How to fix your windows yourself

Try these fixes for your old windows, and don't let them lose their charm, or your money.

• A tiny seemingly harmless crack appears in a window pane.
• Then suddenly the little crack morphs into a dangerous monster, snaking its way across the glass and forcing you to replace the pane.
• The culprit is seasonal temperature changes that cause the glass to expand and contract.
• But with the help of a little super glue, you can keep the crack small and prolong the window's life indefinitely.
• Just squirt the glue directly from the container into the crack — capillary action will suck the glue right in.
• If a little glue remains on the glass, don't wipe the sticky stuff away; it dries clear and hard anyway. Works for car windshield dings, too!

• A little toothpaste is all you need to make scratched windows look new again, provided the scratches are not too deep.
• "Extra-whitening" brands work best because they contain the most abrasive.
• Gel toothpastes contain little or no abrasive and won't work.
• Just dab the toothpaste on a soft cloth, and rub the scratch vigorously for a minute or two. Wipe clean with a damp rag.

• If you're shoving and jerking a window to get it to slide up or down, you're shortening its life with undue wear.
• First clean out the channels on either side of the window with fine steel wool, and then vacuum away all debris and dust.
• Then make life easier for your windows, not to mention yourself, by rubbing the channels with a white wax candle.
• Or better yet, spritz the channels with silicone spray, available at hardware stores.
• The spray will last longer and will lubricate better than the wax.

• If your window putty is brittle and cracked, replace it to prevent water from seeping in and rotting the window sashes.
• You can chip out the putty with an old chisel, but a multipurpose "five-in-one" tool works better.
• This inexpensive painter's tool is also useful for spreading putty, opening paint cans, scraping peeling paint, driving screws, and squeezing paint out of rollers.
• You can get one at a paint or hardware store or a home centre.

• Windowsills get hit with a lot of water and this makes them vulnerable to rot.
• Replacing a windowsill takes considerable carpentry skill.
• The good news is that as long as the sill is mostly intact — even if it is soft — you can repair it yourself.
• Ask your local home centre for a kit that contains two forms of epoxy — liquid wood consolidant and structural adhesive putty. Y
• ou drill holes in the sill and squirt the liquid consolidant into them to harden the wood.
• Then you use the putty to seal over the holes and to fill any missing areas. Detailed instructions come with the products.

• The secret to long life for modern casement windows is to lubricate their mechanisms as soon as you notice the cranks are becoming difficult to operate.
• The same goes for jalousie windows, which have several louvred panes.
• First loosen the setscrew, and remove the handle so you can pop off the cover.
• Then squirt the gears with a little silicone spray, and spritz all the pivot points on the crank arm and the top and bottom guide arms.
• Don't see any gears? That means the gears have been permanently encased and lubricated. Just spray the pivot points.