Windows for control room?

[LOST ONE]

ok guys i just purchased some glass to make a window for the control room
i got one 1/2" thick glass and one 3/8" thick glass the size is 3' X 4' 1/2" temepered glass. Now my question is what would be the best way to install the glass? do i need to get a frame or make one my self or what? What other materials do i need for the window etc. rubber?
oh yeah by the way i also got a 5 gal. bucket and 12 29oz tubes of acoustical sealant.

any help woulb be much apppreciated thanx.....

 

[Michael Jones]

This seems to be a widely accepted method of glass/window installation:

 

[fitZ2]

One thing on that illustration. Note where the sheetrock is. This is Johns infamous "inside-out" wall configuration. You do have double walls, correct?
Here are a couple of more suggestions. Put a packet or two of silicone "desicant", or moisture absorbant in between the panes of glass, so they never fog up or anything. Another is to THOROUGHLY CLEAN the interior faces before installation and then rent a pair of glazers "suction cups" to handle the glass from ONE face. They work great and make handling much easier. Amnonia and newspaper works good for cleaning.
fitZ

 

[Michael Jones]

Yeah, that's how you install the glass.
There's a LOT more to the framing that has to happen BEFORE that.
I'm right at the stage where I'm setting the window seal.
I'll post some detailed pictures in a little while, I'm waiting for the camera batteries to charge up.

If you've already purchased the glass, I'd have to assume that you're beyond the stages of just a rough framed opening, but I'll walk thru the construction process with pictures anyway, it might help out some others in a similar situation....

 

[Michael Jones]

OK.
Like I said before, you start with a rough framed opening.
Here you can see one side that still roughed, and one side that has the begining of the window seal.

Note the furring strips on the inside of the window's rough opening; more on that later.

 

[Michael Jones]

Looking at the outside of the window... the finished wall side; it is IMPERITIVE that the window frame extend out, from the wall framing, enough to accomodate ALL the layers of wall material you plan to use.
In my case, I'm using a triple layer system, so the window seal had to extend out from the framed wall about 1 1/2".

 

[Michael Jones]

What that does for you, is it puts the window frame or seal FLUSH with the final layer of material that's going to go on the wall.
Then you simply trim that out, and umm.... "beat to fit, and paint to match"!

 

[Michael Jones]

OK.
Remember the furring strips on the inside of the window?
Those are there to give a base or support for the insulation that would go between the two walls, inside the window.

Without those, you run the risk of having the insulation slip down in between the 2 wall sections after the glass is installed.

 

[Michael Jones]

The rough opening is just that... a ROUGH opening.
Where you take extreme care with is the window seal.
It MUST be perfectly square and plumb.

If the rough opening isn't square, and most of the time it wont be, because the wall is built on the floor, then tilted into place, and racked plumb.
All of that could pull the rough opening slightly out of square. That's where your framing for the seal comes in, and that's what you want to be square, true, and plumb.

Just measure diagonally across each corner.
Are the dimensions EXACTLY the same?
If so, then your window frame is square.

Hope that helped.
Clear as mud?