How to Glaze a Window (Unmarried Pane)

Tighten up drafty old windows with new glazing putty

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Time

A full day

Complexity

Beginner

Cost

Less than $xx

Introduction

Single pane windows tin last for a hundred years or more if properly maintained. Learn how to preserve your windows and proceed them draft-free by replacing old glazing putty.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Acrylic caulk
  • Glazing points
  • Glazing putty (oil or latex)
  • Window drinking glass (if necessary)

On older unmarried-pane windows, the glass is usually surrounded by putty called "glazing compound," which holds the glass in place and seals out the conditions. This putty oftentimes lasts decades, merely over the years information technology becomes rock-hard, cracks and even falls off the window. Loose or missing compound lets wind and rain leak in around the glass.

Replacing the putty around one pane of glass will accept 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the pane and the stubbornness of the old putty. Replace cleaved glass while you're at it. This adds simply a few minutes and a few dollars to the job—much cheaper than calling a glass repair service.

It's possible to replace glass and putty with the window in place, just you'll save time and get better results if y'all can remove the window and clench it downwardly on a flat surface.

If you have broken glass, get information technology out of the way before y'all remove the old putty. Put on heavy gloves and middle protection, place a cloth over the broken pane and tap information technology with a hammer. With the drinking glass thoroughly broken up, pull the shards out of the frame by hand. Pull out the old glazing points with pliers. If the erstwhile drinking glass is in good shape, leave it in identify. Plus, acquire how to launder your windows the fastest way with crystal articulate, streak-free results.

Project step-by-stride (7)

Footstep ane

Remove the old window glaze putty

remove window glaze putty

The side by side footstep is to get rid of the former putty. If the putty is badly cracked, you can pry away big chunks quickly with a putty knife.

Putty in good status takes longer to remove. With a rut gun in one hand and a stiff putty pocketknife in the other, heat the putty to soften it and gouge it out. Vesture leather gloves to protect your easily from burns. Keep the heat gun moving to avoid concentrating heat in i spot. Otherwise, the rut will crack the glass.

If your oestrus gun doesn't have a heat shield zipper, protect the drinking glass with a chip of canvass metal. When the putty is removed, prime any bare wood inside the window frame. A shellac-based primer such as BIN is a good choice considering it dries in minutes.

Step 2

Old window panes: Replace the drinking glass and putty the window

If you need new drinking glass, measure out the opening, subtract 1/viii in. from your measurements and have the new drinking glass cut to size at a full-service hardware store. Take a shard of the old glass with you to lucifer the thickness.

Also, buy a packet of glazing points to concur the glass in place while the new compound hardens. Glazing compound is available in oil-based and latex/acrylic versions.

The latex products, which usually come up in a tube, accept a longer life expectancy and you don't have to wait days before painting them equally you practice with oil-based putty. But they ofttimes begin to dry before you lot can tool them smooth. If neat, smooth results are important, choose an oil-based putty.

Stride 3

Quondam window panes: Fix the glass in place

Replace the glass and putty the window

For installation of new drinking glass, the directions on glazing compound may tell yous to lay a calorie-free bead of the compound inside the frame and so set the glass over it. That works well with soft latex compound. Merely if y'all're using stiffer oil-based chemical compound, lay in a low-cal dewdrop of acrylic latex caulk instead. Gear up the drinking glass onto the caulk, then wiggle and press downwardly to firmly embed the glass.

Press glazing points into the wood every eight in. Permit the excess caulk that oozes out under the glass harden and slice information technology off with a utility knife later.

Step 4

Old window panes: Spread the compound

spread the compound

Cover the perimeter of the glass with a heavy layer of compound. Be sure to completely fill in the recess; don't get out any gaps or hollow spots.

Pace 5

Old window panes: Shine the compound

smooth the compound

To complete the job, smoothen out the new glazing compound. Dip a putty knife in mineral spirits to lubricate it and smooth out the compound. Wet the knife over again and run over the compound as many times as it takes to create a smooth surface.

Oil-based putty is easier to piece of work with when it's warm. To heat it, ready the can in a basin of hot water for a few minutes. Remember that oil-based putty remains soft for days, so be careful not to touch it after smoothing. You'll have to expect several days before y'all can prime number and paint oil-based putty; check the label.

Step 6

Old window panes: Clean the excess

Clean the excess putty

Elevate the ridge of excess chemical compound away from the finished joint and scrape it up. Be careful not to touch the smoothed surface.

Pace seven

An alternative to putty: Mitered moldings

Mitered Window Moldings

Applying a smooth, perfect dewdrop of window glazing compound is fussy, fourth dimension-consuming work. And then when good looks matter, consider forest moldings rather than putty to concord the drinking glass in place (1/4-in. quarter round works for most windows).

Set the drinking glass in place over a light dewdrop of latex caulk. There's no demand for glazing points. To nail the moldings in place, y'all can carefully drive in tiny brads with a hammer or carefully shoot in brads with a pneumatic brad nailer.

But the safest method is to use a brad pusher. A brad pusher is merely a metallic tube with a sliding piston within. Driblet a brad in the tube, push hard on the handle, and the piston pushes the brad neatly into the wood—with little danger of breaking the drinking glass. Nearly hardware stores and home centers don't deport brad pushers, but you can observe them at woodworker supply stores or online.

Get a brad pusher on Amazon.

Originally Published: August 27, 2019