HOW TO install a Glass Block Window
Glass Block windows can be intimidating. We showed you how to remove the old steel frame window. In this video we are going to step you through installing the Glass Block Window.
You can measure the opening yourself and find PRE-Made windows at Home Depot or Lowes. You can also order custom sizes.
When ordering make sure that the window size is smaller than the opening size.
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Transcript:
How to Install a Glass Block Window
Do you have a window that looks like this, and you want that window to look like this? Well, watch our video today. Hi, this is Dennis from Home Rehab Pros, and we're going to show you how to install that glass block window today. Jeff is going to be the one to do it, and if you have a project like this, just go ahead and do it. Let's do it together. So, let's watch Jeff. Let's get started, Jeff, show us how to do this so we can do it too.
Okay, so we're going to mix this, and, uh, this mix requires four quarts per 60 pounds, which we have there, but I'm not mixing the whole bag because I'm doing just this one window. So, what I'll do is I'm just going to take some fresh water, and I'm just going to pour some in the bottom here, not too much, a little bit. That's close to about a quart was what I put in there. So, I'm going to mix about a quarter of what—
So, we're going to take this. I'm going to mix this, and we want to be slow with it, and this is a variable-speed drill, which is nice because you can control the paddle.
[Music]
Okay, so your mix needs to be moist enough but not too wet or too dry. So, a good way to do that is to pick it up and feel it. And that feels nice and wet and it leaves it on your hand. So, that's probably pretty good. Okay, so I'm going to move that, I'm going to leave that sit.
[Music]
Okay, so I have my pre-cut wood. I'm going to set this here. Okay, we're going to bring it because that old window is in, we're going to bring this in here. And what we'll do, I'm going to glue this down, and then I'm going to put some mortar on here to be able to set the window on top of it. Now I have this piece, and I cut two side pieces.
Okay, so I'm going to put some adhesive on this. We've cut the wood. This is the base. That inch and a half will fit in the slot on the bottom of the window. What kind of adhesive are you using? This is Loctite Power Grab. This is for stone, concrete, wood. It's a good strong adhesive, and it's meant for these kinds of applications. So, I'm going to turn this and I'm going to bring it up and close to this edge where the old window was, see there and there? So, I'm going to bring it in here, and I'm going to keep these little spaces here on the end.
We added a piece of wood on the top. I have these two sides that are cut, so I'm going to glue the inside part right here because if I put it where that slot was, it's not going to serve much of a purpose for me. So, I'm going to stand this up here, even, bring it back a little bit. Now, I'm going to get my, my level, I'm going to make sure that this is plum, and we are good. We are nice and plum with that piece, so the wind will fit right in there. Now we're going to do the next piece, and we're going to make sure... I'm going to make... right on that edge. I cut these a little tight so they don't fit in there loosely, but it really helps to support this wood here. So, I'm going to check the plumb there a little bit.
My hammer, okay, so I'm going to knock this over toward them plum. There we go, we're nice and plumb. By the way, straight up and down is level.
[Music]
Okay, so what I'm going to do is real quick, I'm going to dry fit this window and see how it works. I should have a little bit of space from this top board to the top of the window. The bottom of the window will sit tight on here, but when I do the mortar, I'll put a coating of mortar here and then set the window on top of that. I'm going to dry fit it first, make sure we're all good.
So, what I do is I'm going to take this window and set it on board. Good. How does it look out there, Brian? Excellent. Excellent. Another note is, we always want to make sure these flaps on the dryer go up to the outside when open, otherwise, you put it in backward.
[Laughter]
Did you hear me, okay, Brian? Yep, I heard you pretty well. Good.
So, that looks good. I think we can uh get this the mortar started. I'm going to take this out, and I think we're good to go. I'm going to put a thin layer of mortar across the top here, and then once the window's in, I'm going to put a couple shims in the top to hold it so it's tight and it doesn't move, and show you how to do this.
Okay, so I got my knives. I'm just going to leave them in the bucket. I'm going to put a layer on top here, and this will end up all getting packed with mortar here and on the inside too, and we'll do a slight finish on that, so this is what we're going to do. I don't want to put it on too thick because I won't be able to get that window in, so okay, so I'm going to set the window in. I'm going to put my shims on the top to hold the window, and then um, we'll take it from there, show you how to pack this in the rest of the way and mortar it properly, and then fill the sides. Again, we're not going to fill the top joint with mortar made it tight. What we'll do is we'll silicone that and then at some point, we'll paint this wood and make sure that's all sealed up.
Okay, so we've got the window in. Now I'm going to have to adjust this. I'm going to move it over to my right side a little bit to even that up so when I mortar that, the joints are even. So let me do that. I'm going to take, first, I'm going to take my small pry bar and see if I can... up a little too far. I didn't have to go far. I'm going to slide it over, so let me, uh... it doesn't have to be perfect, but that looks like that's about good. I'm going to measure it. Looks to be good, so I got one inch. And with the size of that window, it will probably be one inch, and it is there too. Perfect.
So now what I'm going to do is I'm going to make sure this window is plumb, make sure the side is off here, there we go, and see if I have to do anything with that. I gotta, right there is good, so I really don't have to do anything with that. But what I'm going to do, just to be sure we're good, is I'm going to take those shims, so this window doesn't move, I'm going to tighten the shim in there a couple of... just to be sure we're good and stay good because once you start putting pressure on the window, that could move. So, let me do this. That tightens that up pretty good. I'm going to double-check again, see where I'm at here, that's plum, we're good, we're good over here, so, good shape here. So, I'm going to go ahead and start mortaring this and move these things out of their way, bring my bucket up. This is why one of the reasons this length is nice and you set it right on the flat there. Works really well for me.
Okay, so I'm going to use the bottom here first. Hang under that, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to pack, I'm going to pack that mortar in, make sure it gets nice and packed in there. You kind of want to close any gaps that are in there and make sure that it's nice and tight.
Okay, I like to sometimes squeeze that together like that, it gives me a nice... nice amount to make sure we're in there. Some people, it's good to wear gloves with this. Sometimes doesn't bother me too much, but this just dries your hands out. Only time you're working with concrete or mortar, thin-set for tile, any of those things, will tend to dry your hand out. Here we go. Now we do this first because you'll see when I start to do the sides up, I need a base to start from the bottom. So, it's always good to have your bottom joint filled first.
[Music]
Squeeze that down, look at how nice that floats out. See any gaps in there we can fill? This isn't my finish. I'll come back again when I'm done and just kind of smooth everything out, but this is a good start. Okay, now like I said for the side, we're going to do this, we're going to start at the bottom. You notice I've got that, and you take the bottom in first because if you go from the top, it's likely going to fall on you. There you go, another amount that I think I need on there, bottom first, into the joint. Works really well. So, all right, now we do clean this window up, so usually with a damp sponge and some cloth or paper towels or something, works pretty good. We'll do that later, though.
All right, we're going to do this side. I'm going to take a little more in there, it seems a little loose there, there we go. Essentially what the wood does on the side, because of the gap, it allows you to fill your mortar in without just crumbling away. You need a smaller space in there to be able to pack that mortar, so that that board that we put in really helps to stop it and fix it in place. And again, at the top, what I'll do in the end is I'll take a silicone, a paintable silicone, and we'll silicone that on the inside and on the outside. A little more up here, a little gap there I want to fill. All right, that's good for now. We'll come back in a little bit with another knife and finish that smooth, although it's not bad now, but we'll let that start to sit up. We're going to go outside then. We're going to repeat that outside. Okay, so we're going to repeat this process. You may recognize this area from another video where, uh, my nephew Jason destroyed that, uh, concrete porch. So, we've submitted the plans for the new one and, uh, we're awaiting the approval to do this, so it's good to have this window in before we do any of that. Anyway, this is what we're going to do. We're going to pack this again like we did on the inside and up on both sides. Little bigger knife.
So, we're going to start this here, get enough in there. This is a bigger space because the block falls to the outside where the brick falls to the outside, so you want plenty on there to be able to pack in that area. You really try to fill any space that would be there so having more than enough is good. Yeah, that means you're getting what you need in there. Okay, nice and tight. Smooth it across, let that start to do its thing. Now we're going to start up the sides. Again, like I said, it's always good to go bottom first. For the other side, we're going to start back again.
All right, see, bottom first, that just works so well. As you can see if you look up here, you can see how tight we're getting that mortar into there. So you always want to use more than enough, so one thing about mortar, the excess falls off your knife and you can clean the area up. I want to be a little more careful here again because of the vent. I don't want to overcompensate from there, make too much of a mess of the vent. So, we'll just kind of take it easy here. Of course, it wipes, wipes right off, so we'll, we'll do a nice finish clean once everything dries and that mortar is good. But I like to get this before the mortar really sets up on the window. Any excess, nice clean lines.
Okay, and we'll end up repeating that outside, and then now I can just go ahead and get that silicone, and I'm going to show you how I do that. Okay, so I've got the silicone. This is what I'm going to use today, this DAP Window and Door Sealant, works pretty good. This is clear. Now what I got, I don't know if you realize, but these shotguns come with a... if you pull the trigger, it will cut the tip off your gun, just like so, and that's about what you need. And we're going to take, being silicone, I'm sure it's sealed in there, in the tube, and open it up. I'm going to take a paper down and wipe that off so it doesn't get on me. Close it up. Okay, so let's get it to where I got something going on here, right to the tip, okay, good deal.
Let's get a paper towel and go right along the top here, squeeze it hard enough to get enough in the gap, okay? Put it in with my finger so I know it's sealed. Very good. And then I'll, uh, I'll repeat that outside. Sometimes, uh, when I put silicone on, I didn't do it this time, but it makes it easier if you dip your finger in mineral spirits and run it right along the silicone. It goes on like butter. In fact, if we're, uh, if we're caulking tubs with a sealant silicone, we always do that. We always use that little bit of mineral spirits and it's just amazing the results you get from that, especially if you're looking for a good finish with your silicone.
Okay, I'm going to go out and repeat this outside, and you see how we do this. So thanks so much for watching. I hope you guys are doing okay today. I hope everything is going good for you and your family as well. We hope you appreciated this video. It was a little complicated, but we got it done, and if you have a project like that to do, you can do it. In fact, we can do it together. Let's just do this. Thanks for watching. Subscribe if you haven't and please hit that thumbs up button too. That helps us as well, and you know what, we'll see you in the next video.