Double-glazing installation snag!

[trancenotes1776]

Hi folks,

I'm installing a fairly new PVC double-glazed window. When I removed the gl azed units to make the frame easier to install, I was aghast to find that t he units were securely stuck to the frame with 10mm-wide, 3mm thick double- sided adhesive foam tape. Other windows I've known had a nice rubber seal t hat one pulls out, and then pushes back into place after the external clip- strips are in place. I had to run a box cutter around the units to release them, thereby damging the foam tape. So now I'm faced with a choice of:

1) Trying to find a roll of identical foam adhesive tape to use after remov ing all of the old stuff (which would be time consuming, and also making wa y for another headache if ever I have to replace on of the units in future) .

OR

2) Doing the job some other way.

Does anyone have an alternative solution that works? I thought of buying so me 5mm rubber tubing and pushing that in, around the edges of the internal side, after the clip-strips are back in place. Or even perhaps using silico ne. Inserting a standard/typical rubber seal doesn't seem to be an option, because there is no special recess in the frame for it to snap into.

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Al

[Andy Burns]

I don't know if you're likely to be able to use rubber seals on frames designed for fixing with glazing tape, this is the sort of stuff you need to track down ...

[T i m]

So, OOI, what would happen if you removed the external glazing beads on such windows, could you then just lift the glass out (and get into the house)?

Isn't that because they aren't *designed* to be used that way (as Andy mentions elsewhere)?

eg. If the Windows is *internally* glazed then yes, you would expect to see a rubber seal between the DG unit and the frame and possibly just the glazing bead on the inside. It can be that way as there is no way of removing the glass from the outside to gain entry.

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Where does he say that OOI?

Or external. ;-)

Ok, that may be the case but I'm not sure that is the case in this case? ;-)

Quite.

Cheers, T i m

[trancenotes1776]

I've often thought of this whenever I've seen windows with external slip st rips. In my case, the window is high up, so not easy to examine up close. U sing double-sided foam tape again, does make the sealed glazing units impos sible to remove from the outside.

some 5mm rubber tubing and pushing that in, around the edges of the intern al side, after the clip-strips are back in place. Or even perhaps using sil icone. Inserting a standard/typical rubber seal doesn't seem to be an optio n, because there is no special recess in the frame for it to snap into.

Exactly so, but I think it would still be quite feasible to push-fit some n eoprene tubing or square-section foam beading or suchlike, to pack out the gap and act as the inner seal.

Al

[trancenotes1776]

Thank you for that. I took 'the middle path' and got single-sided adhesive stuff, to avoid major headaches. I don't see it as being a significant security risk, the window is upstairs amongst other factors.

I'm not gonna reveal the address though! ;-))

Al

[T i m]

That helps. ;-)

Quite. I must admit I though that solution was a bit 'crude' when we installed them over 20 years ago but it seems that is how it's done.

But I'm not sure it needs to be an 'inner seal' as such (but does also provide that etc) but something to stop someone on the outside simply removing the glazing beads and then the DG units?

If the DG unit is externally glazed and you just rely on the fact that the external glazing beads (to fix the glass in place), I'm not sure what your house insurance would say (other than 'bye'). ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[Tim Watts]

Wait - are these externally beaded? Is this therefore a "security tape" that means that a burglar cannot easily degaze the windows from outside?

Rare - because all the ones I've worked with in the last 10 years have been internally beaded.

[T i m]

That was my interpretation of the situation.

Not rare here but as you reference ... they were fitted 20+ years ago. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Roger Mills]

Most of my thermal break aluminium DG windows (a few years old now!) have glazing beads on the outside. But you can't remove them without pushing the DG unit inwards - for which you first have to remove the gasket strip on the *inside*. So they're quite secure, without needing any adhesive tape.

[T i m]

Understood. Thanks for the design option update. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Brian Gaff]

That sounds a bit short sighted on the manufacturing side. I wonder why they did it this way. Could it be to discourage you accidentally fixing the frame with a twist or warp thereby making it impossible to refit the glass or damage it trying? Either way, it would take a lot of bodies to put a window with glazing in place in I'd have thought. Brian

[Tim Watts]

Weird - all the DG I have fitted (7 windows, 2 manufacturers) has come un glazed.

[trancenotes1776]

To me, it seems so illogical to design a window with the glazing beads on t he external side, that I'm wondering if the frame was really designed to be used that way. The only thing that suggests that they have to be on the ex ternal side, is the orientation of the opening part (casement). I'm now won dering if the casement was installed into the frame on the wrong side! Is t here anything stopping me from removing the casement along with its hinges and simply reinstalling it so it opens to the reverse side? Then when I ins tall the window, the glazing beads would be internal. That would correct th e security issue and also make the DG units so much easier to install - wit h no ladder work involved.

If I did that, would the closed-cell neoprene foam adhesive-on-both-sides s trip would be okay on the external side of the window? The stuff I purchase d yesterday claims to be very weather resistant, but people claim all sorts of things when they want to sell something...

Re the age of this design of window: I acquired the window only two years a go, and it was pristine and in it's factory shrink-wrap. I suppose it could have been in storage for a long time prior.

Thanks to all for the input.

Al

[trancenotes1776]

Me too. It seems totally illogical to me.

Al

[Andy Burns]

Note that Mr sdsdfg did refer to it as a "fairly new" window and recently asked a question about removing and re-fitting a window rotated by 90 degrees ... so I assume it didn't come from the factory with the glazing taped in place.

[trancenotes1776]

The glazing was in place as I received it, shrink-wrap intact. The other window question about rotating a window 90-degrees was re a different window - just to clarify.

Al

[Roger Mills]

If it was supplied by the factory in that state, it looks as if it was intended to be installed ready glazed. Did you *really* need to take the glazing out to install it?

[Roger Hayter]

Have you considered the possibility that it was designed to have inward opening casements? DOI - recently fitted inward opening floating-mullion windows which we like. (Apart from the brass-colour-painted otherwise unprotected mild still catch plates.)

[trancenotes1776]

Such thoughts did cross my mind, but looking at the window in detail, it does seem to have been designed to open outwardly.

Al