Glass Replacement

S.W. Portland, in the West Hills just South of Burnside.

If you enlarge the photo collage by clicking upon it, you should be able to see the cracked glass.

This Cherry Wood Door had Laminated Frosted (obscure) Glass in it. But it was not insulated double-pane glass. There is no air-space between the panes of glass.

So the annealed glass is easily broken, but it is somewhat held together by the film that is sandwiched between the two panes of glass, not unlike windshield glass in your car.

Per our client’s request, the plan was to upgrade the glass from frosted-laminated to frosted-tempered-insulated. So we acquired the new glass, removed the door from the jamb assembly…

…and set it upon our saw-horses, after-which the remaining laminated piece of glass succumbed to gravities pull and made removal somewhat easier for us. Due to the fact that insulated glass requires more space, because it consists of two panes (minimum) separated by a spacer-bar…

…to create an air-pocket as it were, the door must be modified. And thus it is that Steve Hilt is shown here going about routing-out the rabbet in the door to accommodate the need for this additional space, employing considerable skill and care not to damage this expensive, naturally finished hardwood door.

Technician Mike Stavish goes about chiseling-out the corners where the router cannot reach, and then re-applies the wood-stops after glazing in the new insulated glass unit.

The finished product. Literally better than new.

Not just because the glass now has an increased insulation factor, but also because the glass will be considerably more difficult to break.