What is best glazing medium for this little project.

[Nick]

The plan is to remove the leaded glazing bars & glass panes from a Crittall (steel framed) internal door and replace with a single sheet of clear material. This small door, 55W x135H cm approx, leads from kitchen to utility room and from there to garden. It is also the dogs pathway to garden. Existing glazing is puttied. The dogs scratching has damaged the lead glazing bars and the entire glazing is becoming rickety. The door is in constant use and is becoming very flexy. It dates back to 1919 although the utility room is an extension added about

35 years ago. I'm sure that quite soon the glazed part of the door will fall to bits.

I could use safety glass but don't really want to because of the weight & cost. A preference would be some kind of plastic sheet. Acrylic/polycarbonate/makrolon etc but I don't know what else might be available. The intention would be to set this sheet in a bead of silicone and also bolt through to retain integrity of the frame. The frame can easily accept something of 10mm in thickness and there is sufficient room within the frame for bolts/nuts. However, whatever material is used it will be bashed and scratched by dogs, cats and the V occasional goat

Any thoughts please?

Many thanks and good wishes to all.

N.

[John]

In article , Nick writes

Don't use plastic or acrylic - it will scuff and scratch in no time.

[Owain]

Even polycarbonate will scratch very easily. You might be better strengthening the door by welding some steel angle on it to brace it. Or put a sheet of perspex over the whole glazed part of the door, but regard it as sacrificial.

Owain

[Nick]

Thank you, this is internal and highly visible so angle bracing would appear unsightly. I do regard whatever I may use as sacrificial and have no problem with replacing it every couple of years or so. My problem is that I don't know what material to use for best longevity.

What do engineering machine manufacturers use for safety guards on the likes of lathes, mills, drills etc.? These are battered by swarf continuously and have some years life. I would hope that battering by our animals should be no worse, and certainly not as intense.

Nick.

[Adam Aglionby]

Polycarbonate, its very strong in impact but scratches easier than Acrylic which is more fragile but slightly more scratch resistant.

Cheers Adam

[NT]

Sounds to me like you need puttied glass. Anything less will scratch badly. The glass would contribute to overall stiffness.

NT

[Andy Dingley]

Glass.

You could keep the leading too. It's common practice to set steel reinforcement rods behind the lead.