Hey all,

I just moved into a 1910 Craftsman style bungalow. Through the years most of it has been painted over several times including the glass panes on 2 sets of interior french doors, the panes on the original front door and some interesting looking glass accents embedded in the door frame leading into a den area.

If need be, I'll break out the pack of razor blades and start scrapping away at the glass, but was wondering if you guys had any other quicker methods you use to strip paint from glass.

I assume the chemical paint removers and the heat methods are probably out of the question. I did a quick internet search and so far, all I've found was a recommendation to apply hot vinegar to the window panes to help bring up the paint.

Why would the chemical stripper be bad? If you worry about the wood then I'd apply some blue/green tape other than that I'm not sure why that would be a bad thing. I know that when we had to get the paint off my daughter's window panes my mom tried the ol' straight edge which went nowhere fast and finally just bought some low odor stripper and it worked like a charm. Long as you get one that is for vertical surfaces I don't see a problem.

Really? I just assumed that it would be too corrosive or could somehow damage the glass.

That would make my life A LOT easier. Last night I worked with just a razor blade scraper and soap and water and was only able to scrape about 4 panes in about 3 hours. Since I have 4 - eight panel doors that are painted on both sides, that comes to 64 panes I need to scrape all with at least 4 coats of paint over the top :p And that's just the french doors.

I'm not worried about the wood because that is going to get stripped next.

Stripper often will etch the glass. I wouldn't use it. I think your best/easiest bet is scraping it off with a razor blade. In my experience, it comes off fairly easy this way.

Interesting, far as I can tell the stripper didn't do anything to my windows. Like I mentioned we did the razor and it was an exercise in futility. It works great for paint splatters but the entire window was painted with this nasty brown (flat?) paint. I wonder if you could steam the windows? That may be just a wood thing though.

Have you contacted a window restorer or stain glass place? They should be able to lead you down the right road or make a suggestion. Sure makes me feel better that I only had the one window. I may be eating my words when I eventually tackle the french door I have.

I'm with you. We have used some prety harsh strippers on window frames without problems with the glass.

Some of the old wavy glass can be tricky to get all of the paint off and even scratch with the razor blade, but no stripper problems (which all married men should be able to claim ;p )

If it is latex paint a little Goo-gone, Oops or just plain old denaturer alcohol will help soften the paint and make it easier to scrape. (the alcohol is what makes the Oops and goo gone work.)

I talked to a glass restoration place about removing paint from the leading/glass on my leaded glass windows, and they said that the Citrus Orange stripper would be fine on the leading and the glass.

Hope this helps,