Late fall 2013, just West of Vancouver Washington. A very light dusting of snow was received the day we went out to look at this project.

But as is often the case in the
Willamette Valley, it didn’t last. The glass in two large vinyl picture windows in the family room have failed (fogged-up).

This is one of those homes with a daylight basement that faces out the back. So even though the windows are on the main floor relative to the front of the house, they sit above the basement on the back side, creating the logistics of a 2nd story opening.

Fortunately, we were able to park very close to the front door, so when it came time to transport the new glass, it was pretty much an adequately unobstructed path from the door, down two steps through the dining room to the two openings in the family room.

But first the original glass is removed from the vinyl frame to the exterior, and then due the opening being wider than it is tall, we must first tilt the glass to an appropriate angle before we can pass it back in through the opening to the interior side.

After which it is transported through the house, out the front door near one of our vans in preparation for it being loaded onto the van once both of the new insulated glass units has been taken in to their respective openings…

…as is shown being done in the above photo.

Here we have Gordon & Phil waiting upon Jared & Sean (see glass reflection) to complete the application of the new glazing tape to the original vinyl window frame.

The new glass is then carefully transported out through the opening, onto the scaffold, after which it is turned and positioned to be lifted into the original Vinyl window frame.

Sean & Jared putting on the finishing touches to the glass replacement. Our client also took this opportunity to upgrade their glass from standard Low-E to 366 Low-E.

A West Linn Property sitting pretty on the Willamette River. The windows in this house are Weathershield brand wood-clad.

This is one of four units for which the glass is to be replaced, and the most difficult of the four to reach. Due to how the glass is glazed to the frame…the glass must be removed, and then the new glass installed from the interior.

And it’s a heavy Hosea.

The task at hand involved transporting our insulated glass unit up between a nearby ceiling/wall structure and the scaffold that we needed…

…in order to reach the elevated opening.

Up and up from one platform to the next.

Kyle & Jesse steady the insulated glass unit while Jared & Tony quickly double-check that the frame is properly prepared.

Now there’s a type of skylight you don’t see every day.

Measures are taken to ensure that the glass is seated adequately against the wet-glaze on the exterior side of the window…before the wood-stop material is reinstalled to hold the glass into its proper position.

Technician Jesse Trillinger is shown here glazing one of the other new glass units into an operable casement window.

This client in Lake Oswego was a repeat client, because we had just repaired the water-damaged wood…

…jamb assembly surrounding this direct-glazed round-top insulated glass unit several years before.

This repair to the surrounding jamb components necessitated the temporary removal of the glass unit.

And as anyone who works a lot with replacing insulated glass probably knows, handling of such a large units…

…can easily translate into accelerated seal-failure. We did warn our client back at that point “in-writing,” and…

…even documented how much it would cost if it did fail someday soon.

Sure enough, several years hence and voila…foggy glass! As any reasonable person might expect, our client felt…

…duly warned and informed as to the limitations of physics, and seemed to have no problem…

…with employing us to come back out now to replace the glass.

God as our witness, we do love reasonable clients!

Another of the ever popular contemporary home designs set up in the N.W. Hills above the Pittock Mansion.

We never really set out to capture a market share of the glass replacement business.

But it might be said that the glass replacement market captured a substantial segment of our business.

Understandably, when the glass in a person’s windows or doors fogs-up or is broken, you might look under doors and windows for the repair.

So over two decades ago, we began getting calls to replace glass. Today, it roughly accounts for a third of our repair business.

All brands, all makes, all models. We replace glass in steel windows, old and new wood and wood-clad windows, vinyl and…

…fiberglass and aluminum windows. Residential & commercial. If interested, you might take a gander in the commercial window repair category of this portfolio to see some of the commercial…

…glass we replace. You might find it reassuring to realize you’re dealing with a company whose services many property managers trust and employ.

A modest, but very well appointed single-story home in Gresham.

Designed by someone with a keen appreciation for Bay-Window Structures. Count them. Living Room.

Dining Room.

Kitchen.

Breakfast Nook. Most folks would likely agree that the Bay Window structures tend to add a bit of flair and added dimension to an otherwise sterile set of window openings.

Technician Brandon Todd goes about the task of deglazing some of the failed glass on the living-room bay window by removing some of the vinyl snap-bead.

Bruce Hickenlooper employs the use of a pizza cutter tool for cutting the glazing-tape on the interior side.

And the failed (foggy) original glass is removed from the aluminum frame.

After cleaning the aluminum frame surfaces of all residual traces of the original glazing tape, Brandon applies new glazing tape.

99.9999% of the time, we haul-off and dispose of the old glass. The only time we would not haul it off is if our client preferred to keep it for some reason.

A trailer park near Boring, Oregon.

The existing aluminum windows are fortunately of a good enough grade product as to include insulated (double-pane) glass.

Although most of them have failed (fogged-up) and the house is generally not all that well insulated.

So the winters sorely test the heating system & the summers sorely test the air-conditioning system.

And in the end, it’s the utility bills that win the test. Time for an upgrade.

Our client was surprised and delighted to hear that we had the expertise and the wherewithal to replace her 24 original insulated glass units…

…with new insulated glass units that would fit her existing aluminum windows. And as you can see, this was all done “ON-SITE.”

As you can no doubt imagine, this was considerably less money than installing complete new windows.

Some of the hardware on these windows was broken (rollers, latches & weather-stripping). 95% of the time, we can deal with those things as well.

Another house built by Designer/Builder “Robert Rummer” in the Hyland Hills area of Beaverton. If interested in seeing more of the modern architecture of Rummer homes, go to; http://photos.rummernetwork.com/

Time to upgrade the glass from single-pane to insulated, double-pane glass.

We were actually hired by another contractor who was replacing most of the glass units…

…but who wisely sought out our expertise for the three largest floor to ceiling trapezoid shaped units.

This one was almost 12 foot tall at the peak and just over 6 feet wide.

The new insulated glass units are delivered on-site. You can probably tell by the green color showing from this angle that the new glass includes the latest 366-Low-E coating. You may enlarge the photo to see it better by clicking on it.

Technicians Tim Afonin & David Castro prepare one of the smaller openings (this one is only 9′ tall) for the new glass.

Modifying these direct-glazed openings for the thicker glass necessitates the careful removal of the original wood stops and ripping them down on a table-saw.

The original single-pane glass was 1/4″ plate glass, the new units are 1″ overall. So we’re cutting 3/4″ off of the original wood stops.

The blue masking tape is applied to both the stops and the glass to minimize the mess related to the wet-glaze process, and to leave a tight and professionally finished glazing-bead on the exterior.

A Lake Oswego client…

…has now decided that the art-glass…

…in her front entryway sidelights & transom…

…are a bit dated.

So for my client, updated meant “clear glass at the top.”

After shot.

And for the sidelights, it meant “narrow-reed glass.”

A view from the interior.

If there is one obvious common denominator among most modern, contemporary types of architecture now days…it might very well be the use of light and glass.

If you enlarge this photo, you might be able to make out the Glen Jackson bridge showing through near the tops of the trees, which should also indicate the Southerly direction which this bank of windows is facing from the Washington side of the Columbia river.

This bank of direct-glazed picture windows are manufactured by Eagle brand windows (http://www.eaglewindow.com/). Rigid extruded aluminum on the exterior and removable Birdseye Maple sticking on the interior.

The failed glass is a 42″ X 9’10” net unit, so we brought plenty of manpower.

Ladders on the exterior enable us to access the seams between the glass and the aluminum frame…to cut the silicone glazing bead, while the interior wood sticking is removed.

Tim & Kyle get ready to move the glass into position. Note the glass-cups near the floor.

You might be able to appreciate how much we employ the use of “choreography” when handling glass such as this.

We can’t have someone trying to pull something one direction while someone else is pushing it another direction, if you know what we mean.

And yes…when we actually lifted the glass into position…the camera was set down so we had 4 technicians helping with that critical step.

Jared puts the finishing touches on the project with his pneumatic finish nailer.

Both of the large picture windows on the front of this small house had sash with single-pane glass in them.

To minimize the costs, the mess and the aesthetic liabilities some ascribe to the look of Vinyl windows…

…we simply removed the original picture sash in each opening…

…prepped the jambs…

…to align the insulated glass spacer-bars relative to the jamb stop sight-lines…

…and glazed new insulated glass units directly to the original jamb assemblies.

This is of course, what they call a “Direct-Glaze” installation.

Upgraded to Low-E Insulated Glass…

…without significantly downgrading the character of the house, or losing any daylight opening space.