Need advice for masking windows

[Jerry Bruette]

I'm getting ready to stain and varnish my new windows.

I want to take the sashes out and do them laying down.

Problem I'm having is how to mask the panes so I don't get any stain or varnish on the glass.

Thought about Frog Tape but it gives me a headache thinking of all the tape to put on perfectly.

I'm using a gel stain and waterborne varnish.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[George Bokros]

Be careful and scrape off any you get on the glass.

[Tom M King]

When I have a bunch to do, I cobble together an easel with two sides. One side holds the sash low enough so the highest muntins are a comfortable height, and the other side holds it higher to catch the others at a comfortable height. No bending over, and reaching across. A quick turn of the sash makes it so every one is painted horizontally. You get good at it pretty quickly, and I would trim off any misses, rather than take the excruciating amount of time it would take to mask them.

I wouldn't use a gel stain, but one that would work with a thin sash brush.

I have a helper to turn the sash, so I don't have to put the brush down, and it goes pretty quickly.

[Dan Bundy]

On This Old House the painter showed a liquid product that went on kind of like roll-on deodorant. It tried to a film. After painting was done, the film scraped up very easily, almost like pulling off painter's tape. Sorry I don't recall what the name of the product was.

[Jerry Bruette]

On This Old House the painter showed a liquid product that went on kind of like roll-on deodorant. It tried to a film. After painting was done, the film scraped up very easily, almost like pulling off painter's tape. Sorry I don't recall what the name of the product was.

I used a similar product when we built the house back in 1988. I think it may have been made by Wagner.

[Jerry Bruette]

When I have a bunch to do, I cobble together an easel with two sides. One side holds the sash low enough so the highest muntins are a comfortable height, and the other side holds it higher to catch the others at a comfortable height. No bending over, and reaching across. A quick turn of the sash makes it so every one is painted horizontally. You get good at it pretty quickly, and I would trim off any misses, rather than take the excruciating amount of time it would take to mask them.

I wouldn't use a gel stain, but one that would work with a thin sash brush.





I have a helper to turn the sash, so I don't have to put the brush down, and it goes pretty quickly.

I saw your easels when I did a search for "windows" hoping for some masking ideas. In don''t have any muntins to do just the sashes on casements and the jambs.

I'm using gel stain because it's what the manufacturer recommends. I'm guessing they recommend gel stain because the windows are fiberglass with a stainable finish.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Here's the stuff that the painter on This Old House and Ask This Old House used on one of the programs. I bought some and plan on using it this summer. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SHZWX6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Tom M King]

I looked at that masking liquid. It serves as a primer on porous surfaces, but wouldn't trust it on Jerry's fiberglass windows. I'm not sure how much I would trust it on wood, since it can be peeled off of slick surfaces.

I can see why they would call for a gel stain on fiberglass.

It's not that hard to cut in with a brush. I don't dip the end of the brush in, but pick up by touching one side of the brush to the surface of the finish/paint. Don't wipe the brush on the side of the container (I never understood that for anything). You do have to get a feel for how much is the right amount, but it's not That Hard of a skill to learn.

If you get too much on any spot, just trim it off after it sets. I find a super sharp chisel easier to do this with than a single edge razor blade. For me, a thin 2-1/2" sash brush is the right size, but larger may be better for large panes of glass.

[Jon Nuckles]

The remodeling contractor we hired used the masking liquid to do our windows. The painter was not as good/careful as I would have liked, and he masked some of the areas that should have received paint. It would have been easy for me to scrape a bit of paint off the glass. It is more work to paint the areas he mistakenly masked off. I'd paint carefully and clean up after.

[Tom M King]

Jon, That's exactly what I expected to happen. If you need that stuff, you don't need to be painting windows, and doors.

[Charles Wiggins]

I used to spend a lot of time masking. The last couple of windows I have done I just painted, then scraped the glass with a sharp razor blade. I can scrape a lot faster than I can tape accurately.

[Tom M King]

It's faster, and easier still to use a sharp chisel, than a razor blade, and especially if you can get the chisel way sharper than a single edged razor blade. Easier on fingers holding the tool too. I keep an old Stanley chisel just for the purpose. The steel is nothing fancy, designed to last a long time cutting wood like some of the more expensive modern chisels, but you can get it Really sharp quickly.

[Ron Citerone]

I would use a quality 1 1/2” angled brush, no tape, work carefully top to bottom and left to right. Assuming yo r right handed. Then clean off the problems with razor or sharp chisel.
my 2 pennies.

Ron

[Charles Wiggins]

It's faster, and easier still to use a sharp chisel, than a razor blade, and especially if you can get the chisel way sharper than a single edged razor blade. Easier on fingers holding the tool too. I keep an old Stanley chisel just for the purpose. The steel is nothing fancy, designed to last a long time cutting wood like some of the more expensive modern chisels, but you can get it Really sharp quickly.

https://smile.amazon.com/Stanley-28-100-Visibility-Mini-Razor-Scraper/dp/B0006JJS30/
412630

[Tom M King]

I have all sorts of those things. I still prefer a chisel. This picture is trimming bedding caulking.

[Tom M King]

But there is still a place for the single edged razor blade. That bedding caulking in the previous picture being separated from the glass, was first cut with a razor blade because it's thin. If the bedding caulking is only cut with the chisel, as in that picture, it can be pulled out from where you want it to stay. The razor separates the part you want to get rid of. The sharp chisel cleans the glass while parting the bedding caulking. The chisel will work, but being so much sharper than the razor blade, it's too easy to scalp wood from the sash.

I use cheap latex caulking for bedding. It is easy to get excess off like this, but still makes a decent enough gasket so that the paint on the inside of single glazed sash can bond to the glass without having a dip between the glass, and sash, to hold water. Interior surfaces of sash, or glass doors, with single pane glass need to be coated with an exterior coating. They will need to shed water at some point.

The sash in these pictures is from 1850.

http://historic-house-restoration.com/sitebuilder/images/razorbladetrim-1049x797.jpg