Knocking out old DG unit...

[John L]

I posted this the other day, but there wasn't a single response ...

I'm going to be replacing the DG unit in a wooden window frame. Are there any tips on getting the old one out? I presume it's puttied in, so having removed the wooden beads around the unit, I presume I'm going to have to lever and bash away with an old screwdriver, bolster, chisel, etc, and hope I don't smash the thing.

It's on the first floor BTW: a ladder job. (The window doesn't open: definitely a ladder job.)

If there are no responses this time, I'll guess I'm being stupid, and will follow my presumptions above.

Cheers John

[Cicero]

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If you're discarding the old unit cover it liberally with sticky tape (like bomb blast tape. Then lever it from the *inside* with a chisel and use a solid length of wood to aid the process working at the edges. This won't be too difficult provided that it is actually beaded (and the beads are removed) because it will almost certainly be located with spacers.

Stating the obvious, I know, but make sure there's nobody waiting below in case you drop the removed unit.

Cic.

[Bruce]

Probably like most people on here, I've installed but never removed a DG unit, and only at ground floor level. But I'd approach it very carefully with a couple of suction grip pads on the outside to hold it. Have someone on the inside who is patient and level-headed and who can apply steady pressure.

All should wear stout gloves and always work on the assumption that it

*will* break and fall. Chances are that it will. So no kids around at all, no-one at all below you, or anywhere near, just you outside and the other person inside.

Prepare for it to come out suddenly and make sure your footing on the ladder is secure, otherwise you risk going down with it. Personally, I would only do it working from a proper staging. A ladder is an additional risk.

[Andy Cap]

IANAE but if you are working from a ladder, I would at least bang several stout nails into the sill or nail a batten along the bottom, so that if it should suddenly release, it doesn't slide down the ladder like a guillotine ! :-( I would also secure the bottom of the ladder with a rope, because you are likely to be throwing your weight around.

Andy C

[Jules Richardson]

... and that if there's a window below, you protect it with something in case the upper-floor one falls and bounces toward it :-)

[Malcolm]

Having a house with lots of small window panes in wooden frames I have to replace several each year. They were set in putty (by the professionals) and it is now after 15 years very hard.

Remove the glazing strips and any pins and with an old chisel remove as much putty as possible. If you haven't got an old chisel you soon will have.

From the inside use something like a 2 inch wide flat scraper and knock it into the join between glass and wood. The scraper does less damage to the wood than a chisel. Eventually the glass will start to move. Using the scraper to protect the wood, knock in the chisel between sctraper and glass. The glazing unit will crack as you are trying to bend it and will almost certainly come out in bits..

The longest part is cleaning off the old hard putty without removing chunls of wooden window frame.

Do not use putty to fit the replacement unit.

Malcolm

[TheOldFellow]

Having read the other responses, and thinking of your health, hands, feet, etc.. Why not take a sledge to it from the inside first (cordon sanitaire policed by an adult outside), then take out the pieces.

R.

[stuart noble]

The glazed unit is normally held in the wooden frame by a surprisingly small number of pins or glazing sprigs. Find those (not always easy because only 3 or 4 mm might be showing) and there should be no need for bashing and crashing about

[John L]

OP here:

THANKS very much, all, for the good advice! Especially Malcolm (who's obviously done this before), and to Andy (who pointed out that a perfectly-ejected window might then launch itself down the ladder!).

I'm a safety-conscious bloke, but I wouldn't have thought of some of the tips that have emerged: thanks again, all.

BTW the job's not imminent, so I won't be reporting back for a while yet

-- I like to prowl around a problem like this for a few weeks! (In fact I've procrastinated for about two years already, so now it's becoming un-put-offable.)

Cheers John

[Cicero]

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A roll of duck tape used as I described earlier will keep you safe from stray fragments. Very cheap compared with the loss of a few fingers! Double glazing panels are quite heavy.

Cic.

[John L]

Yep- I noted that Cic thanks! I'm glad to say that unit number 1 is only about 36" by 20" (which doesn't make it *light*!), whereas number 2 will be about 36" square.

Cheers John