CRL Red Devil Window Zipper

Take This, Window-Painting Idiots!

Repeat after me, everyone "There is a special spot in Hell for anyone who paints a windows shut." I’m specifically envisioning the people who used to own my house burning... Oh, sure, I know it’s almost impossible to paint a window, either the inside or the outside, without painting it shut. In other words, that special place in Hell should be reserved for whoever paints a window and then doesn’t bother to unseal it (including my previous owners, of course).

If you've ever lived in an older house or apartment and learned you couldn’t open windows that had been sealed with a layer or six of old paint, don't be concerned because there’s an easy solution: the CRL (Red Devil) Window Zipper. Usually you’re reduced to tapping the all-purpose putty knife into the space surrounding the frame, but the Window Zipper is specially designed for this job and this job alone.

Description and Use The Zipper has a flat stainless-steel blade that’s sort of a sawtoothed heart shape that’s screwed at an angle on an ergonomic handle. The very tip is pointy, so you can force it into the space between sash and frame. Once the Zipper pierces the paint seal, you slide it along the length of the crack, breaking the seal and pulling out the paint with a sawing motion. Once you’ve done all four sides (inside and out, if necessary), you should be able to ease the sash up along its tracks. If it doesn’t move yet, keep working at the paint seal. If you pound upward on the top stile of the sash, you might break it loose from the vertical rails, especially on older windows.

When carefully applied, a Window Zipper doesn’t mar the window’s finish of the windows other than a little rubbing, but if you’re reckless with it the blade might climb out of the groove and leave a nasty gash on the wood. Slow and steady is the best policy.

For just a few dollars you can once again have fresh air and maybe even an emergency exit where once there was only a glass-covered hole. Those who live in old houses where previous residents went crazy with the paint should run out and get a CRL Window Zipper today!

Summary

PLUS: Designed specifically for its job, does it well.
MINUS: Carves deep gouges in window frames if you aren’t careful.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: A putty knife will work if you’re opening a couple of windows, but if every window in your house has been painted shut, shut you need one of these!