Historic Window Repair- Fixing and replacing historic wavy-glass.

[@anonz975]

Great series! My builder thinks I am a bit eccentric for wanting the 100 year old Craftsman windows (and doors) pulled out of an old house and installed in a new build on the same property. I also requested interior storm windows and that seems to have swayed him regarding drafts and heat loss. I will share these videos with him. :)

[@BrentHull]

Awesome!! Thx.

[@justelvin]

Finish Carpenter here from Swampscott Massachusetts, my neighboring towns are Salem and Marblehead. I'm looking to get into preservation and restoration and find great inspiration in your videos.Thank you for the work you're doing!

[@BrentHull]

Good luck! There is a lot of opportunity in the preservation niche.

[@crowznest438]

Thanks for the tips on cutting glass! I've had some problems with this.

[@BrentHull]

You are so welcome! Let me know if you'd like me to cover something else.

[@0912v]

I've always rolled the putty between my palms into strings just thick enough for the bevel. Takes maybe a bit longer than your method, but you get that time back by having less glass to clean.

[@BrentHull]

Good point! I've been more focused on speed, but I agree that can be a cleaner method.

[@southwood308]

We put our "33" in a paint shaker and mix it up that way. You can still kneed it by hand afterwards, but the shaker gets it really close to ready. This was a lot easy when it was still sold in the metal can.

[@BrentHull]

Great idea. Thanks.

[@satchmodog2]

I've always found that rolling a snake between your hands is the easiest and neatest way to apply glaze to the sash. You place the entire line into the wood and then smooth it out in one motion without having all those peaks and valleys from applying the glaze with your thumb.

[@BrentHull]

True, its much faster. Thanks.

[@r1273m]

I'm in the UK and always did my own glazing repairs and painting until these last few years when I am no longer fit enough. I always used linseed putty, kneading it before use always makes your hands nice and soft! I recently had my exterior painted and the painter broke a couple of panes with his heat gun. He replaced the glass but did not use putty, he used 2 part epoxy, holding the glass in place with black tape until it went off. I have never seen this before. He said it would harden by the next day and so could be painted, unlike putty which takes weeks as you mentioned. I hate to think what it will be like to remove the epoxy in the future, though that will probably not be my problem!

[@BrentHull]

Hmm, I'm not sure I like that solution, I'll have to think about it. Thanks for sharing.

[@rogerhodges7656]

Great video. You didn't mention that you were using the silicone instead of glazing points. I haven't seen a professional cut glass freehand. Everyone uses a straightedge.

[@BrentHull]

Glad it was helpful. A lot of different ways to skin the cat. I like ours, time proven.

[@theofarmmanager267]

I don’t want to say that we do it differently in the UK because that would assume that everyone over here does in my way. In any case, the principles are the same but some of the details differ. I was always told that old glass would be too brittle to cut and therefore to buy new glass; seems like I could use old glass! If I have to use new glass, then glass merchants over here do stock the heritage glass (in fact, several different kinds) but, as you say, the price is high. I had to put new glass in windows many times; my father showed me once or twice and then said “ if you break a window from now on with your football or cricket ball, you are going to buy the new pane and fit it yourself” I would take the putty out pretty much as you did although I don’t think we have the 5-ways that you have; I would use an old chisel or the putty knife. I pie never known an old window over here not held in with window brads. These were square in cross section (rather like a floorboard nail) and I would hit them in using a side of a chisel against the head of the brad and then hit the other side of the chisel with a hammer. In the size of window that you were fixing here, I’d probably use 2 down each side and 1 top and bottom. Then I would reach for linseed oil putty. I’m not sure if that your putty is made of, but ours was labelled linseed oil. Soften as you did and then apply. I was taught to hold the ball of putty in the palm of the hand and use the fingers and thumb of the same hand to press in as you did. I have to say that I got quite efficient at that; a direct relation in inverse proportion to my skills at cricket. Our putty knife had a different shape to the blade - not flat across the top - and I’d use the blade in firm but fast movements to smooth out the putty. The corners were the trickier bit because my father wanted to see perfect mitre corners.

[@BrentHull]

Dads! They know best. Thanks for sharing.

[@RachaelLynnMunson]

our old windows have those little metal clip/brad things as well. I was a bit surprised with the caulk use instead of the clips. Maybe because that pane had didn't have any of the I think we call them glazier points in it?

[@jmuench420]

Glass doesn't become any more brittle over time. I could maybe see that myth coming to be because old glass tends to have scratches and every scratch is a place for a crack to propagate.

[@vazz22]

Great Tutorial

[@BrentHull]

Glad it was helpful!

[@vazz22]

@@BrentHull Very helpful.... we had a rental brake a small.pane widow in the front of a 1915 house.

[@bryanmeza9974]

You said to get it in fast but then said it take 30 or more to dry. So why does it need to be installed fast if it takes so long to dry?

[@BrentHull]

I think when I said fast, I meant this project shouldn't take forever. The drying happens after the window glass is installed, or after the work is done. Thanks for asking.

[@RoyPattillo66]

When you are cutting, how hard do you push? When i go to pop it on the edge, it doesnt break clean, or i break the whole glass. :(

[@BrentHull]

Very firm. It is a strong hard push, and you should hear the cut taking place as you pull it across. You can also use the opposite end of the cutter to ping the glass along the cut and that sometimes will help. Good luck.

[@RoyPattillo66]

@@BrentHull Thanks Brent! Ill keep trying. I loved this video series you just did on these old windows. Thanks to you I found out that the top of my windows can come down. I have already opened 4 of them after 60+ years of them being painted shut!

[@danilorainone406]

old wavy glass can be removed carefully reinstalled upside down,it will become flat again in 30 years or so,,cleaned with pumice or cerium oxide,first applied with a warm/wet rag then polished off till you smell and see perfectly clean glass

[@BrentHull]

I think you kidding... I hope your kidding. Haha

[@urbandecay3436]

Do you ever use old school linseed oil putty?

[@BrentHull]

Yes! Dap 33 and others are linseed oil based.

[@breakmanradio2530]

Okay, but why use silicon caulk to hold the pane of glass in place instead of using glazing compound or putty to hold it in place? That's how I've seen others typically do it. Why is the silicon caulk superior for holding it in place?

[@BrentHull]

Flexibility. Putty turns rock hard in a couple of years and can cause the glass to rattle.

[@budnotu]

Where can we purchase the window hardware?

[@BrentHull]

SRS.

[@jmuench420]

A heat gun with a glass shield is a must to remove old glazing putty IMO. I use glazing putty to bed in the glass instead of caulk and have really grown to like Crawford's Painters Putty. Whiting powder is key for cleaning up the residue on the glass, that's a key step to explain to people, any other method is a nightmare.

[@BrentHull]

Thanks for sharing.

[@breakmanradio2530]

Ohhhh I've heard of using a heat gun to loosen the putty before, but the guy said you had to be extremely careful because if you hit one spot for too long, you can damage the glass. Does the "glass shield" solve that problem? Where do you get one? Or did you make it yourself?

[@jmuench420]

@@breakmanradio2530 The glass shield reduces the likelihood that you break the glass. The mid-range Wagner Heat gun that runs about $75 comes with a glass shield. If you're doing this for the first time you should anticipate broken glass, removing the glazing points is also a likely time to break the glass. Regular glass is pretty cheap, if you want antique/wavy glass it gets a little more expensive.

[@Brandon-no3vc]

How do you know if there true historic windows worth keeping?

[@BrentHull]

In our view and because of our work, rotting is the point of no return. The great thing about historic windows is that the lower sash can be rotten, but the frame and upper sash may still be in good shape. We then are just replacing the lower sash. I hope that helps.

[@Brandon-no3vc]

@@BrentHull how do I tell if I have a historic window tho

[@jeffkilpatrick9742]

There are quality caulks that work better than glazing. Prime the sash. Bed the pane into the caulk. Squeeze the excess to the inside. Trim it in 24 hours. 55 year warranty.

[@BrentHull]

Thanks for sharing.