The Dale C. Maley Family Web Site

A member of this church contacted me to see if I could repair some broken stained glass windows at this church.

One broken window was in the west small chapel room.  Upon investigation, it was determined to be plastic, not glass.  It appears the window can be accessed by removing some heavy wood trim molding.  I put this project on hold and decided to start the second project.

There is an east side room to the church with 4 columns of 5 panels each.  There is a Catholic school associated with the church, and years ago the kids accidentally broke some of the smaller panels with their balls.  A new wall of clear glass blocks were installed on the outside of the stained glass windows, which stopped the ball damage.

Upon investigation, the lowest panel on each column can be pulled open for ventilation, and if you unbolt the hinges, you can remove the panels.  I can take these panels home and repair the broken glass.

All the panels above the bottom row were designed to be removed from the outside, which is no longer accessible because of the glass block wall. I have an idea on how to repair those also.

I am not sure what the material is that was holding the panel to the steel frame.   It was a white material, that was hard and crumbly like either mortar or maybe the stuff you seal stained glass windows with.

I tried the Dremel with a cutting wheel, but you can't get it at the right angle.   I then tried my vibrating tool, and it worked like a charm!!

Normally you use lead came with a U cross section as he border for a panel.............but in this case they used the H cross section you normally use to connect 2 pieces of glass together. Maybe the idea was the "cement" holding the stained glass panel to the lead frame would hold better if the cement worked into the H shape?

I was nervous the cement would hold it tightly and I would have to use a razor scraper knife to slip in and cut the cement.  I did some minor tapping with the small ball peen hammer and it popped out !!!!!!!

Since this is no longer an exterior window, I am not going to apply cement to the lead around the new piece.  It is very messy and I don't have the materials in stock.  On my own personal lead panels, I never put on the cement because they will hang indoors.