Somewhat carelessly, I smashed the outer glass in a sealed DG pane in our wooden trifold doors. The manufacturer does not seem keen to respond with a price to replace it so I am wondering about doing it myself.
This is the kind of thing:
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Is there anything to watch out for when DIYing this?
For example, does the panel have to be glued in place as part of the structural strength of the door or do I simply pack the new glazed panel with shims and seal it with ordinary silicone?
Take the old one out and take it down to your local window supplier & they'll make one up for you. Put back as was. Usually felt or rubber seals. You might have to use silicon if the seals have compressed/deteriorated. It has to be a good fit as it contributes significantly to the stiffness of the frame.
If you get it wrong, the frame will "droop" and catch on the bottom. Big doors are hard to get right.
I would start by looking carefully to see how your existing ones are constructed.
Key things:
Handling a sealed unit this size needs to done extremely carefully if it's toughened glass. The edges are sharply cut squares, and the slightest brush against anything hard (brick wall, concrete path, etc) will cause a pane to shatter. Don't stand them directly on concrete (or any surface which might have any stones/sand on it) nor lean directly against a brick wall.
When fitted, the units must not end up sitting in a puddle of water in the frame - that causes the seal to rapidly fail (as well as rotting the frame in the case of timber). So either the outer pane will be sealed agaist the beading, or the frame will have drain channels and drain holes under the unit (or both). Today's uPVC uses drain channels and drain holes, as it makes installation faster and less skilled, hence cheaper.
I would have said the units are very likely to be key to the structural strength of the doors, so looking to see how that's done with the existing doors is important. It might well not be done with packers (heel and toeing in uPVC) as the forces they exert on the frame corners might tend to cause the timber joints to come apart, so it might be done with glue or window security tape.
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