Windows - a pane in the glass

A "before" picture of one of our south windows. Yikes!

Mark needed some respite after spending hours setting two window panes the other day. So, yesterday while I was doing pane # 3, while putting the final 6" of glazing around that tiny ledge that goes around the frame, the piece of glazing rolled off, pulling with it all of the rest of the glazing that I had applied all the way around the entire frame. For the THIRD TIME! After mumbling some expletives, followed with, "Why can't I do this - I just can't do it!" my 6-year old daughter says, "Mommy, don't ever say can't - YOU CAN DO IT!!! GO FOR IT!!!!" Aaack!!! Decided it was time to give it a break, or I was about to set a really, really bad example for my daughter. Did I mention this was the third time the glazing putty fell off?

Later in the afternoon, after my blood pressure returned back to normal, I slowly, painstakingly rolled out and applied that tiny little 1/8" thick bead of glazing all the way around the 1/4" ledge again. By this time I learned that I should slightly flatten the bead of glazing with my thumb before carefully placing it on the ledge (theoretically so it won't roll off, but it usually did anyway, so this did not have much effect except for the fact that the process vaguely resembled balancing a long gray tapeworm on a tiny ledge). I carefully placed on the window pane, and, wait a second. The pane didn't fit. It must have been taken off of a different sash and was less than 1/16" too long. But no matter how I wiggled it, it just wouldn't fit in the frame. DRAT! And when I pulled it off, it took with it that whole 1/8" thick bead of glazing off that I had spent 15 minutes applying (for the 4th time, now).

Let's try this again...so today, I used the upper sash, because the pane actually fit in it. Again, spent 10-15 minutes applying that darned little 1/8" bead of window glazing all the way around, while constantly trying to keep it from sticking to my clumsy thumbs and fingers every time I lifted them off of that dreaded stuff. (Why does it only stick to my fingers, and not the wood?) Then laid down the pane of glass. Bingo! It fit! Then I proceeded to insert those little glazing points into the wood around the pane. CRACK! The pane broke.

Somehow (and I really don't remember how, after having utterly lost my marbles), I managed to place the one remaining pane I had into one of the frames (with that darned 1/8" tapeworm that I spent 15 minutes applying onto that darned tiny ledge around the frame). At the last moment, several inches of the glazing rolled out between the pane and the wood while I laid the glass down, swinging there taunting me like a tongue doing the raspberry. I managed to reach underneath the window and to stuff the darned bead under the glass without too much more falling out. Then glazing points (without breaking the window), window glazing on top, check.

I just called the glass company to order 3 more panes. Out of the three windows (6 panes), one was already broken, and we broke 2 in the process of re-glazing. That is one thing I learned, not to bother to order the glass until I've set every last pane I have (or I'll be making an extra trip to the glass company)! Three panes down, still three to go - anyone have any advice on how to teach that window glazing putty a lesson??

-Carrie