Double pane French doors

Retrofitting Double Glazing on Wooden Doors

This page is the second in a series about double glazing. It's the companion to a page about retrofitting double glazing for steel windows. This time, we're looking at wooden French doors. While parts of the process are similar, there are also many differences. The page is not as detailed as the one on steel windows, but there are a few pictures to help you follow along.

As in the process for steel windows, the basic idea is to remove the old putty from the frames, to place the double glazing on rubber spacers, then to fill the gaps with silicon. One major difference is that we're working with wood, which makes the putty removal much more complex. And at the end, instead of using aluminum corners, we hold the panes in place with wooden beads.

I don't have a very good "before" picture.

On the photo, I've already sanded the doors back in places where the old paint was flaking. It's hard to see, but on the open door you might be able to feel how the old glazing is recessed (rebated) into the frame. Later, the double glazing will fill that rebate, which means the glazing will be flush with the doors. ill rebated, rather than flush. Of the nine French doors we worked on, I gave the first one to a joiner after removing the putty, and he used the rebating method. To our eyes, the eight panes we did ourselves (where the glazing is flush with the door) look better, partly because the bead on the rebated pane looks angular and hard.

Removing the Putty

This is the hardest part of the job. I tried a few things but haven't found a magic technique. I used the two smaller chisels from this chisel set (most of it on the ½-inch chisel). This is a good set for the job because it's relatively inexpensive (in relation to the silicon and the glazing) and you don't risk damaging the blade of your favorite chisel.

I hate to break it to you, but for each pane I needed three to four hours to fully remove the putty and clean out the frame. If you're doing a lot of panes, the work with the chisel is extremely hard on the wrist. To get started, you can lightly hammer on the blunt edge of the chisel, like on the picture of the putty section of my steel window page. If you have pine doors, you'll probably find that the hammer is not always the best tool, as it makes it easy for the chisel to eat into the soft wood. s or diamond-shaped metal wedges that have to be removed.

Just so you understand, you could say that there are three layers of putty to address. First, there's the layer above the glass. Once the glass is off, there's the putty at the back of the frame, which controls the depth of the rebate, and therefore the thickness of the glazing you can put in. Then there's the putty on the left, right, top and bottom, which controls the height and width of the glazing.

I ended up doing most of the work by pushing the chisel by hand, lightly shaving the wood to get the proper rebate. Don't worry if your work inside the frame does not produce a perfectly flat rebate. Mine looked like the surface of an unpolished sculpture. This doesn't matter, as you'll smoothen the surface with a sander, and as the silicon cures all asperities.

Preparing the Frame

Once the putty was off, I sanded the inside of the frame using an oscillating tool (the Dremel Multi-Max). These tools are really perfect for this kind of sanding in tight corners.

After sanding, we primed the inside of the frame with a product called Dulux One, which also acts as a sealer. At that time, we also primed the portions of the doors where I had sanded back the old flaking paint.

Source: www.asiteaboutnothing.net

Sound dampening french doors

2007-09-11 10:45:33 by SacVulture

Hi All -
I have a 4th bedroom that was designed to be a den with French doors. I've converted that room into a home office but would like to sound proof the noise from the adjacent hallway. I have distressed (not flat but "hand-scraped" ) wood floors inside the room and outside. There is about an inch gap between the floor and the bottom of the door.
I would like to put a more sound dampening French door since at times the kids can get loud and noise trickles into the room.
What would you recommend? Would double-pane outdoor french doors be usable for an in

French door problems - need advice

2002-12-10 13:01:01 by door_mania

I had wood French doors installed about 10 years ago. Two years ago, the double-paned windows on one side of the French door fogged over--the seal must have been broken. I called a window repair company. Because the window was permanently sealed in (i.e., couldn't just be popped out and replaced), they had to cut out the window, then replace with a new double-pane window, and then reface with wood strips where the window meets the frame. I sanded it all down and resealed everything. Looks pretty good, and so far the seal is tight, but I don't have a lot of confidence that it will remain so.
In the meantime, the window on the other side of the French door has fogged over! Augh

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