BleepingComputer.com: Woodworking, Carpentry, General Home Repairs

Happy 4th to you Dave, hope you're enjoying the fireworks with the grandkids as I am.

Problem: a window screen that faces east and has a layer of latex paint on the frame is sticking. When I finally have gotten it out in the past, there's paint on the metal screen frame. I've had several opinions from the hardware store guys, everything from coating the screen frame with a layer of bees way type lubricant to putting some aluminum foil around the metal edging to scraping the paint off the inside of the window frame and leaving the wood bare in there. What would you suggest as a more-or-less permanent solution?

Thanks,

Joe

Hey Joe,

Thanks, had a great time being a kid again last night.

The advice you have gotten all sound reasonable and based on common sense and in theory should work to some degree. The repair, I guess depends alot on you, your skill level and just how well you want it fixed.

If it were me, and if the window was fairly accessible, I would probably scrape or strip the paint off the window frame and screen to allow for the screen frame to come out easily and then repaint.

Another option may be to have a new screen made that is an eighth of an inch to a quarter inch or so smaller than the existing screen or screen opening.

The same thing that makes today's latex paints such outstanding performers is the very thing that makes them terrible for your application. Most of the latex paint these days have a very high acrylic polymer content, that is great for expanding and contracting and not cracking, but they go on thick ( relatively speaking ), never seem to get real dry and will stick to itself.

If you go the repaint route, you can thin the paint, contrary to what it may say on the can, with a paint additive like Flotrol or just good old distilled water. I like distilled water. Get a one quart measuring container from the paint department. Put about 6 oz. of paint in it and add about an oz. of the water, maybe two. What you are looking for is to cut the consistency of the paint in half or more. The paint should not be thick,gooey,stringy or honey like. Here is a trick to give you consistent results regardless of the quantity mixed. After mixing the water into the paint,remove your stir stick from the paint, holding the stick over the paint at a slight angle and after the stream of paint stops coming off the stick, the first 3, 4, 0r five drops there should be about a second apart. Adjust as required.

You may have to give it two coats for the build up that you want. The paint will still give good protection and should not have that sticky feel to it.

Good luck, enjoy the day

The window is in a bedroom so access is easy from inside the house. I'll try removing the paint and repainting with thinned paint; I had to have a new frame & screen built in the spring to the tune of $40 when I bent the old one getting it out, don't want to spend that again. Plus, other windows in the house have the same problem, so I'll set aside some time to do them all.

Thanks Dave, I appreciate your knowledge.