Replacing basement old beat wooden windows with glassblock cellar windows.
The 12 glassblocks are siliconed together. The windows are going to be placed so tight in the openings that I fear I might have to chip the openings a tad to fit but won’t know til the time.
I said all that to prep for the question regarding the install.
Seeing the tight tolerances, might caulking with silicon be the way to go here or use the block mortar to secure the windows in?
Thanks
Replies
I would caulk them in... all the old glass block windows i've removed (salvaged) they always found a way to "flaot" them in the opening... I've found horse hair.. some form of tar... found them set in channels... after seeing all this the first 2 glass block windows I did i mortared them in... only took one expand/contract cycle for the glass to crack...
now i do as you have... i build the window with spacers and caulk... usually strapped around the edges (plastic banding like on bunks of lumber) then i set them into the opening with small wood shims... then caulk them in place... sometimes i wrap the whole edge with a foam plate seal product to act as a "backer rod " for the caulk... I prefer Vulcum a poly caulk
I think they need to be able to move vs be'n the weak link
p
Don't use any foam. (voice of [bad] experience)
You don't like foam? I just love foam, especially when it gets on your fingers and makes them sticky, and nothing on the planet will take it off.
I use foam a lot, but when i used it around the glass block window i built, it made its way between the block and the channel, then turned yellow. I finally couldn't stand it and took it out.But other than than, i'm a foam fanatic. Doors, windows, haute couture...
The other day I saw the 'closeout order no more' price on the vented glassblock windows drop down to $38 and there were two piles of what ...8 high.
So today I'm in there for some tile, decide to check the windows and they are friggin down to four left. I needed four after I'd talked to the client and told her I'd pick them up.
Man, that'd have been a black eye if I'd messed it up.
Edited 8/11/2009 1:46 am ET by rez
You got a better price for taking the last four off their hands, right? <G>I picked up a NIB Aquastar on close-out last year for $200. I have it in case the one i'm using at present ever goes belly up. How sick is that to have a backup water heater, just bec it's 2/3 off?
How sick is that to have a backup water heater, just bec it's 2/3 off?
Not sick at al IMO.
You beat the cost of inflation, future price hikes, and saved 2/3's of the cost to boot.
Bet that comes to over 150% savings by the time the current heater goes out. More than you could make with that $200 in any bank for the same period of time.
I bought my first AS for $500; this 1600H was selling for $600 when i snagged it for $200, and now it lists for $650 at Amazon. Yep, substantially better than the half-percent the bank pays on my checking account! I got the LP one and was considering buying the NG one beside it for resale on CL or ebay, when another fellow scooped it up for himself. I've since realized that Lowe's, early Sunday morning, is where some screaming deals can be made. I've been almost hoping the present standing-pilot Aquastar would go out so i'd have a reason to install the new, pilot-less one! Alas, this Aquastar 125 just keeps heating...and heating...and heating...
Yep to Dave's comment.
You got a better price for taking the last four off their hands, right? <G>
Was too glad to get the last four to think of trying anything.
Am thinking about a bulk purchase of the remaining no-vent GBwindows tho'.
If they'll take a sweet price, that is. snorK*
Hey, you're doing them a favor...<g>
Got to thinking.
Ever get to thinking?
My nephew has a terarium setup with frogs in it.
He buys crickets at the pet store to feed them.
Figger the pets stores have to get their inventory from somewhere.
Just thinking, you could be somewhere.
be 'some..where, over the...'
Ever try to herd crickets?
Hmmmm...don't think me and pet stores is a good match. <g>I have an enormous herd of toads this year who are doing a darn good job on the crickets and slugs; the toad population increases as the pests do, thankfully. The crickets and slugs need moisture, as do the toads, so they have their balancing act at the microclimate of the soil level worked out well. Funny, i relocated a toad yesterday while i was pulling pea vines, who was so fat he could barely move!Now if Monsanto would just breed a dry-land/stalk-level toad for the grasshoppers...
Edited 8/12/2009 3:04 pm by splintergroupie
>> have an enormous herd of toads this year who are doing a darn good job on the crickets and slugs; the toad population increases as the pests do, thankfully. The crickets and slugs need moisture, as do the toads, so they have their balancing act at the microclimate of the soil level worked out well
Same here, plus I have 6' rat snake under my garden shed to keep the balance of toads evened out. It also kkeeps the field mice out of that same shed. No more mice terds or nest in my lawn tractor. Just whish it would expand its' diet to include moles.
You can have too many toads? What happens then?I had mice in my house one year on account of leaving the garage door up too much. I live-trapped them, took them out to the mulch hay pile and expected to have to pay for my granting that pardon, but the only time i've had them back in the house is when one of the cats catches one and comes indoors to upchuck. The ants carry off the worms, the wasps eat the aphids...it all works except for the $#%*^! grasshoppers. I keep expecting the insectivore bird population to rise, but it hasn't. Damn seed-eaters...
What about provision for egress?
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
They don't let birds down there.
Sorry eddie, I see now that was a serious inquiry. There is an exterior cellar door with steps.
Edited 8/10/2009 9:40 pm ET by rez