What experienced glaziers can do…

Despite what many people think when they look at their windows, glaziers aren’t trained or skilled to repair frames. It’s actually a totally different trade. Think about it for a second. Glass is the thing that glazing experts are trained for, but frames involve wood, aluminium or steel.

Not all frames are created equal…

Whether doors or windows, the glass will be held in place by either wood, aluminum or steel. These different frames, as you can imagine, hold the glass in place differently and affect how the glass repair can take place.

Two types of wooden frames and how they affect glazing services…

With older properties, these timber frames generally have putty involved. It’s an old way of holding glass in, but if a frame has this putty in place, it’s what needs to be removed then reapplied. It’s more labour intensive for the glazier as it involves hacking away with a chisel-like device to get the putty (which over years becomes like concrete) out.

The newer kind of timber frame is known as ‘beaded’, and is easier to deal with as the beads that hold the glass in place can be popped off and back on relatively easily.

Steel and aluminum frames…

Steel frames are another older frame type, and involve a special kind of steel putty. Back in the day, this putty involved asbestos, and so this is something to keep in mind if you have steel frames. Only let glass specialists near it! Aluminum frames are the newer way of doing things, and are generally the easiest as they simply involve silicone or rubber seals. Often, the rubber seals can be reused for a broken window during installation, too, if the same glass type goes back in.

Even experienced glaziers tend to frame work…

As mentioned, glass is what we’re good with! We aren’t sheet metal workers (aluminum), or carpenters (timber), so now you know who to call for glazing services, and for frames!