Hi there everyone. I have run across a very hard window cleaning project. This old house has had storm windows on it for the last twenty years or so. The storm windows have cleaned up nicely and look great. The home is around 80 some odd years old and the windows are the iron weighted style with six panes per window sash. We have cleaned the windows after the painter painted over onto the glass by using a razor scraper. After that we cleaned the windows and found that a film of some kind still remained on the windows mostly on the outside side. This film is very hard but it can be scraped off with much pressure on a razor scraper. It takes so much pressure that it makes you think there has to be a better way to get the glass clean. The film when you scrape it off onto the razor blade looks to be a light brown in color. The windows have a marbled/hazy look to them until you clean a spot with the razor using super pressure.
We have used mineral sprites, acetone, vinegar, windex, and a few other cleaners but nothing is working.
I hope I have described the problem I am having with the window good enough so that some of you and tell me something that will help.
Thanks
Susan
Are the stains on the lower panes only? Are the screens aluminum? Good chance if they are it’s screen burn. If you have experience cc550 is the chemical to use, if not I would suggest spray way foam cleaner and 0000 steel wool.
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Hi Steven
Thank you for your reply so quickly. I don’t think this is what has happened to these as the top and bottom windows both have the same problem. I looked back through like 40 pages of post last night night looking for some previous that would help me in this problem but I didn’t find anything that I though would help. Maybe this is just water stain from decades of not being cleaned. I just don’t know what I should try but I do feel comfortable with using most any chemicals as I do maintenance work of all kinds all the time.
If it is light brown colored and kind of brittle when you scrape it off, it might be shellac or varnish on the windows. If you think this is what it is, try a paste paint remover in the center of the glass. If it removes it there, then protect all the painted surfaces and treat the glass with the paint remover. It will not be a quick job and there is a good possibility that some of the paint will be softened on the window frames. Charge accordingly.
Hi Bob
Well I don’t think that is the case but if it is looks like the acetone or the mineral sprits would have softened it a little but it didn’t. But I will try some paint remover just to see. I did try a SOS pad and water and with some rubbing it did remove the film.
Susan
