Endless caulking

Boondox · Apr 7, 2002

My house, a pre-1840 New England clapboard farmhouse, has those great looking 12 over 12 windows with hand blown glass (the kind with the little ripples in them). But I need to recaulk them, and with all those little tiny panes I'll be at it all summer if I do it by hand. (18 windows with 24 panes each + 432 panes /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif) Is there a tool for this sort of thing? An air or electric powered caulk dispenser?

Pete

Bird · Apr 7, 2002

<font color=blue>An air or electric powered caulk dispenser?</font color=blue>

Probably so many of them you'll have a hard time deciding which one you want. If you go to this one that doesn't look bad, but I've no personal experience with them.

MikePA · Apr 7, 2002

<font color=blue>But I need to recaulk them</font color=blue>
Do you mean re-caulk or re-glaze? Our place had 6 over 6 windows with the top sash being fixed. I had to do a combination of sash replacement and re-glaze all our windows. Since we also had the wavy glass, I tried to save as much of it as I could, even when I had to replace the sash, I removed the modern panes and put in the old glass. Since the glazing on our sashes was all dried out I had to, assuming the sash was still good;

1. Remove all the glass.
2. Clean all the old glazing compound out.
3. Sand and prime the sash (glazing compund on raw wood dries out).
4. Lay in a bed of glazing compound. Roll around in your hand for a while to warm it up.
5. Lay in the glass
6. Push in the glaziers points
7. Another layer of glazing compound.
8. Smooth with a putty knife.

You're right, it takes a long time to do this!

Where I had to replace the sash and didn't have any wavy glass to put in it;

1. I bought a new 6 pane sash
2. Removed all the glass panes (the glass was not put in right, no bedding glazing)
3. On the outside of the window, I removed the ridges on the mullions that separated the planes of glass.
4. This allowed me to use one large sheet of glass instead of six panes.

CSAW · Apr 7, 2002

Boondox

I feel your pain. I am currently doing the same thing to a 1920s house. The first window I did I used the kind of glazing that comes in a can. You have to mix it in your hand then put it on the window then smooth it with a glazing tool. This tool does a beautiful job putting it on. First window took an hour plus just to put glazing on.

Breakthrough. Glazing comes in a caulk tube with a special tip. Don't know why they didn't tell me this the first time I went to Lowes. This does not look quit as nice unless you smooth it with the glazing tool but it is acceptable./w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

To do it right as one of the other posters said you have to prime first. That is what I am doing this afternoon./w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

I'm finishing the third side of the house now one to go. Broke one pane so far chipping out old glazing./w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

I am finding glazing is an art. With 432 panes you should be very old and just about to get the hang of it when you get through. Not to mention insane./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

GOOD LUCK!

kyoders · Apr 7, 2002

If you are talking about glazing, you might want to ask around about pro painters. We found one that was very reasonably priced, and very efficient at glazing. The house was similar, built in 1918 or so, with mostly original glass. When he came in to paint the windows (which is all he was hired to do), he repaired every window that had any sign of problems with the existing glazing, which had been re-done about 25 or so years before. The guy was amazing, and pretty reasonably priced, too.

Kevin

Boondox · Apr 7, 2002

Yes, I meant reglaze. Had just recaulked in the shower and must have had that on the brain.

Thanks for all the responses. I see that the actual reglazing part is the tip of the iceberg. Ugh! Well, at least you guys know what I'll be doing this summer!

I wonder...if I laid in a few kegs..? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Pete

Inspector507 · Apr 7, 2002

Boondox,
Lay in enough kegs and you might get company /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Boomerboy · Apr 7, 2002

We all know what we are talking about here, but I want to add my two cents. MikePA was correct when he called the soft putty stuff "Glazing Compound". Glazing Compound is used to add a weather tight seal between the framing material, sometimes called came or moulins, amoung other things, and the "Glazing", which is the glass pane itself.

Many types of glazing compounds are available, along with pnuematic and electrical glazing compound removal tools.

It is the "Glazing" that is broken by the baseball! The compound keeps the rain out.

RonL · Apr 7, 2002

Pete

It may be worth your while to get an electric tool that heats and softens the old putty. Get a good quality one. The cheap ones are poorly insulated and may crack your glass. The good ones have the heating elements along two edges and just heat the old putty without transferring heat to the glass. As others have said, once you remove the old putty, prime the sash. Lay in a bead of putty, press in the glass, set your points ( being carefull not to crack the glass) then lay in your outside bead. Smooth with a putty knife. Once the putty has set, a coat of paint increases the life span. I've always preferred Dap 33 glazing compound . There are glazing tools that have preset angles on them but I've found that a good quality stiff putty knife works best for me. Looking back over the years I've probably reglazed many hundreds of windows. After a while it becomes second nature.

RonL

MikePA · Apr 7, 2002

Pete, also make sure that your working surface is at a comfortable height. I did all 30 of our sashes, 360 panes (pains?) of glass and if the work table isn't right, you will feel it in your neck and back.