I am in the process of re painting my wooden double glased windows as one of them leaked the other week.

Whilst re-painting the windows i have noticed the spongy seal between the glass and the wooden retaining frame look perished and are no longer creating a seal all the way round the window as i expect they once did.

After sanding back the frames and the window surround, the wood is sound and the double glazed panels are mostly sound – no misting between the panes of glass apart from the bathroom which i am not to bother about just now. However i am guessing that could all change if there is a lack of seal between the pane of glass and the wood.

Is it a DIY job to replace the foam seal stuff? would i also need to replace the wooden bits as well (i don’t know how well these will hold up to being pulled out of the main frame)? or is it a case of call in the experts and get it done quickly and hassle free?

No one knows anything about windows?

Where is Stoner when you need him.

Should be a case of pull old stuff out push new in. Take the seal to a window manufacturer in your area tjey should have something which matches up.

On’t train

I assume you mean the sealing medium between the outside face of the double glazing unit and the wooden bead that holds it in the frame? Surprised it is foam, must be old. Glazing tape nowadays is more like a mastic.

If you can safely remove the bead without breaking it, you could apply new glazing tape and re-bead. If not, id consider raking as much foam out as possible and applying a bead of clear high modulus silicon/frame sealant using a small nozzle and masking tape/wetted finger as necessary.

Wrightyson may be able to help more.

Sent from my dangleberry

Yeah that is the stuff, it sits imediately either side of the glass. Windows are definately not the newest and it looks like they have been ignored up till now.

Window construction is as follows (from inside out)

1 – Main wooden frame of window with recess for glazed unit to sit in

2 – Spongy foamy stuff

3 – Double glazed unit (centred in frame with rubber packers)

4 – Spongy foamy stuff

5 – Retaining bead of wood (10 – 15mm squared) nailed into Main wooden frame on outside.

4 and 5 may be stuck together but are not firm up aginst the glass. This combined with the small gap round the glased unit in the window frame seems to be allowing water to pass through.

My advice still stands then.

You could refurb each window properly by removing bead and glass, cleaning off old foam, refitting with new packers, silicon and glazing tape. Or just squirt silicon in the void where you’ve been able to rake the silicon out.

If you refurb then you may want some spare matching bead on hand in case you break one, or even buy some hardwood bead and cut and replace existing

Tbh I wasn’t sure so I didn’t comment, I don’t mind giving poor advice regarding helmets/art/riding/the law etc but when it’s my apparent field of expertise I like to be reasonably close 😆
Anyhow I’m of the same thinking as stoner, usually the foam glazing tape was used as a security measure on old externally beaded upvc, with the rubber gasket on the beads acting as a seal.
As these are wooden I presume they’re internally beaded? If so just do as stoner says remove beads carefully, at this point (2man job) one person go outside and gently bang the pane towards inside, if it won’t budge then it’s double sided foam, so you need to run a Stanley knife along edge of the glass to free it up, (hook type blade good for this) once glass is free clean all old foam off and apply a liberal bead of clear silicone in it’s place. Push glass back up to frame, and await for silicone to ooze out. Personally I’d then leave this to cure and cut off after! Check beads are back in similar position as before and tack in.

Aah bit more info now but pretty much same advice.

Thanks for the replies guys, it is sounding more complicated than i first expected (windows are all on the first floor which doesn’t help matters). I think this morning when my boss goes out to a meeting i will be calling round the local glazing firms to see what they quote to do the job.

Without being able to look at the frames it is rather difficult to accurately tell what the problem is but I would be a bit surprised if the leak came through the glazing beads. The window frame where the double glazed unit (DGU) sits should have a rebate machined in it for the DGU to sit against, so if water gets through the external glazing bead it should be held within the rebate. Where does the water get in,top,middle or bottom of the DGU when viewed internally?

If you try to take the external timber glazing beads off it is likely some of them would break but they are fairly cheap to buy or you could make your own.

There is a plethora of products you can get to replace the spongy foamy stuff, ask Dr Google or your local glass shop.

It’s a bit of a bodge job but you could scrape out a bit of the external spongy foamy stuff and apply a silicone seal. Arboseal 1090 is a very good product for this type of application as it lasts a long time and is quite flexible, although if you have to remove any of the DGU’s in the future you would have to cut the Arboseal with a knife. You could do a silicone bead internally too. Don’t wet your finger to finish off the silicone, a household spray bottle with a solution of water and a good squirt of Fairly liquid will give you a great finish when used with a small wooden stick cut to the shape of the joint you need.

I would renew the external perimeter seal with the Arbo 1090 at the same time. HTH

piha

You are right in what you say, the glazed unit is held in a rebate. However what seems to be happening is the rain runs down the window into the rebate then migrates through the join in the wooden frame (lower left corner). I have given this area a good sand down on the outside and for the time being the wood seems sound.

There does not seem to be any paint or wood stain within the rebate so I don’t think it will be good for the windows to have water held within the rebate for prolonged periods.

I will Google the Arboseal 1090 stuff but ultimately after finding out more about what is involved I think this is a job too far for me and the girlfriend, especially with the windows being on the first floor. I think it is going to be a case of biting the bullet and living off pasta and beans next month and getting some experts in to sort it out. At least now I know what needs to be done so I should be able to see through the BS some of these companies are bound to spurt.