All Knowledge is Contained in LiveJournal

[bohemiancoast]

OK, on the assumption that AKiCiLJ, I have two questions.

Firstly, one of the windows in our shed is broken. These are pieces of glass, essentially glued in place. It seems like a bit of a faff to get a glazier out, but is that the appropriate way to get something like this fixed? Or is there a standard size for shed-window glass, and a standard glue, and so on? Tips welcome.

Secondly, does anyone have a good method for labelling cables? Labels from our labeller fall off, pretty reliably. I have only a couple of hundred distinct cables, and it would be really handy to have labels on them.

Comments

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

OK, bearing in mind I've never done this but I've seen it done about five hundred million times ... you need linseed putty, which even the Homebases of this world should be able to sell you, and you need a pane of glass from a glass merchant (there must be one somewhere near you). For this you need to clear out the broken glass and measure the size of the aperture (i.e. the space the glass is actually going to sit in, which is will be bigge than the outside aperture ... think of a picture frame). Buy piece of glass, which nice glass merchant will cut to size.

You need to bed the glass on linseed putty, so you need to line the inside of the aperture with a layer of putty. You'll need to 'work' it to soften it, then roll it into sausages and line out the aperture. Use more rather than little, as you can get rid of it later. Press glass into aperture. Putty will spurt out but don't worry.

Now, this is the bit that's tricky to describe but actually easy to do. Basically, you need to take lumps of softened putty and press them into place round the edge of the window to hold the glass in place. You do this with your thumb and kind of smooth the whole thing as you go along. Or use a putty knife (yes, such things exist, and are jolly useful for tidying up and smoothing down the surface at the end). Look at an existing window to see what the end result should look like, but basically you're forcing the putty in there to produce a watertight seal.

Leave to set, do not let small children stick their fingers in, but give them putty to play with. Putty is much better if it has been 'worked' a bit before being used, like plasticine. In fact, treat it as smelly plasticine for grown-ups.

But I can't help with the cable labelling ... we have problems here too.

[timill]

And see pickledginger below on using glaziers points to hold the glass in mechanically. I usually just use the smallest nails I have, with virtually no head on them, which work fine when driven in only halfway.

It's better to have the glass slightly smaller than the opening rather than slightly larger...

[animoose.livejournal.com]

For labelling cables, Maplin have self-adhesive markers. I have not tried them, but they look like ones that I have seen used. Go to www.maplin.co.uk and search for product code SJ19V.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

A-ha! Having thought, oh, those look too much work, and besides, I have a labeller, I thought to search on 'label cable' on Google, and came up with numerous solutions. Most likely might well be specialist half-white, half-clear laser printer labels (you print the cable name on the white bit, then wrap the clear bit over and over), but in fact the winning solution was the website with instructions for staff on labelling cables ("get the labeller; make sure it has paper tape in it; set it to small type, print the label small, stick it on the cable, cover it over with clear tape"). That works and requires no additional expenditure.

[animoose.livejournal.com]

Pick yor clear tape carefully, though. Some of them ooze glue round the edges over time, leading to a sticky mess on your cable. Clear Scotch tape seems to be OK.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

For cables, I've used nice fat cable ties that have enough room for me to write on them with a permanent marker.

As for the window, yes, you can get glass cut to measure (v. careful measure - and be v. clear when talking to the shop whether your measure was the size you want the glass or the size of the opening; a little leeway is required). Or, if the broken pane isn't in too many pieces, you can take that down, and the nice person at the shop will sigh and try to use it as a pattern.

Any place that will sell the glass is likely to also sell glazing putty and glazer's points - odd little pointy cutouts of metal sheeting that are pressed into the frame at intervals, after the glass is put in, to hold the glass and give something for the glazing putty to grip - though you may be able to just reuse the old ones.

There are some directions here, but it's pretty straightforward. Getting a smooth finish on the glazing may take a bit of practice, but it's not nearly so tricky as household caulk - and this is the shed, so a good spot to practice!

[von-krag.livejournal.com]

Make sure you have good gloves on when cleaning out the broken frame. If the putty is too hard to come out try heating it with a propane torch (make sure you don't catch the shed on fire) other than that the advice is very good.

[damienw]

glazer's points are good but very sharp and a bit weird to work out: just press 'em in. little brad nails like for picture framing are good but less sharp: use a tiny little hammer, and do try not to break the new glass as you put the nails in. make the frame as clean as you can before putting in new putty. look at the other windows and decide whether you want to leave them alone or replace any dodgy putty at the same time; be careful taking out intact glass that you will reuse.

[nolley.livejournal.com]

They're called glaziers brads, as for labels I can get you some from work. Bright yellow, self-adhesive & just use a marker on the yellow bit. How many do you want? I think a roll has about a hundred -and by the way, when pushing the glass into the frame, push it at the edges NOT in the middle as you can break the glass & find your hand going through slashing yourself to pieces.