 | Bob Crager of Lewis Street Glass is a 26 year veteran in the glass business. Lewis Street Glass is a leading Wichita Glass company, serving the entire Wichita/Sedgwick County area since 1919. They do anything and everything having to do with glass, both residential and commercial. They also do Auto glass. They are located at 743 South Market, facing Kellogg on the South, and you can reach them by phone at (316) 263-8259. You can email Bob Crager at bcrager@lewisstreetglass.com |
Glass
2011-11-30 10:16:59
So much heat…so little relief in sight!
Question: This summer 2011 heat wave is awful! I have some cracked window panes in my older house in College Hill…how do I replace them, or should I even try to do it?
Answer: Replacing cracked window panes in an older home can be tricky, especially if you’re trying to preserve the integrity and look of a home that was built, say, around the turn of the last century. But it is possible to tackle this job and win, either doing it yourself, or letting the pros do it. If you have some experience, and have the time and the right tools, you might decide to attempt it yourself. On the other hand, sometimes it’s a good idea to call someone in the business, to see if letting someone who does it every day take a look and let you know what is going to be involved in the repair or replacement of your old windows or window glass.
The key to your job is to be very careful in removing the old glass panes so that you don’t destroy the wood frames. Sometimes the wood is less than pristine, with dry rot or wet rot having done a number on it over the years.
First, you should determine that the wood frames are solid and worthy of being retained. If they are, then you can use a sharp knife to remove the old glazing around the glass, and if you get them out in one piece, take the pieces to your local window glass dealer, and have the new panes cut to fit. If the panes are already totally broken out, measure the dimensions of the openings carefully from side to side, then up and down, to determine the precise size of the replacement glass panes you will need. And remember, after you pick up the glass replacement panels, you’ll have to reinstall and re-glaze the new glass into the frames. With summer heat as bad right now as we’ve seen in several decades, it might be a good time to fix all of your leaky window panes, and the frames, to conserve the loss of cooled air from your home’s interior, unless, of course, they are deteriorated beyond repair. A lot of heated and cooled air goes right out the leaky frames of windows and doors of older homes. These are the weakest link in your home’s energy loss chain. Large amounts of your energy losses, both winter and summer, go right through the windows and window frames of your home.
We get many requests for changing out the old single pane glass windows with new double pane insulated glass. Using your existing frames, this can be a tall order, because the original windows were originally made to accommodate a single pane of glass, normally an eighth of an inch thick…whereas an insulated glass component is normally about a half inch thick, and would require mortising out the frames to receive the thicker insulated unit. Typically, absent a lot of experience at doing this kind of retrofit job, a novice can mess it up beyond repair. Clear insulated glass can run into the neighborhood of $10 per square foot, whereas the upgraded insulated “low-e” glass can run on up into the $14 per square foot range or higher. Estimates on a specific job are available by contacting your local full service glass dealer.
The alternative is to replace the entire window unit with a new insulated unit…the downside is that you normally will lose some of the original look of the turn-of-the-century architecture of the home. It all depends upon the outcome you desire. Sometimes saving money and making your home easier to heat and cool wins out over preserving the look…sometimes it’s the other way around.
Your local fully staffed, full service window glass dealer can assist you in deciding what is best for your particular situation, and will provide the expertise to get the job done right for whatever outcome you want for your home. Remember that if you’re losing your air conditioned air through your old windows, you really can’t afford to not get that stopped. Cooling the inside costs a lot of money, and I don’t know anyone who can afford to try to cool the outside with the heat we’ve had this summer. More next month…
