Has anyone ever encounted a sash-weight access panel that has a kind of tongue and groove profile? My windows are well over one-hundred years old (Cape May, NJ), and the access panels appear not to come straight out (i.e. towrds the other side of the window). The access panels appear to be wider than just the opening, but rabbeted — maybe to fit under and accept the parting bead? (The reason I don’t exactly know is because I have destroyed every one I have tried to take out.)
If there is a trick (i.e. some maneuver you can recommend) to getting these out in one piece, I have not figured it out. Or maybe they demand that you remove the parting bead as well as the inside stop? That would not be good news, as there are about 30 coats of paint holding the parting bead (and the upper sash of course) rigidly in place. Any experience with this?
Rick
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Mine are like that too (1905 house). Soemtimes I can wiggle them out under the parting strip, more often I destroy the parting strip and have to make a new one. The many layers of paint don;t help.
Hmmm. Maybe I should be putting in new parting strips instead of making new access panels. I've been cutting new access panels which are only as wide as the lower sash, which leaves a slight crack where it meets the parting strip. Pain in the butt too, because the mitres on the access panels are some random number greater than 45. I just don't relish the idea of taking out 6' of parting bead (in 4 " pieces I suspect) , then trying to squeeze a fresh one in. Is that really easier?
Rick
Yeah, some at my parents' old house (ca 1910 with parts salvaged from older homes) had some windows like that. You had to take out the parting strip (could usually be done without destroying it, as these windows hadn't been overpainted that much) to remove the access panel.
just rehabbed 14 DH in our library - parting stops are easy to manufacture and about necessary to if you are making the sash operable - sash access panels in this case were unique to each frame, being hand cut, more of less same dimension, but not interchangable - - parting stop is generally attached toward the top and bottom, sometimes with a nail toward the middle - couple of chisels and out it comes in 2-3 pieces -
After doing another one, I came up with a practical method. Removing the parting strips was not such a great idea because:
1. They are sealed on the outside by so many coats of paint that they essentially have a substantial bead. This not only adheres them too well, but at this point it serves as pretty good protection from water entering there.
2. Because of the above-mentioned paint, coupled with their age, they always broke.
3. Without a table saw on-site (525 miles from my shop), making new parting strips is more or less impossible.
As I progressed around the first floor, I found that indeed the access panels are ALL different --- obvioiusly custom made on site. Some stop 2-3" above the sill, but many of them go right down to the stool, with a little angled rabbet to secure the lower end behind the sill.
What I did was to run a jig saw down through the acess panel just inside the parting strip. I used a jig saw instead of a recip because of the shorter stroke and thinner blades. I broke quite a few blades, probably from bumping into the weights behind. With the little rabbeted tail piece behind the parting strip cut off along the entire length of the access panel, they come right out.
On the last four that I did, there was no breakage of the access panels. With the bottom held by the small groove, reinstalling them only needed one screw (to replace the nail put there originally) at the top.