Those who live in glass houses...should watch where they mow!

Insulated tempered glass replacement. Steel Door glass replacement.

Lawnmowers are dangerous…….. Those who know me know why the pause. The other day while mowing, a homeowner picked up a decorative round quartz rock that was hidden by leaves and sent parts of it spraying around the yard and into the house. It broke vinyl siding and shattered the outer pane of glass in a steel door! Oh oh! The spider-webbed tempered glass is actually pretty after you get over the shock of what an arrow head sized stone chip can do!

So immediately, the question, can that glass be replaced or is that a new door? Good news, the glass can indeed be replaced and it is the economical and green thing to do.

But first tend to the broken glass. Put a drop cloth under the window to contain the nuggets of glass when you begin cleaning up. I used a putty knife to pry apart the broken layer of glass, which crumbled. Eye protection and gloves are recommended. This rendered the door temporarily reasonably safe.

The measuring and ordering was deceptively simple. Measure door thickness, height and width of the framed window and look on line. The window arrived double boxed and in good shape- it is important to inspect it before you tear out the old window. I put it up against the old window just to be sure and then set it aside. It comes with directions. Read those. I will summarize here.

First I put a box down outside to catch any newly loosened nuggets of tempered glass. Then with an 1/8 inch drill, I cut out the screw caps.

Then I removed all but two of the screws. Loosen those last two and then work around the framing of the window to loosen it. The inside frame had no adhesive, this was the case on the replacement too. Around the outside of the exterior window place painters tape on the door. This prevents your utility knife from scuffing the door as you cut the sealant from behind the molding frame.

It takes a lot of force, so try to pull away from yourself and keep your free hand clear as you cut off the molding. Once you have gone all the way around the window, you can use a putty knife to gently pry the molding off the door. It will come somewhat grudgingly. Once the frame and window are out of the door, use a vacuum to clean up any tempered glass nuggets, they appear from nowhere!

I was concerned about some discolored caulk/adhesive on the exterior perimeter of the window, but after alcohol did not remove it, I did not move to stronger chemicals.

Now that you have removed the window, you will understand how to put the new one in. My window had a bead of adhesive on the exterior side frame, so I placed that in the hole and checking for level, pressed it in place. Still holding that side in, I placed the interior frame in place and hand started two opposite side screws.

Then start all the screws, again checking for level. I tightened them slowly in a circle, and then go around again in a circle. You will notice the inside frame pulls itself to the glass. No tighter than that is needed. Then I let the window relax. I gave it a couple of hours to settle itself into the adhesive and rechecked the screws. I need not have worried about the old stained caulk, because I ran a 1/8th inch bead of white silicone caulk around the exterior frame and the old caulk disappeared.

Last and my least favorite part, was putting in the screw hole caps! If done well, they disappear!

Take your time- there is no sense doing this project twice! The first part took about an hour. Figure on 2 hours for the whole job including clean up. You can certainly do this yourself.