Replacing Window Glass

Our exterior painting and sprucing up project just seems to go on and on. Will it never end?

We have a small garage that we use to store garden tools, the lawnmower, a ladder, and interesting things that I find in other people's trash. I am about half finished painting the garage and because we have had cold and rainy weather this fall I think this project will, sadly, have to be continued next spring.

I was able to take advantage of a warm, dry afternoon last week to replace a broken window in our garage that needed to be replaced before the window sash is painted. This is a fairly quick and easy job. To get started I gathered up the following supplies:

• Glazier or glazing points -- these are little metal triangles that push into the window frame and hold the glass in the window frame.
• Window glazing--this is the putty that goes along the edges of the glass.
• Glass--my local hardware store has many standard sizes of glass already cut.
• Putty knife--I have a handy, dandy putty knife made for just this purpose. It is v-shaped at the end to make it easier to smooth out the putty at the proper angle and it also has a little notch at the end for pushing the glazing points into the wood.

To get started, I carefully removed the broken glass by prying out the old putty and pulling out the glazing points. It is a bit hard to tell but the picture below shows the window after I removed the broken (top right) windowpane. Obviously, I have no idea how to take a picture of glass without getting a reflection so you get to see me and the neighbor's garage as a little bonus.

The next step was to put in the new glass and insert the glazing points to hold it. Then I put in the putty and smoothed it to form an angle between the glass and the window frame.

I couldn't figure out how to take pictures while I was doing this and I am not exactly an expert at it, so I don't have a tutorial but I found these good, step-by-step instructions on how to replace window glass on the ACE hardware website. This is not an advertisement for ACE hardware. It is just a coincidence that I bought my supplies there. I do have to that everyone at my local ACE store is very helpful and knowledgeable.

So here is is with the new glass installed. Wow! With the replaced glass, the reflection of the neighbor's garage is even better. Now the window sash needs some paint and the window needs a good cleaning. A curtain would be a nice touch. And, I have a plan for that.

It will take up to 2 weeks for the glazing putty to dry. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will find one dry, warm-enough day to paint the window sash before winter really sets in. I am so not ready for winter. I have too many outdoor projects that are not finished.