The Church has had its eyes shut for a few months. We took in the windows for repair and reglazing. We started by sanding down the old wood and giving them a few new coats of paint.
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| Red on the Outside, |
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| Brown on the Inside. |
To keep the inside weather separate from the outside weather, we needed to glaze the windows. Glazing is when you put a special glazing putty on the inside edges and smooth it down.
I got the job!
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| I've got the gloves for it! |
But I had to be schooled first. Dr. Paul Fisher of the Institute for Glazing Old Windows gave me a tutorial. First take a glob of glaze. Then roll it out like a long snake. Then stuff it in the corners with your big Polish fingers.
Well I don't have big Polish fingers, so I had to use several smaller fingers.
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| Roll and Stuff. |
It looks a bit like someone stuffed their old gum into the windows. But there is a tool that takes the lumps and bumps out and gives it an edge.
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| De-lumped |
I used it.
Of course, if the edges of the window aren't smooth and sharp, the tool that uses the edge as a guide isn't able to make a nice straight line.
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| Uhh...maybe some paint will help! |
Yes, the paint did help. After I painted, I had to scrape the excess paint off the glass and clean the glass.
At last, we were finally able to install a window!
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| New wood inserts to keep it all snug. |
Of course there were some adventures along the way.
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| Whups. |
Pilot holes had been drilled, but the wood was pretty dry, so it cracked. But practice makes perfect, and we did practice!
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| Perfect! |
And the Mastermind behind it all...
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| Pilot holes, baby. |
...had a very special event to go to, so time to get cleaned up!
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| Cleaned up! |
Patent #4, and counting. Fancy-schmancy dinner in Rochester, MI. Mr. Zaitz receives his patent plaque and some very nice words. Mrs. Zaitz receives a delicious dinner and a big helping of gratefulness that she hitched her horse to this guy's post.
