just curious on this one… I’ve been replacing a few fogged up double glazed window panes lately. Been taking the old sheets of glass and storing them out behind my shop.
Is it possible to take a double glazed window apart (most of them have completely separated anyway), clean them up, and “do-it-yourself” re-seal them.
I don’t think their is any special gas that has to go between them, just dry air. Seems like some sort of spacer (left over strip of azec possibly) and a little silicon and ingenuity and they would be good as new.
Might be some free windows for a shop or what ever building project one day.
If anybody’s ever tried it, how did it turn out?
Replies
There must be a reason people don't do it.
A few thoughts in case you want to try:
The air has to be really dry. It must have a dewpoint lower than the lowest outside air temperature the glass will come in contact with. So depending on your climate you'd need a dewpoint of perhaps -40° or lower. You can't make air that dry at home, you'd have to buy it.
The spacer material has to be vapor impermeable. I doubt Azek is. If you use aluminum you can't use silicone because the acid will corrode the aluminum.
IG units (insulated glass) are made on production lines where the spacers are delivered precise beads of glazing sealant, the sandwiches made up of glass-spacer-glass, units are pressed, and then the secondary seal of perimeter glazing is extruded into place.
The spacers are typically hollow sections that contain a charge of dessicant, to absorb any moisture that might be in the cavity at production time.
Low-volume shops use a Tremco product called swiggle strip, that makes the glazing a single step operation. SwiggleStrip's sealant/adhesion compound has the dessicant embedded in it.
I cannot imagine doing IG as a DIY project.
Why are you telling me instead of the one who asked the question?
appreiciate it. I do have a pretty good shop for old-ball projects as such, but sounds like my energy is better off channeled elsewhere.
Junkhound did a thread on this a couple of years ago
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!