Hoping for some help from you pros to track down a pair of old-style harness clips for our painter. We’re restoring an urban brownstone built in the late 1800’s that has its original exterior latch-on window bolts (still secure), the type with domed, mushroom-like heads on a short, narrow stalk. I’m desperate to find the right type of safety clips so our painter can latch his harnesses to these bolts to access the double hung wood windows’ exterior – most of which are painted shut, yikes!
Can anyone help by offering me some, or suggesting where to find these clips? It’s especially hard because I don’t know what they’re called. We do not want our painter to free-style it or have to tie off on non-renovated higher surfaces. I have looked and asked all over, and was finally told by a neighborhood window-cleaning service that the right clips look like a curved 3 or so-inch long open rectangle…but are not made any more. For obvious reasons, that service wasn’t willing to lend us their harnesses, but this is a multi-week painting job, anyway.
Last week, we did find a guy who claims to hand-make the clips, but at a crazy high price. I would be grateful for any leads, and would be happy to pay a premium for a pair.
Thanks in advance to all of you who make our homes clean and brighter, and best wishes.
Wow! Thank you, I am so grateful for the lightening-fast reply to my post. I am brand new here – where might I find Dave Gutierrez? And, yes, I am right with you there: the painter’s safety is my paramount concern. He’s very willing to go outside to do the tedious work of freeing the top sashes, scraping and then repainting them, but I won’t permit it until he is properly supported.
Thanks for letting me know about Dave. With best wishes,
Has the interior already been painted? If it hasn’t have him take the windows out and prep and paint them from the inside. Plus he can fix any broken sash cords and you will have functioning windows. It’s much safer and in the end you can get a much better result. If it were my house, I would take each window out from the inside. Strip it down close to bare, replace the parting beads, get some of the copper weather stripping for the sides, use chain instead of rope for the sash cord. Replace or strip and refit the sash locks. These windows are built to be taken apart and repaired, and it’s generally not very difficult. I have replaced hundreds of sash cords over the years and it’s really very simple to get the window out, generally.
Sorry to be a bit slow on the uptake, but as a brand-newbie, after I replied to you I noticed the “@Dangerous” that begins your message. Is that the handle for Dave G?
So nice to hear from you. I didn’t want to write a novel to explain this, however, here we go.
Your kind and very logical suggestion unfortunately won’t work. In addition to the geniuses who painted the top sashes shut (and in the process, ruined their soft plastic+brush insulation strips), we’ve inherited other serious problems on this project that negatively affect the double-hung wood windows.
Most notably, the attractive, deep multi-layer interior wood moulding surrounding and adjacent to the window jambs terminates in an integral inner-most coved strip, positioned overlapping the outer 1/4" of the windows’ bottom sashes (and each opening’s entire perimeter). This tragically-conceived detail acts as a paralyzing stop, making it impossible to manipulate or remove any part of the windows without first destroying thousands of dollars of millwork. Somebody really wasn’t thinking.
For further heartbreak, these glorious custom-made mahogany replacement architectural windows mimic the old originals, but cleverly, can be unclipped and tilted in and out, for easy cleaning…that is, under circumstances other than this one (sigh). You’ll understand why, in frustration, we refer to the last renovation crew as the “F-Team” (in both the grade, and the “f’d it up” sense of the term).
Thank you for that heads-up. What a helpful and friendly crowd I’m spending my evening with! Perhaps I can look for a private email for Dave G. Does anyone know where he’s based, or the name of his business?
He’s a real veteran of the biz; I’m pretty sure he did belt work on the high-rises years ago. He might have an idea of where to find a pair of belt clips.
You are a doll to follow up. I had a hunch: bcs one of his old msgs mentioned Seattle, I Googled him in that area, found his corporate e/m address and wrote to him last night. Let’s hope he has some leads in mind for me.
I’m so happy to find this supportive community. Thanks again for the help.
Best,
Amy
Amy S. Langer
410 East 85th Street New York, NY 10028
Cell/text (917) 862-2364
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.From: Alex LaceySent: Monday, November 7, 2016 6:32 AMTo: [email protected]Reply To: Window Cleaning ResourceSubject: [Window Cleaning Resource] [Residential] Old-Style Window Bolt Harness Clips - Where to Find?
He's a real veteran of the biz; I'm pretty sure he did belt work on the high-rises years ago. He might have an idea of where to find a pair of belt clips.
Wow! Thank you, I am so grateful for the lightening-fast reply to my post. I am brand new here – where might I find Dave Gutierrez? And, yes, I am right with you there: the painter’s safety is my paramount concern. He’s very willing to go outside to do the tedious work of freeing the …
Amy
. This is Dave’s company website: 
. This is Dave's company website: 
