Scratched Windows

[InMyHO]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this so sorry if it is not.

I have had my window frames painted. The technique they used was to paint water-based gloss paint on the frames and also onto the glass. They did not create a neat edge up to and just on the glass but instead paint went quite a long way onto the pane. In addition, for some reason I have not worked out there were sizeable blobs in the center of the glazing. Each unit is made of multiple panes with up to ten in one window. After finishing the painting they then cleaned off the excess paint. The problem is that they have scratched the glass. The scratches seem narrow but huge in number. On some panes there are many many noticeable scratches extending to around 12mm from the edge of the glass. It looks somewhere between the glass having been sanded (although it hasn't) and a frenzied knife attack. Of course paint is lodged in some of the scratches making them more visible.

I have two questions:

• Apart from replacing all of the double-glazing units are there any other solutions?
• This looks like plain incompetence to me. Does anyone have any other view?

Thanks hugely for any help on this.

 

[Bosswhite]

If as you say paint has got into the scratch marks, then the scratches were prior to the painting,
Is this the first time these window frames have been painted ??

 

[InMyHO]

Bosswhite. OK; maybe I should have made this clearer so my fault - apologies. There are scratches in the glass. Paint has been removed. The paint that is left is in the form of minute coagulations. These have, in some cases, snagged on the scratches which, because they are new, have very sharp edges. Some further paint has been squashed into some other scratches.

 

[misterhelpful]

It is not unheard of for painters to paint onto the glass and then remove excess with a glass scraper. When doing windows with a huge number of smaller panes, it can sometimes be unavoidable to get stop paint getting on the glass, no matter how careful you are. For this reason, it can be easier to just paint as best you can and then scrape afterwards. With water based paints drying so quickly, working at a pace without stopping to wipe anything can also be a reason for doing this. (None of this means you should just slap paint all over the glass, though.) Also, painting 1-2mm onto the pane is beneficial as it creates a seal between glass and frame, stopping any moisture getting behind the timber and causing rot.

Whenever glass needs to be scraped, it should be done with a sharp (new) blade held at an acute angle in order to avoid scratches. It sounds to me as though an old or damaged blade has been used and caused the problem you have. Hopefully they didn't do what a lot of people do and scrape away with the tip of a Stanley knife, as that almost guarantees scratches.

If they have caused all, or the majority of scratches, then they should be responsible for sorting out the problem - which will probably only be rectified by replacing the units.

Posting a few pics for us to assess the damage would come in handy, if possible.

 

[InMyHO]

Thanks misterhelpful; here is a close-up of some of the scratches. This is not one of the worst areas but it does show the issue. The white at the bottom is the frame, the black is glass and the grey are markings are in mm. Never having attached anything before I do hope the picture works...
...

 

[Bosswhite]

You say the painters did not sand down the windows are you sure ?
It looks to me that these are scratches made by some sort of Carborundum sanding process, One would not have got those sort of markings through standard glass paper ( Sand Paper)The Stanley Knife suggestion is a possible cause but unlikely taking into the severe scratching of the base of the glass
Modern types of Window scrapers are widely used by decorators and window cleaners and do not scratch the glass, when used correctly

 

[misterhelpful]

The narrow band of scratching along the bottom certainly does look like it could have been done by some form of sanding, as a constant side to side motion would produce a similar effect. The more spaced out scratches could be from scraping.
That 1-2mm band of clear glass at the very bottom leads me to think there was paint on it before, which has now been removed.

Therefore, with my Columbo Mac on, I'm guessing that the window frames were sanded BEFORE they were painted (which should be the case, if doing the job correctly), which caused most of the scratching. Then, when the excess was scraped off, it also took that little 1-2mm band off, which had acted as a barrier and protected that part of the glass from the sanding.

When stating that they didn't sand in your OP, did you just mean to remove the paint?
If they didn't sand at all, it can only have come from he scraping.

Either way, it looks bad, and should be dealt with by the painter(s) or their insurance. I know I wouldn't want to live with damage like that to all of my double glazed units!

BTW, thanks for that image - it really helps.

 

[InMyHO]

Bosswhite and misterhelpful; thanks for your further input. That is really hugely useful. Yes; I did mean sanding to remove the paint. I am not very clever with this stuff, I had not thought about the process of sanding down before painting. It just seemed obvious to me that the scratches which extend further into the pane, being on their own, were not from sandpaper although now I am not so sure. It does make sense that maybe some of the damage was from incompetent sanding before the paint was applied and then maybe some was from bad scraping afterwards. I will try and get a decent close-up shot to show more detail - this one was taken in the rain which did not help.

 

[Bosswhite]

It could be the decorators used an electric sander to sand off the window frames and the metallic edge of the sander plate caught the glass, scratching the glass as they sanded, probably would have helped if they painted over the scratching. it would not be noticeable