How To Remove A Fixed Window

Crack! An errant baseball, a hurled stone, or a falling branch is all it takes to end the life of a windowpane. And for most modern, double-glazed windows, that ways a trip to the local drinking glass store for repairs.

Just for sometime-fashioned, single-glazed wood sash, you can easily supercede the pane yourself. It'south ane of the rare homeowner projects that doesn't require some practice to tool the putty," says Tom Silva, This Old House general contractor. "You want to terminate up with neat, crisp creases in the corners and straight runs in between."

The reglazing technique Tom demonstrates on these pages also comes in handy when the one-time putty itself cracks or falls out but the glass remains intact. (In that case, Tom removes all the former putty; it's too far gone to patch.) Whatsoever the glazing project, he recommends taking out the window sash and laying it flat on a workbench, if possible. "Trying to reglaze a sash that's still in information technology's opening takes longer, and it'due south far more difficult to exercise a good job."

Step ane

Remove the Glass

Don gloves and rubber glasses and cover the broken pane with a rag. Tap the center of the rag-covered pane with a hammer to loosen the shards.

With gloved hands, wiggle free whatever pieces that remain embedded in the putty.

If the sash is notwithstanding in the window opening, or the pane has a cleft or two simply is otherwise intact, it's best to remove the putty start, then the glass.

Step 2

Remove the Old Putty

Pry out any loose putty with a painter's tool. Gradually soften the putty that's still intact by holding a oestrus gun about an inch away and moving it back and along.

Put doubled sheets of aluminum foil on the adjacent panes to keep them from being cracked past the heat.

Use the chiseled point of the tool to rake out the warm putty. Repeat on the remaining sides.

TIP: When removing putty from a pane that isn't cleaved, Tom holds a piece of metal flashing over the drinking glass to dissipate the heat.

Step 3

Prep the Rabbets

Pry the quondam metal glazing points out of the rabbets, the grooves in the sash where the glass sits.

Scrape and sand the rabbets downward to bare woods. Brush an exterior primer onto the bare wood so it won't depict the oils out of the putty and shorten its life.

When the paint dries, knead a handful of putty until information technology's warm and malleable, and then press it into the rabbets, filling them completely (as shown). Neatness doesn't matter at this stage.

Step iv

Bed the Glass

Wiggle the pane into the putty while applying even pressure level with the tips of your fingers.

Continue pushing down until the glass is centered in the opening and virtually 1/8 inch of putty remains betwixt the face of the glass and the rabbet.

If any voids show under the glass, pull out the pane, add more putty, and start over.

Pace 5

Set the Points

At the center of each side of the pane, place a glazier's point flat on the glass and fit the tip of the putty knife against the point's raised shoulders.

While applying slight downward pressure level, gently rock the signal from side to side until it'south seated in the wood.

Repeat on the opposite side, and and so on the two remaining sides. For panes 12 inches or longer on a side, space the points evenly four to 6 inches apart.

Flip the sash over and scrape off the backlog putty that squeezed out the other side.

Step 6

Knead the Putty

Warm a handful of putty and roll it into a long rope nigh almost ¾ inch in diameter.

Step vii

Apply Putty Rope

Place the rope around the edges of the glass and push it firmly against the exposed rabbets.

If one rope isn't enough, ringlet out more and overlap the ends to class an unbroken band of putty effectually the edges of the glass.

Stride viii

Smooth the Putty

Starting in a corner, remainder the putty knife's blade at about a 45-caste angle to the drinking glass, with its tip on the tiptop edge of the rabbet and ane corner on the drinking glass.

Flatten the bract confronting the putty with your index finger and maintain the angle as you pull the knife along 1 side of the pane.

Leave a neat crease in the corner — then collect the excess putty.

For the remaining sides, set up the blade tip on the crease and repeat the tooling process.

TIP:If the pocketknife pulls the putty off the glass, make clean the blade and attempt again.

Pace 9

Fine-melody

If the underside of the putty tin can be seen from the other side of the window, the putty is also wide and needs retooling.

Set the corner of the blade on the glass a little closer to the rabbet than before and concur the knife handle a fleck closer to the glass.

Retool as in Step 8. You'll know yous've gotten the angle correct if the putty's edge lines up with the inside edges of the sash or muntins on the opposite side of the window.

Scrape abroad the excess (as shown).

Footstep 10

Prime and Paint

Await well-nigh vii to ten days for the putty to stiffen up, then clean the oily putty film off the glass with a dry rag.

Paint the putty with an oil-based primer, overlapping it about 1/sixteen inch onto the glass to foreclose water from getting behind the putty.

Afterward the primer dries, utilize a glaze of outside paint.

When the paint dries, you tin give the pane a thorough scrubbing.

Tools Needed

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/windows/21016525/how-to-replace-a-window-pane

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