When we moved into my house, there was a window at the top stair landing that was stuck. My boyfriend said he tried hard to open it, but thought it was painted shut with no hope of opening and gave up.
With last month’s record-setting temperatures, I thought it would be so nice to finally get that window open, so that after it gets dark I can get a nice breeze going through the top floor of my house.
Since my boyfriend had such a hard time with it, I Googled how to do it. I needed a putty knife, a short 2 by 4 or similar piece of wood and a hammer.
I had to be careful not to hit the glass: I stuck the putty knife in the very small space between the windowpane and the sill. I gently tapped the handle of the putty knife with the hammer until it couldn’t go any farther. I did this all along the sill.
Once I did that, I laid the 2 by 4 down on the sill and gently tapped the edge of it with the hammer to loosen the windowpane. I gave the window a push and it opened. It didn’t take that long, maybe five minutes as the most.
I’m looking forward to having the window open to enjoy the cooler night breezes and of course when the sun comes up in the heat of the day, I’ll close it up until it cools down again.
Lisa, an Avista customer, bought her 1910 house because she loved the old-world character, some of which doesn’t make her house very energy efficient. Lisa is sharing her experience on taking some simple do-it-yourself improvements to inspire others to do the same. You’ll find her stories right here every Tuesday.