John Leeke's Historic HomeWorks™
	207 773-2306      26 Higgins St. Portland, ME  04103
	[Home][Library][Restoration Reports][Seminars][Forum][Internships][Office][Workshop][Front Porch][Search] info.© 1994-2007 JohnC.Leeke

Window Workshop and Training Preparation

Greetings and welcome to the Save Your Wood Windows workshop! This webpage will help you prepare for extended three to five day workshops so you can take full advantage training sessions when we get together onsite.

• Read a description of your workshop, for dates, locations, sign up details, etc.
• Download the handouts for advanced study.
• Ask questions, introduce yourself, and let us know what specific topics and methods you want to learn, at this special section of the Historic HomeWorks Discussion Forum.
• Read below for specific equipment, tools and materials to bring along.

Old windows are fascinating mechanisms. They are made of thin strips of wood and fragile glass, yet they hold up to use and abuse for years, decades, even centuries. Well, after a century they may need a little tender care, and sometimes a lot of hard work. The sash slide down easily to keep out the storm, or slide up for a refreshing breeze—unless it’s painted shut, or the warped wood binds, or the glass is broken, or you have 76 of them to repair. Good grief! What a struggle. But, window work need not be a struggle. At this workshop we’ll smooth out and eliminate the struggle.

How can I promise to eliminate the struggle? By leaving in the work. I hope you noticed that word “WORK” in “Work-shop” before you signed up. I’ve already got a few assignments for you.

Pull together and bring along:

We will be taking safety very seriously during this workshop.

Required:

• Safety Glasses or Goggles, type and style is up to you but must have a  NIOSH rating. Look for those initials "NIOSH" (stands for National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) on the item or papers that came with it.

• Work Clothes: long sleeves and pants, (no T-shirts or shorts please), this might be shirt and pants or coveralls. As part of the Lead Safe Work Practices safety program you will be changing out of “street clothes” and into “work clothes” at the beginning of  each morning and afternoon work session and then back into street clothes at the end of the session. (You can wear your clean work clothes to the workshop on the first morning, but be sure to bring along street clothes to change into if you're not using coveralls.) The use of full long-sleeved zip-up coveralls can substitute for clothes changing. While there is a private area for clothes changing, cover-alls over your street clothes might be more suitable if you are particularly shy. Street clothes can be anything you like. Bring a work hat to keep the dust out of your hair, and a way to tie up long hair under your hat for safety

•  Respirator: rubber half-face mask cartridge type with particulate filters and organic vapor filters with a “NIOSH Approved as N100” rating. Bring fresh, unused filters. Many hardware stores and building materials suppliers now carry these respirators. Or, go to a supplier of safety equipment to the construction trades or industrial shops. These safety suppliers can also help assure your respirator fits well, and they offer full-face mask type respirators (pictured left) for those with beards or mustaches. One mail order outfitter is 3M Occupational Health & Employee Safety Division (800 243-4630) and another is Direct Safety (800 528-7405). I use ProTech Silicone Half-Mask respirators (pictured right). Cost will be about $20 to $40 for the respirator, and about $15 for a small supply of filter cartridges. Be sure to buy filter cartridges, always sold separately.

Very Useful:

• Note taking: notebook or clipboard, paper, pencils, camera

• Any specialty window tools or equipment you now have or use, especially bring all your putty knives. If you have no tools, we'll have some for you to use. We’ll get you outfitted for the workshop and you will learn what you need to buy for your own kit.

• Any of your favorite light woodworking tools you already have: cordless screw-driver, chisels, carving tools, small planes, hand planes, back saw, cross cut saw, rip saw, square & bevel, screwdrivers, variable-speed drill with bits, tool belt, etc.

• Pull-type paint scrapers, or molding scrapers, My favorite is Marshalltown(tm) Molding Scraper with 5 Interchangeable Blades: High quality detail scraper, Designed to scrape molding contours, carved woodwork, crack/seams, 9" handle balanced for a variety of blades. Marshalltown # E1240,  UPC # 0 47726 0 1240 5.  These are hard to find, so Dave Bowers (a past workshop student) has made them available at his website (http://www.oldewindowrestorer.com/steamstripper.html), where the cost is about  $20.

• Feel free to bring a whole window, or parts, such as a sash, sill or shutter to learn what to do with your specific windows. The worse its condition, the more you’ll learn. If you have a restored or new sash ready for glazing and painting, bring it along. If you don’t bring anything that’s fine, we'll have some for you to work on.

• Bring samples of your previous window work, materials you have used, or intend to use on your own projects including:  windows, window parts, wood, paint, wood fillers, glazing compound, glazing points, glass, etc. Samples that show failures, may be embarrassing, but I'll help you determine the causes so you can keep it from happening again.

• Bring some photos or slides of windows you love, windows you hate, or windows you just need to fix no matter how you feel about them.

Study Beforehand

Download the handouts for advanced study.

You will receive a copy of the Save Your Wood Windows booklet in the mail before the workshop for advanced study.

Based on what you learned in the handouts and report, take a close look at ten of the windows in your own home or on a current project. Study their condition and write down some notes on each window. Use words, drawing, numbers, photos—what ever you are most comfortable with, but get it down on paper. Don’t worry or even think about what needs to be done to fix them, just consider their condition.

Now, take a look at the windows in someone else’s house, or in a building where you are not working. What strikes you about these windows? Written answers, please.

Bring your written results to the workshop.

Pre-Condition Yourself for Safety

We will be taking safety very seriously during this workshop. Work on old windows generates lead-containing dust. Controlling the health risks of lead is a primary concern. You will be learning and following lead-safe work practices at this workshop. Study pages 11 and 38 in Save Your Wood Windows if you have a copy. Study the Lead Paint Safety guide, which you can download at:

http://www.historichomeworks.com/hhw/education/WindowsHandouts/handouts.htm

Three lead-safe work practices we will follow are:

1. No smoking or other uses of tobacco during work sessions. Lead-containing dust on your fingers gets onto the tobacco and is vaporized by burning and inhaled. In order to manage the risk of building fires there will be no smoking within 50 feet of any building.

2. No eating or drinking during work sessions. This helps prevent ingestion of lead containing dust. A work session can last up to 3 or 4 hours. This means you must hydrate your body by drinking much more water than you probably usually do for two or three days before the workshop begins. (How much? That’s up to you, but my doctor tells me that most people drink one-half to one-third of what their body really needs.) During the days of the workshop, drinking plenty of water before and after work sessions, especially during the evenings, hydrates your body for the next day. When you are well hydrated you will be less thirsty during work periods.  (Don’t worry about dying of thirst during a work session. It is possible to have a lead-safe drink during a work period, but much more convenient to be well hydrated.)

3. Wearing respirators when lead dust is generated.  This helps keep lead out of your lungs. If you are not used to breathing through a respirator routinely, practice using your respirator for a few weeks before you come to the workshop, in order to build up your diaphragm muscles. Start out wearing it for 10 to 20 minutes every day, building up to at least a couple of hours a day over several days. If you know you have respiratory difficulties consult with your doctor before using a respirator, and consult with you doctor if you develop respiratory difficulties while practicing the use of your respirator.

Please visit this special section of the Historic HomeWorks Forum and post a message if you want ensure a specific topic or method is covered or have specific questions you want answered at the workshop.

My goal at this workshop is to help you by sharing what I have learned working on windows for the past 30 years. You will learn many details of window work that can only be passed along through live demonstration and personal interaction. I hope to instill in you my own enthusiasm and channel your new knowledge into a practical approach that will help you achieve your own goal of  learning more about wood window repair and preservation. I’m looking forward to working with you. -- John

	John Leeke's Historic HomeWorks™
	207 773-2306      26 Higgins St. Portland, ME  04103
	[Home][Library][Restoration Reports][Seminars][Forum][Internships][Office][Workshop][Front Porch][Search] info.© 1994-2007 JohnC.Leeke