Metal Crittall(crickle) windows

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Painting metal windows

'Crittall' were the largest and best placed manufacturer to take full advantage of new opportunities, and the company played a leading role in revolutionising the world-wide use of the metal casement. Indeed its name eventually became a generic term for steel windows. After the First World War the country demanded 'homes fit for heroes'. These houses, as with those in the construction boom that followed the next war, almost invariably included steel windows, which were inexpensive and readily available in a wide selection of suites, styles and standard sizes. Their use in all forms of architecture became prolific, in keeping with the new fashions and demands for low-cost, light, airy and well ventilated buildings. Subsequently steel window manufacturers became large and numerous. Millions of steel windows were fitted at home and abroad in commercial buildings, housing estates, Bauhaus-inspired creations and Henrietta Barnett's inspired vision of cottage-style homes with tree-lined avenues; a utopian ideal typified by the Hampstead Garden Suburb. Huge numbers of steel windows were sold up until the 1970s (benefiting from mandatory hot dip galvanising in 1955) but thereafter sales have fallen dramatically, and aluminium is now the dominant force in metal fenestration.

The usual type of painted metal Crittall(also mis-called crickle) windows have a hollow type frame and a very narrow inside edge next to the glass.
On the outside they are usually glazed with putty.
There is a tendency for paint to chip and flake on these windows due to the extremes of hot and cold and condensation.
The complete frame should be thoroughly scraped and sanded off.
When using sandpaper take care not to scratch the glass. Keep the side of your thumb resting on the glass while rubbing down as this prevents the sandpaper from touching the glass.
Windows made before galvanizing the metal became common, can often be badly corroded and may require welding or complete new parts.