replacing stationary glass.

[jennifereden.price]

Hi,

I have 2 questions concerning replacing a stationary piece of glass.

1. I removed old trim, but the nails from the old trim are still there, sticking out. Extract or drive all the way in?

1. The glass is caulked in or siliconed in. There's no way to push it in from outside (too high). I cannot use suction cups since the old glass is textured and won't create vacuum. How to remove w/o breaking?

Thanks!

Jennifer Price

[tom]

1- extract. 2- If it's not broken...? Tom

[tom]

Think: razor knife. Tom

[Joey]

Jennifer,

You'll have to get the nails out. First, go to your HomeDepot or Lowes and ask for a nail puller tool. It looks like some pliers with a grabber on the end just to pull nails that are difficult and can't be pulled with a hammer. Also, get a salesman there to show you how to use that tool. If you don't go side-to-side with it you'll end up breaking the glass, as the tool should never touch the glass. Good luck.

J

[e-mail] wrote:

[a]

Usually the glass is inserted from the outside - with a thin layer of putty or caulk placed on the inside frame to seal the glass in place / keep drafts out. On the outside - 1/4 round wood is nailed in place to physically hold the glass in place & finished off with putty / caulk.

It sounds like you have removed the outside 1/4 round and any associated caulk/putty that was there - and now you will want to (carefully) remove the nails that held the 1/4 round in place.

Before cutting the inside seal - you will want to either have someone outside holding the glass in place (so when you do dislodge it from the seal layer - it will not pop out & break.

On the inside, I use a razor knife to cut the seal layer around the inside of the window - along the edge between the glass and the window frame. I cut in steps (maybe 1/8" at a pass) so as not to exert too much pressure on the glass. This takes time (at least for me).

Wear gloves - just in case you break the glass while cutting.

You can expect the razor knife blade to snap every so often as you have to press it in at an awkward angle to cut the seal.

I asked at a glass shop if there was some special tool to do this - the fellow said they just use a razor knife & keep replacing the blades.

[William Brown]

Yes, you should remove the nails that held in the trim. I would also look for any glazier's points that may have been installed; they can be hard to spot.

You will have to make some way to hold the glass. If suction cups won't work, try lining them with some sort of adhesive or silicone and let it set until you can exert some pull on the glass.

If there is caulking or silicone between the glass and the outside trim, and you cannot reach the window from outside to push it, you will need something to break the sealing. I know of no tool to reach the outside from the inside, so you will probably have to jury rig something.

My suggestion would be to first scrape out as much caulking as you can between the sides of the glass and the frame. If that doesn't let you pull in the glass, get a piece of thin, stiff, bendable wire, and bend it into something like a Z shape:

_ |_ (something like that). The top is a handle; the bottom is to break the seal. In one dimension, this is flat. Insert it beside the glass with the flat dimension parallel to the edge of the glass. Then twist it so the bottom goes between the glass and the outside trim, breaking the seal. Repeat as necessary around the window until you can pull it in.

Use two people. I think there is a law that says when you are removing glass, it will pop out when you least expect it, so you need someone to hold it.

There's probably a pretty good chance the glass will break, so know where to get another piece.

[e-mail] wrote:

[jennifereden.price]

Thanks for these responses.

The glass is a stationary window. Second floor. I think that the wire is just about all that will work...

[Norminn]

How large is the glass pane? Located - door, window, 1st floor, higher?