Introduction: How to Install a Glass Block Window

Glass cake windows are a great way to add elegance to your bathroom. Not merely are they stylish, just also very concealing. The ane trouble is that they can exist very difficult to install without the right tools and knowledge. This instructable will explain the process!

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Step 1: Fur Out the Window

Since the window's going in, you'll want to get out extra room. Fur out the existing window opening to ii in. wider and 2-ane/2 in. taller than the dimensions of the glass block panel.

Step 2: Smash End Blocks to the Window Frame

Tack stop blocks on the inside of the opening to keep the frame flush to the framing. Assemble the frame, and then plumb. foursquare it and nail information technology into the opening with 8d casing nails, shimming equally needed.
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The special-order fixtures, fittings, shower pan, tile and glass cake panel can accept weeks to make it hand, so practise the necessary legwork and ordering well in advance. Earlier gutting the bathroom, check to make sure that at that place are shutoffs for all the fixtures or a master shutoff for the entire bathroom. If not, buy brawl valve shutoffs sized to fit your pipes. And then turn off the master water supply line where it comes into the house from outside, cutting the pipes feeding the bathroom and install the new shutoffs right away (see Photo vii).

Disconnect the trap from the tub, remove any clips, fasteners or screws that concord the tub to the wall, and demolish the sometime cast iron tub with a sledgehammer. Remove the sink and toilet. Turn off the electricity at the main panel and remove lite fixtures. Cap the wires with wire connectors. Then rip out the wall finishes and surfaces clean down to the studs and pull out any insulation. If your ceiling is in proficient shape, use a utility pocketknife to cut the drywall along the edges and then the wall materials will separate cleanly from the ceiling.

How to Order a Glass Cake Window Panel

To size the drinking glass block, remove the trim from the existing window and measure the rough opening. Subtract 2 in. from the width and the height to permit for the frame, then decide the panel size past counting the number of rows and courses that easily fits into the opening. Glass cake comes in 8-in. and 6-in. squares and four x 8-in. half-cake rectangles. You lot'll need to choose between real mortar grout joints and clear silicone–joined blocks. We chose the silicone system because we liked the clean, uninterrupted look. Whichever way you become, purchase the panel preassembled and banded together as 1 unit, set to gear up into the opening. Remember that information technology'due south easy to make the opening smaller by using furring, only information technology can be an ugly task to make it bigger. When going with mortar-grouted panels, effigy each block is 8 in. broad, then add together 1/4 in. to both the total superlative and width. If you're ordering silicone-joined blocks, effigy each block at 7-three/4 in. and don't add the extra i/iv in.

Step 3: Get the Window Prepare for Tile

Rip two 3-ft.-long spacer boards at the same thickness of your tile plus 3/iv in. This will crusade the window to protrude 1/4 in. past the finished tile surface. Tack them to the sides of the window opening. And then tack two 2x2s into the boards to agree the drinking glass cake panel in the proper position while y'all push it in from the outside

Step 4: Inject the Expanding Foam

Tap shims between the console and the frame to hold it evenly spaced on all iv sides while injecting the expanding cream. After the cream cures, cut abroad whatever backlog and caulk the 1/four-in. space between the console and the jamb on the exterior of the frame with silicone caulk. Finish off the trim and siding to match the outside of the house.

Stride five: Additional Tips

Converting a bathtub with a conventional window in a higher place it to a shower is dicey concern, but the result is striking. Order a premade glass block window to fit your existing opening . Wait nether "Glass Cake" in the Yellow Pages or online to observe a supplier.

The key to a weatherproof, attractive drinking glass block window both inside and out is to encase information technology in a custom-built wooden frame (Fig. A) The inside dimensions of the frame should exist 1/2 in. taller and wider than the panel itself. That will give you room to arrange and shim the console exactly and and so inject expanding foam between the frame and the console to lock information technology into the opening.

To brainstorm, rip the top and side jambs to the thickness of the wall framing plus the exterior wall sheathing. The cement board will lap over the jambs. The windowsill should also be flush with the interior framing, but hang over the outside capsule near ane-1/ii in. and accept a 5-degree slope toward the exterior to aid shed water. To keep water from running backside the siding every bit it drips off the edge, cut a shallow groove (or saw kerf) in the bottom lip. Also, remember to flash behind the trim to keep the window watertight. Trim the window exterior to friction match the house, using caulk to seal betwixt the trim and siding.

Information technology'south of import to set the panel and so it protrudes 1/iv in. past the finished tile surface. That way, a bead of caulk can seal the joint betwixt the tile and cake to go on water out of the wall cavity.

Tip:

Prime and paint the window jambs and sill before setting the drinking glass cake panel to save fourth dimension-consuming painting details.

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