Expert window glaziers here?

[Tpt life]

Oil based primer under glaze seems to be widely recommended. Lots of pressure to seat the glaze before trimming. A week or two to cure the oil in the glaze. Does it need to be oil primer over the glaze? Can I transition to latex at some point? I have alumnium storms so the protection is more about UV and humidity. Anything I am missing?

[Tom King]

What type of glazing compound?   How much of a hurry are you in?   Have you seen my web page on Window Glazing?   I need to do a lot of work on my website, including that page, but too much else to do.  If you are in a hurry, use AquaGlaze.   http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sterling-1-qt-Aqua-Glaze-Water-Based-Glazing-Compound-179094/300614429?cm_mmc=Shopping|THD|google|&mid=sJ4xW1e1S|dc_mtid_8903alh25183_pcrid_201909931569_pkw__pmt__product_300614429_slid_&gclid=CjwKEAjwvr3KBRD_i_Lz6cihrDASJADUkGCapXCkzQGoVcBZk2wgovyAXxKMW7SUPQbGHoYRBkzuQhoCBX_w_wcB

No need for priming over the glazing.  Use latex straight away after any glazing I use. I do prime the muntin surfaces with oil based primer before glazing.    I quit using oil based glazing 30 years ago.  The oil starts outgassing from the beginning. and it's lucky to have it last ten years.  Six or seven is more typical if it's exposed to the elements.

Windows look brightest painted with Gloss paint, even if nothing else on the house is painted with gloss.  It makes the whole window shine.   Even the professed historical experts have never noticed that my sash are painted with gloss, but always comment how wonderful the windows look.   I use Sherwin Williams Emerald, now available in gloss.

Single pane windows need to be bedded in something on the inside to keep condensation water from getting between the muntin and the glass.   Most damage to single pane exterior glazing comes from the inside.   I have pictures somewhere to prove it.   I use cheap painters latex caulk for bedding, because it can be trimmed off where it shows so easily after it dries, but still makes a good gasket on the inside surface of the muntins.

If the sash is painted on the inside, the paint needs to seal to the glass just like it does on the outside, and the interior of the sash needs to be painted with exterior paint to shed the condensation water. even though it's on the inside.  I'm sure your storm windows will help a lot, but doubt they stop all condensation.   The windows I work on don't have storm windows over them.

I came up with my own method for glazing that you might be able to figure out on my webpage.  There is a reason for every step of my process.  I'll put my window work up against anyone's for longevity.  I'm far from the cheapest painter, but probably cheapest in the long run. 

[Tpt life]

Thanks @Tom King. That gives me a lot to chew on and some more homework to do. Appreciate it. For the record, the opening is boarded and stormed. I am not in a hurry. 

[Tom King]

Here's a picture of the last job that we did windows on.  These were painted shut for decades, and almost all panes replaced with modern glass.   Now they are easy to operate with almost invisible weather seals, have hand blown proper period glass in them, and the shutters operate easily too.  These are painted with gloss, while nothing else on the house is.  They are the ones on that webpage of mine.

This is also the house with the Cypress shingle roof on it.

[G S Haydon]

C, we've always used Linseed oil putty but have become disappointed with how long it takes to cure. We've been using http://www.toupret.co.uk/business-customers/products/wood-fillers/putty-MABLA01GBEI.html with success. It sets much quicker and works much easier too. My face putty work has moved from average to good. However I prefer to use a local glazier who is so fast and neat it's not worth me bothering with.

[Tom King]

They first started boiling Linseed oil because it made it cure faster.  It was still slow though.  Regular Linseed oil in glazing lasts longer than Boiled Linseed oil just because it takes longer to "cure".  The trouble is, it's always "curing", and continues to outgas.  I've fixed very old windows glazed with linseed oil mixed with other things, like chalk, and even fine sand.  Usually, all the oil left a long time ago.

To avoid using a putty knife at all, I first tried the Dapp glazing in caulking tubes.  I never was impressed by the Dapp glazing in cans, but the stuff in caulking tubes not only lasts longer than the canned stuff, but it's much easier to work with.  I'm thinking it was the late '80s when they first came out with it, but it may have been early '90s.   Whenever it was, I redid some windows on my Grandfather's house then, painted with the then best Sherwin-WIlliams Super Paint, and they were still in okay shape a couple of years ago.   I haven't looked at them since then.   

The trouble with the Dapp caulking tube stuff is that it shrinks too much.   If you smooth it the first day, it will shrink to a concave shape, and may even pull away from the sash.  To counter that, I came up with the method to put it on thick in a proud convex shape, let it cure for a month or so, and trim with a super sharp chisel.  This only works if you have the time.   The jobs I work usually last a year or two, so I just work it in the process.  It would not work for the average painter.   The real advantage is time.   It takes less than a minute to put it on even a big nine light (lay sash horizontal, hold caulking gun vertical, and go as fast as it takes to keep a little bludge right behind the nozzle, leaving a convex shape-doesn't matter if you get sloppy because it will be trimmed later), and maybe two or three minutes to trim, depending on whether or not you have the sash out of the jamb.  With the sash out of the jamb, and an on easel, it's a very fast process, and can also be quickly painted while on the easel, even always only working on a horizontal surface-see pictures on the page I linked earlier.

My caulking tube method only takes a few minutes of work a window, but there is at least a month waiting period in the process

If I'm glazing doors in cabinets or furniture, and want the glazing to come out perfect, I'll use the caulking tube method with the closest needed color I want, of any kind of caulking, and run a guide board with the angle I want on one side to lay the chisel on as the glazing is sliced.  I don't go to that trouble for the old windows on really old houses, because you don't want them to look perfect anyway.

If it has to be done quickly, start to finish, I have found nothing better than AquaGlaze, but glazing with a putty knife takes at least ten times as long as my caulking gun method, and is not something I enjoy doing at all.  I quit working on jobsites with other workers there, other than my own, in 1991 (but that's another story-got tired of losing tools), so if there is window work, we're doing it.  You can paint the AquaGlaze the next day.  It seems to last fine, and you can still get it out easily years later.

I have tried some other, fancier stuff that's like 16 bucks a tube-don't remember the name.   The high priced spread seems like really good stuff, and probably has great longevity, but I've had to repair some windows glazed with it, and it's hard to get a single pane out without damaging another beside it.  It sets very hard, and has a really tenacious bond.

I've never seen the stuff that Graham linked to, but it sounds a lot like AquaGlaze that's available here.  You roll a ball into a rope in your hand, and push it in the old fashioned way.  It doesn't stick to your hands much, and what residue there is left on your hands will rinse off pretty easily.  My caulking gun method doesn't get anything on your hands.

I'll repeat this, in case anyone missed it:    It's very important to bed single pane glass against the primed wood, and paint, sealing the paint to the glass like you do on the exterior, with exterior paint even though it's an interior surface.  There will be water condensing on the inside sometimes.  It can run down between the glass and muntin, and do bad things to interior paint, as well as the exterior glazing.  I've even seen this condensation freeze, and rupture fairly new glazing on the outside.

 Another museum house paid some outfit 6k per window to redo them about ten years ago.  They didn't bed the glass, and not only is the fairly new glazing on the outside all to pieces on all the upper horizontal surfaces, but the interior paint on the horizontal muntins is severely alligatored, and peeling.   They called me to come look at those windows, and give them a price on fixing them, but I don't have time, and it's a little too far from home.  Those sash were not taken out, and in the 6k price included painting them all shut.