How to Glaze a Window (Single Pane)

Tighten up drafty quondam windows with new glazing putty

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Time

A full day

Complexity

Beginner

Toll

Less than $xx

Introduction

Single pane windows tin last for a hundred years or more if properly maintained. Acquire how to preserve your windows and keep them typhoon-free by replacing one-time glazing putty.

Tools Required

Materials Required

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

On older single-pane windows, the drinking glass is ordinarily surrounded by putty called "glazing chemical compound," which holds the glass in identify and seals out the weather. This putty often lasts decades, just over the years it becomes rock-hard, cracks and even falls off the window. Loose or missing chemical compound lets current of air 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. Supersede broken drinking glass while y'all're at it. This adds only a few minutes and a few dollars to the chore—much cheaper than calling a glass repair service.

It'southward possible to supersede glass and putty with the window in place, but you'll save time and get better results if you can remove the window and clamp information technology downward on a flat surface.

If you have broken glass, become information technology out of the mode before you remove the onetime putty. Put on heavy gloves and centre protection, place a cloth over the broken pane and tap it with a hammer. With the glass thoroughly broken up, pull the shards out of the frame by hand. Pull out the onetime glazing points with pliers. If the old glass is in good shape, leave it in place. Plus, learn how to wash your windows the fastest way with crystal clear, streak-costless results.

Project step-by-step (7)

Step i

Remove the quondam window glaze putty

remove window glaze putty

The adjacent step is to become rid of the old putty. If the putty is desperately cracked, you tin pry away large chunks quickly with a putty knife.

Putty in good condition takes longer to remove. With a heat gun in one hand and a stiff putty knife in the other, heat the putty to soften it and gouge information technology out. Wear leather gloves to protect your hands from burns. Keep the heat gun moving to avoid concentrating heat in i spot. Otherwise, the heat will crack the glass.

If your heat gun doesn't have a estrus shield attachment, protect the glass with a scrap of sheet metal. When the putty is removed, prime any blank wood inside the window frame. A shellac-based primer such every bit BIN is a skillful choice considering information technology dries in minutes.

Stride 2

Old window panes: Supervene upon the glass and putty the window

If you lot demand new glass, measure the opening, subtract 1/8 in. from your measurements and accept the new glass cut to size at a total-service hardware shop. Take a shard of the quondam glass with you to match the thickness.

Besides, buy a package 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, have a longer life expectancy and you don't have to wait days before painting them every bit you do with oil-based putty. But they often begin to dry before you can tool them smooth. If bully, smooth results are important, choose an oil-based putty.

Step three

Old window panes: Prepare the glass in place

Replace the glass and putty the window

For installation of new glass, the directions on glazing chemical compound may tell you to lay a light dewdrop of the compound inside the frame and then set the drinking glass over it. That works well with soft latex chemical compound. Just if you're using stiffer oil-based compound, lay in a light bead of acrylic latex caulk instead. Set up the glass onto the caulk, and so wiggle and printing down to firmly embed the drinking glass.

Printing glazing points into the wood every eight in. Let the backlog caulk that oozes out under the glass harden and slice it off with a utility knife after.

Footstep 4

Onetime window panes: Spread the compound

spread the compound

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

Step 5

Old window panes: Smooth the chemical compound

smooth the compound

To consummate the chore, smooth out the new glazing compound. Dip a putty pocketknife in mineral spirits to lubricate it and smooth out the compound. Wet the knife again and run over the compound as many times as information technology takes to create a shine surface.

Oil-based putty is easier to work with when it's warm. To heat information technology, ready the can in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. Remember that oil-based putty remains soft for days, so exist careful non to touch it later smoothing. You'll have to expect several days before you can prime number and paint oil-based putty; check the characterization.

Step 6

Erstwhile window panes: Clean the excess

Clean the excess putty

Drag the ridge of excess compound away from the finished articulation and scrape it upward. Exist careful not to touch the smoothed surface.

Step vii

An alternative to putty: Mitered moldings

Mitered Window Moldings

Applying a shine, perfect dewdrop of window glazing compound is fussy, time-consuming work. So when expert looks matter, consider woods moldings rather than putty to hold the drinking glass in place (1/4-in. quarter round works for virtually windows).

Set the glass in place over a light bead of latex caulk. There'southward no demand for glazing points. To nail the moldings in place, you can advisedly bulldoze in tiny brads with a hammer or advisedly shoot in brads with a pneumatic brad nailer.

But the safest method is to use a brad pusher. A brad pusher is simply a metallic tube with a sliding piston inside. Drib a brad in the tube, push difficult on the handle, and the piston pushes the brad neatly into the wood—with piffling danger of breaking the drinking glass. Most hardware stores and home centers don't acquit brad pushers, just y'all tin can find them at woodworker supply stores or online.

Become a brad pusher on Amazon.

Originally Published: Baronial 27, 2019