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Today was the day to work on the front windows. I stripped the woodwork a while ago but never took the windows apart. Hmmm…I took the moldings off and got one of the windows out and I can see there is a bit more stripping to do. I’ll need new rope, also, for the pulleys that work the windows.

I can’t get the top window out because the parting bead is glued shut with paint on the outside. So, after this little break I’m taking here, I’ll be going outside with a razor blade and try and free it so I can get the windows out and shellac the part that shows on the inside.

This project is going to have to go in stages as I need to put everything back up, including the curtains, every day when I’m done. First I’ll do the two left windows, then I’ll work on the right windows. I’ll do the bigger middle window third because it doesn’t have to be taken apart and rope added. The middle one isn’t a double-hung window. After the windows, I’ll finish the woodwork around it.

It will be nice to be able to open these windows. The ropes are intact but not looking in very good condition. I may as well replace them. They’ve been glued shut since we bought the house and probably decades before that. There are storm windows on the outside but no screens. To open the windows, I’ll need to make some screens. That really isn’t that hard but it takes time.

It’s been awhile since I started a new project. Now that I’ve made a mess, I’ll have to finish it (or live with the mess which gets easier to do as the years go by.)

I planned on working on the front window’s woodwork this week and finally get that done. I have it stripped but it needs a thorough scrub down with denatured alcohol before I sand it. I just can’t put shellac on it now because it just will stay sticky in this high humidity and heat. Yesterday it was almost 90% humidity and hot. This is the worst I have seen since moving from the west coast. I don’t mind a day or two but it has lasted so many days now!

I bought some peaches at a fruit stand last Sunday when we took an antiquing trip to Westfield, NY. The biggest treasure I found that day was the peaches. They are so delicious. I put them on the counter because a few weren’t totally ripe yet and this morning I looked them over and discovered mold. Dog gone humidity! I put them in the refrigerator to save the rest.

Our cats’ litter box is in the basement. We have a little kitty door cut into door leading to the basement and that keeps any smell down there. But this humidity has caused the clumping kitty litter to not do its job. Everything is moist.

There is a good part about this humidity, though. I often don’t get back to the clothes dryer in time to prevent wrinkles. When it is humid like this, you just hang up the wrinkled clothes and they automatically, quite magically, unwrinkle.

We have air conditioning up stairs but nothing but fans downstairs. So these days when the heat index is very high, we pretty much live up here.

*Regarding my post about splintered floors I posted earlier in the year.

I’ve tried many methods to fix the splintered floor. One is working pretty good but the fix doesn’t match color-wise. I took raw, hard shellac buttons and cracked them up and placed them over the deep slivered area. I took the paint-stripper heat gun and ran it back and forth across the area until the shellac melted and quickly ran a metal putty knife over it to smooth it and then ran the heat over it again to level it, then sanded it smooth. I’m talking dry shellac that is not dissolved in alcohol (don’t want a fire.) That heat gun gets extremely hot and can burn the wood. Anyway, it would work great on a knot hole but is too much work if you are doing the whole floor. I tried just a hair blow dryer and it will soften the shellac flake and/or button to a soft enough stage to push it down over a knot hole or void using a metal putty knife. They make shellac sticks you can melt with a flame but they have wax in them which would keep it from taking a finish afterwards. So my method does work but getting the color right is another story. Even the blonde shellac showed up darker when that big a hunk is used. However, antique wood looks good with variances but to do a whole floor…too much work!  (If you try this, be very careful of those heat guns.  Heat can build in between the cracks of the floorboards and if it is very dry could smolder and start a fire.  I spray water in the cracks several minutes before I use the heat gun as a precaution.)

So it isn’t much better than using a normal wood filler and sanding it down. The good thing about the above method is I’m sure the repair will never pop up like wood filler will. Shellac really bonds. I’ve one more idea I’m working on. If that doesn’t work, well, it’s time to bring in the big machine and just sand it all down to good wood. I’d hate to do that if I don’t have to. I’m crossing my fingers as I want the least amount of work possible to save the floor.