Hello!
I’m re-doing a sunroom that was originally
constructed in the late 1970s. I’ve
attached a couple of pictures to give you an idea. We’ve decided to basically stick with the
original design as you can see in the one photo: 3 walls (south, north and
west) of basic framing with 34”w x 76”h “insulated glass units” that are 5/8”
wide made with 1/8” thick tempered glass.
From what I can tell,
the original glass units were just put into place and caulked in (no spacers on
the bottom used). We broke a couple
during the “removal” process because the caulk had dried so hard, but otherwise
most of the windows have held up well over the years…maybe one or two broken
due to hail.
I've replaced all the
original framing with pressure-treated 2x6s, creating rough openings approximately
34 ¼ x 76 ¼”. Our plan is to mount the
window units like you see in the ‘window detail’ photo; the glass units would
go in where I’ve put the yellow line (although we’re going to use cedar for
those outer trim pieces, not pine as shown in the photo). Basically the units would be ‘sandwiched’ in
between the trim pieces, and caulk would only be applied to where the trim
pieces contacted the glass since the guy we bought replacement windows from
said that caulk shouldn’t contact the rubber ‘gasket’/seal around the edge of
these kind of sealed glass units.
The main complication
is that when I went in to pick up the replacement glass units (to replace the
ones broken during removal or had otherwise lost their seal), the window guy said
that these types of units need to be mounted on hard rubber “spacers” (see
photo) rather than having them rest directly on the wood frame at the bottom,
since otherwise you run the risk of having the units compressed and broken if
the wood framing expanded/contracted.
We had not accounted
for the use of spacers when we created the rough openings, so if we’re going to
use them we’ll need to go in and take off ¼” of so of the “front” (exterior
side) of all 24 bottom pieces/sills to create space for them.
So I guess I have two issues I'd really appreciate any input on:
1. Generally, what do you think of what we are planning as far as "sandwiching" the glass units in as shown in the photo ('GlassMountingDetail')?
2. More specifically, are rubber spacers like this necessary for this type of unit/installation?
Below are links to some photos to give you a better idea of the project.
Any advice appreciated...Thanks for your time and help!
Colin
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1894227/Sunspace1.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1894227/Sunspace2.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1894227/Sunspace3.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1894227/OldWindows.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1894227/NewWindows.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1894227/GlassMountingDetail.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1894227/RubberSpacers.JPG