Window Restoration

Gibson St shed · two lead-painted salvage sash · bench restoration, reglazing and repainting plan · September 2026

Condition shown in the August photographs

Products and supplies

Links favor manufacturer pages and technical documentation; buy locally where practical. Quantities assume two approximately 34 × 20-inch, two-light sash plus one practice sash. Confirm labels and current SDS documents at purchase.

1. Build the lead-safe work area

Use a roofed, dry, wind-sheltered outdoor workspace—not the house and not bare soil. Make a continuous 6-mil-poly floor with turned-up edges so chips and liquid cannot reach the ground. Put the bench on that liner and create a separate clean area for putting on and removing PPE.

• Keep children, pets and pregnant people completely away from work and storage.
• Wear the fitted respirator, goggles, chemical gloves and coveralls whenever paint or putty is disturbed.
• Keep food, drinks, phones and clean tools outside containment.
• Stop if wind can move chips or if rain can enter containment.
• Bag debris and wet-wipe tools at the end of every session; HEPA-vacuum only dry residue.

Basis: EPA homeowner lead precautions and the March 2026 Steps to Lead-Safe Renovation, Repair and Painting.

2. Record and triage before disassembly

1. Photograph both faces, all four edges, every pane and every corner.
2. Mark each sash, its exterior face and its intended top. Use a wax pencil near the center of each pane to map it back to its opening; do not tape flaking paint.
3. Measure width at top/middle/bottom, height at left/center/right and both diagonals. Preserve the maximum measurements for final RO sizing.
4. With a small awl, probe the bottom rail, the bottom ends of both stiles and every open joint. Sound wood resists; deeply soft, stringy or crumbly wood is decay.
5. Press diagonally and at each corner. Record which joints move independently.

3. Remove glazing and glass

Lay the sash glazing side upward. Mist debris lightly enough to control dust without soaking the joinery.

1. Use the narrow knife/chisel to remove loose putty in very small bites, directing force along the rabbet and away from the pane.
2. Expose and remove every glazing point. Do not lever the tool against glass.
3. Cut or loosen the bedding putty from the reverse side where accessible.
4. Support the whole pane and lift without twisting. If it will not release, keep cutting bedding rather than increasing prying force.
5. Store glass upright in padded, labeled cardboard sleeves away from the workbench.

Some controlled mechanical removal is unavoidable. Hardened putty is not reliably dissolved by paint stripper. The safe distinction is small, damp hand work over containment, not zero tool contact.

Traditional sequence and details: National Park Service, Preservation Brief 9: The Repair of Historic Wooden Windows.

4. Chemically strip the bare sash

1. Remove the glass first so stripper cannot seep behind panes and so the glazing rabbets can be cleaned.
2. Run a small compatibility/dwell-time test on a concealed edge. Dumond specifically requires testing.
3. Apply Smart Strip Advanced at its technical-data-sheet thickness; cover with Dumond paper so it stays wet.
4. After the test-established dwell time, lift paper while scraping softened coating directly into a lined container.
5. Use nylon or brass—not power-driven—brushes for profiles. Reapply stripper rather than forcing stubborn paint.
6. Remove residue and neutralize/rinse only as the current Dumond instructions require. Avoid flooding the mortise-and-tenon joints.
7. Let the wood dry fully before judging it, gluing it or applying coatings.

5. Repair and square the wood

The visible open corner is a joinery repair, not a cosmetic-filler job. Once bare and dry, determine whether the tenon remains intact.

• Sound joint that closes tightly: clean mating wood, apply Titebond III, clamp the sash square and verify equal diagonals before cure.
• Intact but gap-producing joint: do not bridge the gap with ordinary glue. Fit a wood spline/pin or select a gap-tolerant structural repair appropriate to the revealed geometry.
• Localized soft fibers: remove only unsound material, consolidate remaining porous wood with LiquidWood and rebuild small losses with WoodEpox according to Abatron’s instructions.
• Broken tenon or extensive bottom-rail decay: splice in matching wood or make a replacement rail. Epoxy alone should not impersonate missing joinery across a moving corner.

Dry-fit every labeled pane after repair. It must sit in its rabbet without binding. Do not reglaze until the frame is rigid, square and fully cured.

6. Prime before glazing

1. Remove only raised fibers with damp hand abrasion; avoid broad sanding. HEPA-vacuum dry residue and wet-wipe.
2. Allow the wood to become fully dry.
3. Brush Zinsser Cover-Stain onto both faces, all four edges, end grain and every glazing rabbet.
4. Let primer cure per its label. Do not put linseed-oil putty directly against thirsty bare wood.

Sarco’s glazing FAQ says to prime sash before puttying and prefers oil-based primer. It also says not to prime over the finished putty.

7. Bed, point and face-glaze each pane

1. Knead Type M until workable and press a thin, continuous bedding layer into the rabbet.
2. Set the correct pane and press around its perimeter—not its center—until evenly seated with continuous squeeze-out.
3. Insert Fletcher points flat into the wood while shielding the glass. Begin with the original pattern; add only enough to prevent movement. Never drive a point toward the pane.
4. Remove interior squeeze-out cleanly.
5. Pack and tool the exterior face putty into a continuous bevel that covers every point, bonds to the glass and slopes outward.
6. From the reverse face, confirm the back edge of the bevel is hidden behind the wooden sightline.

Old glass can break despite careful work. Do not force a pane that became tight after the frame was squared.

8. Skin and paint

Keep the freshly glazed sash indoors in a clean, ventilated, temperature-stable work area while Type M skins. Do not use a calendar alone: the putty must resist a light touch without marking. Sarco describes Type M as a shop product that may become paintable from several days to roughly two weeks depending on conditions; its FAQ advises at least 14 days and painting within one month of skin formation. Use the current container instructions if they differ.

1. Do not apply primer over Sarco putty.
2. Apply two coats of Aura Exterior to the sash and cured putty, following recoat conditions on its label.
3. Carry the finish paint approximately 1⁄16 inch onto the glass to seal the glass-to-putty edge.
4. Coat all exposed faces and edges, but preserve the intentional bottom drainage path during final fixed-sash installation.

9. Cleanup and disposal

1. Collect wet sludge, putty, chips, paper, disposable PPE and wipes directly into heavy bags or sealed compatible containers.
2. Clean from high to low. HEPA-vacuum dry surfaces, then wet-wipe with separate wash and rinse supplies until no visible residue remains.
3. Fold containment inward so contamination stays inside. Bag it before leaving the work zone.
4. Wash hands, face and exposed skin immediately. Launder dedicated clothing separately; never shake it out.
5. Do not pour stripper, wash water or sludge onto soil or into a drain.

Georgia treats residential lead-paint chips, dust and sludge as household waste but requires disposal in a permitted lined municipal-solid-waste landfill rather than a construction-and-demolition landfill. Confirm acceptance before arrival. Atlanta directs residents to appointment-only CHaRM facilities for household hazardous waste.

Georgia EPD lead-waste FAQ · City of Atlanta household-hazardous-waste guidance · Atlanta 311 CHaRM locations and appointment instructions

Session checklist

• Weather dry and wind controlled
• Containment intact with no exposed soil
• Children, pets and bystanders excluded
• Respirator seal checked; cartridges in service life
• Goggles, chemical gloves and coveralls on
• Wet-debris container open and within reach
• Glass rack padded, labeled and outside impact zone
• End-of-session HEPA and wet cleanup completed
• Waste sealed and stored away from living space

Primary references

• U.S. EPA — Steps to Lead-Safe Renovation, Repair and Painting (2026)
• U.S. EPA — DIY homeowner precautions
• National Park Service — Preservation Brief 9
• Dumond — Smart Strip Advanced, TDS and SDS
• Sarco — glazing-compound product guidance