The knack of changing double-glazing panels.

[Steve]

I need to remove the cat flap (fitted to an insulated panel) in the back door of our old flat and reinstall the sealed glazed unit as part of getting the flat ready for letting.

I paid a bloke to put the board in when we got our cat, but I was not there to see how he did it.

I have heard that the panels can be "snapped" out using a wallpaper scraper along the longest edge of the beveled glazing strip but when I tried it seemed that the scraper was going to bend or that plastic lugs etc. might break first.

Perhaps I was just being a bit too cautious...

Is there a knack? Is there a tool made for this purpose? Should I be a bit more brutal?

Thanks

Steve

[Grunff]

Yup.

The scraper will bend. Use a stiff one, and keep going. Start at one end of a bead, not in the middle, and it will pop out.

Takes a lot of force.

Getting them back in without breaking the glass is the hard bit - but I'll tell you about that some other time ;-)

[Andrew Gabriel]

Are the units beaded or taped? If beaded, remove the beading from the other side first, push the panel back into the space, and the glazing strips should come out quite easily. If taped, then pushing the panel against the tape (which is slightly compressible) will achieve the same thing, although you'll find the panel is still firmly fixed in place when you've got all the glazing strips out (you'll have to cut through the tape with a knife or wire, clean it off, and fit new tape).

[Steve]

Thanks Grunff... time to try again!

Aha! I tried in the middle last time.

Time for an old scraper then.

Oh spoilsport! Go on, I know that you are dying to tell me really :-)

Steve

[Steve]

I don't know.

I am told that he did it very quickly and there was no need to open the door, which remained locked throughout. The job took him a few minutes to fit the insulated board that he had measured and pre-cut.

Steve

[Grunff]

What you do is hold the bead in place then hammer it home. The problem is doing that without denting/scratching/breaking the bead or the glass.

My solution is to use a small block of wood, around 2"x2"x4", with a piece of A4 stiff card or thin plastic stuck to it. You place the bead on the frame, then hold the wood+card gadget so that the block of wood sits across the bead, and the card sits flat against the glass. You can now slide your hammer against the glass and strike the block.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , Steve writes

I *really* hope he did the job from inside the house if the door remained locked!

[Steve]

Thanks Grunff and Andrew - job done!

The first bead took quite a bit of force and slightly bent my wallpaper scraper but the others were then dead easy.

I had no problem replacing the beads, a hard thump from the bottom of my fist was enough to get them to click into place.

Cheers

Steve