would restore the windows.

Inspection of the second window revealing repairs made from the previous owners

One thought would be to source era windows off the used marketplace, look for houses being demoed, and salvage wood from there. Then, I could re-use that era piece of timber to rebuild the entire window length. I would consider this when I have time to revisit this window.

Now, the tricky part:

From this point onward, the window restoration was new to me. I have done paint removal and sanding on wood in the past. Finishing with paint was also something I have experience with. However, with these old windows, I had never done glazing before, so this was a bit of an uncharted territory. Back in DevOps land, I am used to jumping into the deep end of the oceans and figuring it out, so I might do the same here.

We started by sealing the wood with linseed oil to stick to a purely organic and non-toxic chemical for the wood finishes. We also wanted to be mindful of protecting the various animals and plants on the property from toxic substances.

Application of the linseed oil on the stripped window frame to help protect it from the elements

After binge-watching many YouTube videos, which we found the one listed above to be perfect, and the Allbäck website, we tackled prepping the rabbet with shellac and placing the glazing putty in the rabbet. Little did I know that only a tiny amount of putty was needed, which resulted in us scraping back a large chunk of putty. (well, there is that jumping into the deep end of things ;) ). Additionally, once the window was placed, we had to put cardboard on the window to protect the glass as we hammered in the glazing points to secure the window holding. The hammering of the window clearly showed how much my hand and eye coordination is now almost non-existent since I became more trapped as a keyboard jockey. I gave up this task and let the wifey handle it.

With the glazing putty and window inserted, we are now driving in the glazing points to help hold the glass in the frame.

One issue we must address when working on future projects is a better workbench to clamp down the work so that when we hammer or sand, the piece doesn't move all over. This will be addressed in a future post.

Onto the window's internal frames:

Another issue during the home inspection was that the internal window frames needed the wood inserts between the two windows to be fixed and weather stripping applied. The previous wood inserts were too small and had splits.

Before photo of the internal window frame with the old wood inserts.

With some MacGyvering together a worktable with clamps, we made rather fine-looking wood inserts and swapped them in.

After photo of the internal window frame with the old wood inserts.

We completed the inserts with the other side, but sadly, we didn't take a picture. But the overall halfway looks like the following, with the right side completely done.

Full view of the window from interior. The left side was the original and the right side is the new side coming together.

My goof (aka lessons learned):

Throughout the build, I was balancing multiple projects in one go and working full-time at my IT job. So, this caused a significant time constraint, and I wasn't capturing the reno process as much as possible. I was also making mistakes.

One mistake was applying too much putty, which contained a lot of linseed oil, which made a mess on the glass and required cleaning. The other issue was not trimming the excess putty, which left a blob look on the window. Given this was my first attempt… mistakes were made, and lessons were learned (MWMLWL), but going forward, I now know the process and will document this better.

The other mistake was making the internal window "inserts" without having the external windows ready for fitting. I shaved too much wood off one side and not enough on the other. This made the window fit too tight, resulting in the window not closing. This process will have to be repeated.

What's Next for the Window Renos

Given the work that needs to be done on other parts of the house, this will have to wait until next summer when we have more pleasant weather and not dealing with the rainy season and cold. We know the process now and have tools to help speed up some parts. We will also have to address the issue with the insulation surrounding the window, as the winter temperatures can drop to -20C.

Conclusion:

So, after all the window chaos, I've learned that window restoration is not just a simple weekend DIY project—at least not when gloves and skeletal remains are involved. This project has been complete of lessons, from fixing those bizarre "insulation" choices to realizing that glazing putty is an unforgiving adversary.

While the windows are now in better shape, there's still much to tackle next summer when the weather is more cooperative. The internal frames, the gaps, and the insulation around the windows will all need another round of attention. But at least we know what we're up against now. And with a few more YouTube videos, less putty, and a sturdier workbench, we might just get these windows open and close by the end.

Until next time, here's hoping for fewer surprises and more functional windows!