The main wooden window in my bedroom has been painted shut since we moved in, and since it’s actually getting nice outside, I finally decided to force the thing open today. I watched a quick video where a guy just slips a putty knife under the sash, taps it with a hammer, and the whole thing magically slides right up. Yeah, that definitely did not happen for me. I spent two hours swearing at a piece of glass and I’m pretty sure the draft is even worse now.
The layers of old white paint on the outside frame were basically like solid glue. I was tapping the pry bar along the seam and the wood started splintering into these tiny, sharp shards that got all over the sill. Then I pushed a little too hard on the bottom corner and made this awful creaking sound, and for a second, I thought the entire glass pane was about to shatter right into my face. I literally froze in place for two minutes just waiting for it to drop.
When I finally broke the paint seal and yanked upward with everything I had, the window flew up about three inches and then jammed completely sideways in the tracks. Turns out the old counterweight rope inside the wall cavity must have snapped years ago, so now there’s nothing holding the heavy wooden frame up. Every time you let go of it, the window just slams right back down into the frame like a guillotine.
I ended up having to hunt down an old piece of a 2 by 4 stud in the garage and jam it directly under the sash just to prop the window open so some air could actually get into the room. It looks incredibly redneck and stupid from the street with a random chunk of scrap wood holding my window up, but it’s supposed to be hot all weekend anyway so I guess the block is staying right there for now.