Leaded window repair DIY?

[Citation]

I'm hoping for some insight here. The house my wife selected for us has "leaded glass windows". These are from the 1930s and I suspect are actually zinc, not lead. They are the exterior windows for the house (though I have period storm windows over them). Basically they are built kind of like a stained glass window with the metal frames and individual bits of glass. They are similar to the windows in this article.

This American House

Living History In This American House: An American System-Built Home Designed By Frank Lloyd Wright, 1917

thisamericanhouse.com

Anyway, in several of them the glazing is going bad. In some cases it's the glazing between the glass and zinc and in others between the wood and glass. Does anyone have experience fixing these things? Most of what I see on line is more extensive restoration work vs what I would want to do myself. We did have one window restored at a local shop. That included replacing glass and adding supports to it. I'm hoping to avoid spending that kind of money on perhaps 10 or more windows that just need glazing fixes for repairs to the hole thing.

Can the glass be reglazed in place? Removal of the glass otherwise requires unsoldering the zinc. Is the zinc to wood glazing special or just standard window glazing? Any suggested resources?
Thanks

 

[Bert_]

I've never seen anything but lead/zinc between the panes. The glazing putty seals to the wood frame.

Regular glazing putty is the right thing. I've been using siliconized acrylic caulk for my window glazing after reading the advice of a painter who specializes in long lasting restorations

 

[archtimb]

Between the lead and the glass?
Look for a product called glass cement. Then Whiting to clean it up.
Glass/lead to wood, glazing compound.

 

[Citation]

Between the lead and the glass?
Look for a product called glass cement. Then Whiting to clean it up.
Glass/lead to wood, glazing compound.

Thanks! I think this is going to help quite a bit. If I have a small part that has a gap do I need to remove all the existing cement or just any loose material?

Do you have experience with adding reinforcing bars to windows like these? We have an interior door with a zinc glass window. It's clear that 90 years of opening/closing has caused the solder joints to crack. If it isn't too hard I wouldn't mind soldering some reinforcing strips to the window. I'm good with electrical soldering but I haven't done anything this size.

 

[kd3pc]

the reinforcement is usually centered between the glass, and the came. They would run from one side to the other and be integrated with the frame. They are usually metal. I have not done them in place, always removed from the door or panel and laid flat (that in itself can be tricky) on a work surface.
The soldering will require appropriate irons, solder similar to what was used (usually lead or alloy) when built. The glass cracks can not be repaired, must be replaced. The cracks are often the result of the stained glass flexing or sagging in the rigid frame. Then the newly soldered runs will need to be "patina" applied.

 

[Citation]

the reinforcement is usually centered between the glass, and the came. They would run from one side to the other and be integrated with the frame. They are usually metal. I have not done them in place, always removed from the door or panel and laid flat (that in itself can be tricky) on a work surface.
The soldering will require appropriate irons, solder similar to what was used (usually lead or alloy) when built. The glass cracks can not be repaired, must be replaced. The cracks are often the result of the stained glass flexing or sagging in the rigid frame. Then the newly soldered runs will need to be "patina" applied.

Thanks. In this case the glass is fine. It's the solder joints that have cracked. We did have a window on the front door fixed by a local shop. That was done out of the door. In this case I don't really want to mess with removing the door and I don't have the space to lay things out. While I appreciate the old windows, I don't like living with them.

 

[Lassen Forge]

We almost bought a house with a similar picture window of leaded glass squares that was sagging - all lead came, no support. We decided not to buy the house, as that window was the deal breaker (and my ex and I DID stained glass, just not huge contiguous sheets of leaded unstained stained glass like that) - there was NO support bars whatsoever in the window (which is abnormal for these "sheets of glass") - if you look at large church leaded glass you'll find some of the "lead came" is actually steel (or bronze) channel to give the windows structural stability. Had we started to dismount and restore the window (leaving a 6'x8' open hole to the living room in winter) we realized after looking it would have literally fell to pieces had we loosened and removed the window framework to drop it. Grrr....

Very cute, very artsey in a 1920's brick cottage, but very much a PITA to fix. I suspect whoever bought the house had to have a few dozen thousand bucks to pay someone to drop it, put a new single pane in the window, rebuild the leaded glass right, and mount it against the single pane of glass for added support, maybe even sandwich it between 2 sheets so it had some insulative value...

 

[ng8264723]

I just fixed 10 windows on my 1910 dutch colonial. I had to remove the windows from the frame. That was awful because the putty was like it was made of concrete. I then had to desolder the good glass to fix the inner pieces and resolder them as I moved outwards. The glas had a lead channel and was held in place by putty,

 

[BigMike782]

I restored an 1890s vintage window out of a church. It was suggested that I use non sanded wall grout for cement but I could not find a small amount so I used sanded grout and it worked just fine.
For joint repair I used a Dremel and a stainless steel wire wheel. Flux(50/50) and solder was from Hobby Lobby.
Guidance was from my cousin and her husband who have both been doing stained glass since the 70s.