Fitting the glass

With all the oak feather-edge cladding finished the next task was to fit the glass. This was a task that I was a little anxious about. The planned method of fixing was to have the glass on the surface of the oak frame with softwood spaces (to the thickness of the glass plus seals) to which air dried oak cover frames would be screwed to hold the glass in place.

I purchased four pieces of 6.4 mm thick single laminated glass; two pieces 2095 x 945 mm and two pieces 2025 x 1219 mm. I ordered these from Smokeson Glass - a local supplier; they were delivered in four days. (I soon realised I could manage to lift the smaller sheets on my own but needed help with the 2025 x 1219 sheets)

Detail showing glass in position and bedded on 

to cedar strips and seal. The 20 x 50mm 

softwood packing frame is clearly visible.

The cedar strips can be seen in this image

Although I had used a hand plane to remove any significant bumps I was concerned about the irregularity of the oak wall posts and therefore decided to bed the glass on to a frame of cedar strips (which I planed to 9mm thick x 30mm wide) and lightly fixed with brass pins. I thought this would help to reduce the irregularities in the frame. 
I used EPDM Dry Glazing Tape from Reddiseals to bed the glass on to the cedar strips and also for the seal between the external face of the glass and the oak cover frame. The thickness of the glass and the seal (on both faces of the glass) and the 9mm thick cedar frames meant I could use standard 20 x 50mm planed softwood for the packing. I screwed the softwood to the oak posts with stainless steel 4.5 x 60mm Turbo Ultra wood-screws (from Screwfix) and also used these screws to fix the oak frames to hold the glass in place. I drilled a largish pilot hole to ensure I was able to remove the screws if I need to make any adjustments. As far as I can tell at this stage everything looks OK.

Bottom and side retaining frames in 

position

This detail shows the bottom oak
retaining frame screwed into position.

The glass panels in place

View from east end with gable ends completed

View from west end 

With the glass now in place most of the remaining tasks are finishing off bits and pieces. I also need to make two oak glazed doors and one window (which I hope to make some stained glass for). Following a suggestion from a friend I will probably lay a stone floor. As work progresses I will continue to update this blog.