After receiving a $1430 estimate from “A Touch of Glass” to replace the window panes in my Guest House, I decided I’d opt to go with “A Pane in the Glass” and crown myself as the professional.
“A Touch of Glass” offered to replace each pane for $110 each for the full service install or $65 each if I removed the frames and brought them to their store.
I removed a Double-Hung frame from the 2nd story Guest Apartment to bring to Home Depot with me in hopes they’d cut the glass for me and give me a couple tips. The guy at the store told me they quit cutting glass for customers a while back, but he helped me gather the necessary tools to repair the windows myself. The store didn’t carry enough glass to complete the repair of my 13 broken panes. I was able to purchase 6 sheets of glass for about $11 each. Most my panes are close to 24” x 24” and the store didn’t have those exact sizes. I bought 2 quarts of putty, 2 packages of glazing points, a glass cutter, mineral oil, grease pen and putty knife for a total of $124. When I got to the checkout counter, I found I left my credit cards and ID at home and it was past the Home Depot’s 9:00 PM closing time already. Luckily I found an extra checkbook and passport I left in the car.
I scraped the old putty from the frame and used it as a template to outline the glass with the grease pen that I was cutting. My cut glass fit perfectly except the frame wasn’t flat on 1 side. I over stressed the glass while pressing the glazing points in the wood to hold the glass in place and trying to bend it down to fit the frame. Snap! Oh well, there went my 1st perfectly cut piece of glass. I decided to continue using the same piece of glass to experiment with the putty.
When I opened the putty, I found a little tube of hardener that was supposed to be mixed in at a ratio of 50:1. The instructions on the quart were far too tiny to read without a microscope or strong magnifying glass.
I mixed a little putty with hardener and slapped it on the window, making an ugly mess which convinced me to read the instructions or find a better method when doing the job for real the next time. The putty quickly hardened after a few minutes; perhaps I added a higher ration of hardener than I was supposed to.
Later, I was told that the putty is supposed to be rolled into a snake or worm shape and placed in the window before trying to level it out with the putty knife. I just kind of slopped it on the knife and tried to get it into the corner of the window which wasn’t accomplished successfully in an aesthetic sense.
After the putty, I tried getting the window frame back in place before leaving on vacation. I didn’t quite get it back to original or an operating position, but it was still in place when I returned a week and a half later.
The Home Depot guy suggested I get a second estimate from “John’s Glass Services” when I told him of my $110 estimate.
While looking for more glass at both Home Depot & Lowes in Mesa, Arizona, I found Lowes had a Glass and Plexiglas cutting service still available. I’m planning to get the rest of the glass a Lowes though I’m leery a single window size will not represent the 4 matching sized frames. I’m debating whether I’ll take all the frames with or take the risk of 1 frame for each represented size. What would you do?
