Try This Painless Approach To Cleaning Patterned Glass

DEAR MR. HANDYPERSON: I recently moved into an older home (1920) that has a number of very nice obscure glass windows in the kitchen, bath and stairwell. They are sort of a "starburst" pattern. Problem is, most of them have a lot of accumulated paint spots and streaks from previous painting jobs.

Removing paint from smooth window glass is a snap, I've found, using a little razor scraper. I'm stumped, however, about how to approach this very bumpy, patterned glass. Because of the age of the windows, I'm afraid to experiment for fear of messing something up and not being able to replace the charming old glass. I'm kind of stuck. Can you help me? - Barney, Santa Cruz, Calif.

DEAR BARNEY: The absolutely best way to clean the bumpy glass (as well as other kinds of obscure glass) is to remove the window, carefully remove the glazing compound (putty) and little metal glazing points, take the glass out of the frame, and coat it with a water-soluble paint remover.

When the paint has been sufficiently softened, scrub the glass down with water and a brush, pat it dry with a soft cloth and reinstall the glass in the frame with new glazing points and glazing compound.

If needed, you can easily paint the frame while the glass is out, without risking getting more paint on the newly cleaned glass. The exterior of the window should be painted a few days later when the soft glazing compound has "set."

Heat old putty

Be sure, when painting, that the paint covers the glazing compound completely, and overlap the edge of the paint onto the glass about an eighth of an inch, which will seal it from moisture.

A tip and a caution about using this approach: Old putty is often more easily removed if it can be heated with a heat gun or blow-dryer. The caution is that older glass becomes more brittle with time and requires extremely gentle handling through all steps of this process.

Mr. HandyPerson realizes that this approach is not necessarily appropriate for someone who has never removed or replaced window glass before, and could be a little intimidating.

However, there's another approach that can work nearly as well if done carefully. With the window in place, you can "paint on" some of the water-soluble paint remover over the spots and streaks of old paint, and when the paint has softened (the time varies with the brand of paint remover used), you can remove it with a wet scrub brush.

A messy process

Since this can be messy, keep plenty of dry, soft rags at hand, and cover the window sill with some plastic sheeting to keep the water and paint remover from ending up where you don't want them. It may be sensible to work in one small area at a time.

You can, if you're very patient and in no particular hurry, take a small ice pick or similar pointed instrument and very gently chip and gouge off the old paint. Depending on how exuberant those previous sloppy painters were, this can involve anywhere from a few minutes' meticulous work to a lifetime hobby.

Because of the problems of working with brittle old window glass, Mr. HandyPerson is very pleased to inform you that if you really mess up and break one of the panes, there is enough demand from historic preservationists for the old starburst obscure glass that it is still manufactured and available through most window and glass businesses. You can probably guess how he found out about it.

Mark Hetts' home repair column runs every other week in the Home/Real Estate section. Send questions and comments to: Mr. HandyPerson, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111.