I finally gave in and tried that 'warm water and dish soap' trick for removing old glazing putty

For years I thought it was just an old wives' tale, something the old timers said to sound clever. I always reached for the heat gun and a chisel, which works but is dusty and you risk cracking old glass. Last week, I was working on a 1920s window in a house in Portland, and the putty was rock hard. My buddy, who restores old houses, said 'just use warm water and a few drops of Dawn, let it soak in.' I was sure it would do nothing. I brushed it on, waited about 20 minutes, and I'll be darned if the putty didn't soften up enough to peel out in long strips with my putty knife. No dust, no heat stress on the glass. It saved me at least an hour on that pane. What other simple tricks have you guys tried that actually work?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliotc102mo ago

Totally agree with @oliviadixon about letting it soak. For the really bad stuff, I'll wrap a rag soaked in the warm soapy mix right against the putty and leave it for like an hour. Peels off like soft clay after that, zero fight.

oliviadixon2mo ago

Honestly, that trick is a game changer. I had the same doubt until I tried it on some stubborn basement windows. The real magic is letting it soak long enough. For really thick putty, I'll even score it with a knife first so the soapy water can get deep. It feels like cheating compared to all the scraping I used to do.

stone.evan29d ago

Buddy of mine tried this on some old garage windows that had paint and putty baked on from the 70s. He scored a grid pattern into it with a box cutter, then soaked a towel in hot water with dish soap and pressed it on there for maybe 45 minutes. Said the stuff came off in big strips like peeling a potato. He went through a whole case of beer just finding excuses to clean more windows after that.