It can be quite frustrating when you want to open a window and find that the window won’t budge. Windows can get stuck for a number of reasons: wood frames may have warped in wet weather, the house may have settled or someone may have painted the frames shut. With patience and a few handy techniques, most stuck windows can be opened.
1Examine the window. Look at both sides of the window, interior and exterior.
- Make sure it is a window that is meant to be opened. Some new office and home windows are not meant to be opened.
- Make sure that the window is not nailed or screwed shut for security or energy conservation reasons.
- Make sure any locks are disengaged.
- Look to see if the window frame has been recently painted.
- Decide which direction the window is supposed to open: up, outward or sideways.
2Stick a thin bladed putty knife between the window and its frame, beginning at one bottom corner, in as far as it will go. If you need to, lightly tap the blade in with a hammer.
3Continue inserting the putty knife along the frame, up both sides and across the bottom and top of the window. This will loosen it and hopefully remove any built up paint.
4Repeat this step on the other side of the window if possible.
5Put one hand on each corner, if it moves up or on the side if it slides sideways or on the bottom if it opens out and up. Try to open the window. Wear work gloves and safety goggles for this step.
6If the window is still stuck and it is supposed to move upward, stick a thin pry bar under the window at the bottom.
- Use a scrap of wood between the pry bar and the windowsill to avoid damaging the sill.
- Start at one corner and push downward on the pry bar, trying to lift the window just a bit. Then move to the opposite corner and the middle and do the same thing.
- If the window is moving up but is still not free moving, move it upwards in small steps, going from corner to middle to opposite corner so that one side does not move much farther up than the other. Use small pieces of wood or other props to keep the window from sliding downward.
- You may have to repeat these steps on the other side of the window.
7Use a pry bar on a window that slides sideways also. Work from corner to middle to corner in small increments as above. You will need to put pieces of wood between the pry bar and the window frame in increasing thickness to push against.
8Lightly tap the bottom of a window that moves outward and up with a hammer if it remains stuck after loosening any paint. Put a small piece of scrap wood against the window frame to avoid damaging the paint with the hammer.
9Spray the channel the frame moves in with spray lubricant or run a bar of soap or wax up and down the frame after you have opened the window.
10Open and close the window several times in a row to loosen it.Ad
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- A cooking spatula with a stiff metal blade can be used in place of a putty knife.
- Work slowly and carefully rather than applying a lot of force quickly.
- There is a special paint removal tool for windows called a window zipper, which you can buy in hardware stores. It may damage the paint on the nearby frame and windowsill.
- If you can’t get a pry bar between the window bottom and the frame put two small screws in the frame near the bottom of each corner, leaving the head of the screw sticking out a bit. Use these to put the pry bar under and pry up on. This can damage the frame a bit.
- If a house has settled a lot, or there has been damage from a storm or other disaster the window frame may be too warped to be able to open the window safely. The whole window may need to be removed and the frame repaired or replaced.
- Wear work gloves and safety goggles when trying to force open windows as the glass may break.
- Getting one corner of a window too much higher than the other when forcing open a window will probably result in cracking the window glass.
Things You’ll Need
- Thin blade putty knife
- Thin pry bar
- Wood scraps
- Work gloves
- Safety goggles
Categories: Doors and Windows
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