How to open a painted shut aluminium window?

Leanne7

Recently purchased a house and the previous owner has painted the windows, unfortunately, most of them can’t be opened. I have tried running a knife around the frame, but no luck. I am wondering of the paint is sitting under the window frame in the track. After ideas on what to do, please. 

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Leanne7. It's brilliant to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about opening a painted shut window.

There doesn't appear to be a significant amount of paint holding the window shut, and certainly not multiple coats. I would think that once you broke the seal with a knife blade, then you'd see some movement. Is the window budging at all, or is there no movement whatsoever? Could the window be screwed shut? Could you show us a picture of the window's locking handle/lock system? Can you remove the window by pushing it up and pulling it out of the track?

It's very hard to tell from an image what exactly is stopping the window from moving. Keep trying until you get it to move slightly, and then work on the next spot that stops it from fully opening. Paint in the track is certainly a reason for it not opening, so make you remove anything in the track system. You could also spray some lubricant like WD40 in the track system to try and get it moving.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell