Sigh of Relief!

Ten years in the making and the project is almost over. It was more than ten years ago when I bought the replacement glass for the big front window with the bullet hole in it and we finally got it in today! I was very nervous. This was a $350 piece of red colored glass being installed in an 1895 stained glass window.

So many things could have gone wrong, not the least of which was breaking the glass. It was a tight fit, so we did have to shave a little wood off to get it to fit in, but in the end it looks great. The wooden circle that holds the glass is made up of 4 pieces of wood, with each making up 90 degrees of the circle. Since the glass was out, I took the opportunity to squeeze some glue in to the joints.

Other fears were that I would find some rot in the muntins or frame of the window. It is surprisingly solid considering it was installed more than 115 years ago and faces east. Even so, I took the opportunity to drive in some nails and brads.

Megan came by to help get the glass in and to do the glazing. My past attempts at glazing have been barely passable and this is far too prominent a window to leave it for me to do. Megan has been restoring windows in a monster Victorian 6 blocks from here for the past two months, so it was an easy decision to let her do it. Not only that, I think she would have been mad at me had I not let her do it!

Only in Eureka will you be wearing a hoody and vest at the end of August!

I feel like an expectant father as I watch her put on the glazing putty (Steady, steady. Careful now)

After the big circle was safely in place and glazed we dug out all of the old glazing putty. It is my personal policy that I replace glazing putty every 117 years whether it needs it or not. In this case, it needed it in a big way. The old putty was almost effortless to get out.

Another thing we noticed when working on the window was that every piece of glass had a heavy mist of green paint on it. The idiots who painted the house 15 years ago over-sprayed on to the window. After Megan left I got back up there and cleaned each pane with paint stripper and steel wool. Most of the pieces are too heavily textured to just scrape with a utility knife blade. After the glazing has set, I will scrape minor paint residue off the interior side. It's going to be like a whole new window.

Tomorrow I'm going to go back up and scrape and sand the wood, and then primer the whole thing. Megan is going to come back on Tuesday and glaze all of the little pieces of glass, and then I'll repaint next weekend. It is going to be such a relief to have this done. It is so nice to know the window is strong, the wood is solid, and every thing is securely in place. It will be good to go for another hundred years.

And no more bullet hole!