Repairing rusty Crittall windows

[Jim K..]

special strokes?

[Jim K..]

Beads. :-)

[nothanks]

I've got several of these to do and am planning to tackle it in the same way I used to tackle car bodywork in the 70s: grind out the rust, paint with some sort of anti-rust primer, fill with polyester body filler, sand, prime and top coat. Is there anyone here who has renovated Crittall windows and has any advice (other than replace them)? ...or any car body experts who can suggest primers, fillers and rust eaters?

[Michael Chare]

I have found that I can buy plastic window frames with double glazed glass made to order to the size I specify. I plan to replace my Crital frames and wood surrounds. The frames are 7cm thick and have to be glazed from the inside.

[alan_m]

Are not all double glazed windows glazed from the inside? Otherwise the glazing bars can easily prized out and the DG unit removed by your local burglar.

[Andy Burns]

Most are now.

That's why they generally stopped external glazing bars.

[Brian Gaff]

Well, my older windows are glazed from the outside but getting the trim off and actually removing the glazing is not easy without a special tool, and I've had no issues, but modern plastic ones are all glazed from inside I notice.

Brian

[Steve Walker]

For a while they fitted the external ones with an adhesive security tape behind them. Presumably that made them harder to remove, but not impossible - on the usual principle of "they'll go somewhere else if its a bit more difficult/noiser than average, etc."

SteveW

[Chris Bartram]

[nothanks]

Thanks. They're new to me and look very interesting.

[nothanks]

Unfortunately plastic does not look the same, nor does stick-on leading look the same as real leading. Also, it would be ruinously expensive to replace the large number of casements in this house.

[Nick Odell]

Not all.....

A school caretaker of my acquaintance became exceedingly grateful one night that the school office windows had been glazed the "wrong" way round when he accidentally locked himself out and couldn't even leave the electronically secured playground without the stuff he'd left inside.

Nick

[John Rumm]

Don't know if it applies to yours (the level of rust may suggest not) but many I see are galvanised steel - hence finding an appropriate primer that will bond properly is harder.

[tabbypurr]

According to tests on youtube, vinegar is the most effective rust remover.

NT

[Andrew]

Though not as ruinously expensive as replacing with new Crittall windows, though the new ones will at least be double glazed with thermal breaks and will still have fairly slim profiles.

[Andrew]

They are galvanised and do last a long time but if they have been badly painted by a cack-handed person who has damaged the zinc coating, then rust soon gets in.

[Tim Watts]

No.

Mine are glazed from the outside, but you have to remove the inner rubber bead which allows the panel to move inwards 1/8" inch which then allows the outside trim to be removed. It's quite clever.

[Tim+]

That?s pretty much the norm for all replacement UPVC windows!

Not much help if the OP wants to keep the original look.

Tim

[nothanks]

True, but I have about 80 casements! Most are OK. Some have "a bit of rust". A few look OK but the glazing is being pushed away from the casement, so there must be rust. A few are badly rusted and need either filler or welding. To adapt a well known saying: buy a house in haste and repent at leisure.

[nothanks]

These are late 30s "arts and crafts", which is before they started galvanising.