Traverse Magazine Mention

Check out the August 2010 edition of Traverse Magazine for a project we were apart of.

The project was a modern house done in Elk Rapids, MI

Custom window we featured earlier in one of our posts.

New Glass Insert Designs

New designs for our doors and all available in glass inserts.

How to install glass insert into door

Installing a glass insert into your door is easy and does not require anything more than a good jigsaw, a drill, 5/8 drill bit, a tape measure and or square ruler, caulk, pencil and screw driver. You don't need to be a woodworker or master craftsman to do this. You can take any flush panel door; wood, fiber glass, metal, new or used and add a glass insert to turn it into something unique and special.

First step is using the frame of the glass insert to draw your cut line on the door. There are two sides of each frame, make sure the outside of the frame is facing up and that you are tracing the smaller side. The door shown here is a fiber glass door I picked up at my local lumber supply company for $186. Measure once, measure twice and what the heck measure a third time. Make sure it is square, centered and where you want your glass to go.

Next, drill holes in the corners. Make sure the holes are big enough for your jigzaw blade to fit into. Don't drill too close to the cut line, use your jigzaw to make the close cuts.

Tape the outside of the cut line. This will protect the door from the jigsaw. Avoid any scratches or marks. Also, make sure you use painter's tape so you don't leave any gummy tape residue.

Using a good jigsaw with a blade long enough to go through a 1 3/4" door, cut along the pencil out line of your frame.

Carefully remove the cut out. When making your final cuts be sure to hold up the cut out with either tape or a second pair of hands. Don't let it fall out. It will tear the edge of the facing.

Insert one side of the frame. Caulk the frame onto the door. Make sure you have plenty of caulk around the frame, let it ooz out onto the door. This is important, you don't want any moisture to get in between the frame and the door. Install the outside frame first, you will know it is the outside since it does not have any predrilled screw holes.

Paint, stain, seal your door. Install the glass, again use caulk to secure the glass into the frame. Screw on the inside frame and voila your door is done. A door you won't find anywhere else. It took me about two hours to complete this project.

stained glass restoration

Today we finished installing our big restoration project. Very exciting, lotta work, different from doors but still stained glass.

Looking through an opening from the outside into the inside scaffold and the opposite window on the far side of the chapel.

Looking down two lancets from the outside

Installing the last glass panel.

The scaffold from the outside. Everything is safely installed. Whew!

8 ft double doors with sidelites

Here is an entrance door we recently did in Chicago. Simple door design with two sidelites.

Client photos

Here are some photos a client sent in recently on the single panel glass door with two sidelites. Notice how the light is hitting the floor creating a new pattern. This pattern will move and shift throughout the day as the sun moves and changes the angle it hits the glass. Also, the pattern will be different depending on the season and how high the sun is in the sky.

Here are some photos a client sent in on the single panel glass door with two sidelites. Notice how the refracted light is hitting the floor.

New Doors

We have changed our designs and are offering new designs. These new designs will allow us to sandwich all the art glass between tempered glass. The designs will also significantly lower shipping costs. More info to come soon.

leading a stained glass panel

This is one of 32 leaded glass panels that will be installed in a church clerestory window. The glass is very dark, looks black in the photo. This is because the glass is heavily painted and is made up of very dark colors. Very unlike the sidelite or doors I do that use mainly clear glass. You can't tell from the video, but the sheet of paper is a leading guide and shows a outline of where each piece of glass is supposed to go.

puttying two sidelites

puttying and cleaning two sidelites.

leading 2 sidelites

These two sidelites are part of a 8 foot double door entryway going to Chicago. A real monster entryway. The glass is made up of rondels, heavy and weak seedy.

Traditional Stained Glass

Here is a different project I've been working on. This window is part of a much larger window that will go into the Washington National Cathedral. The techniques and materials are the same I use in the entry doors I fabricate at kuhldoors. There are, however, some significant differences. The biggest is the glass. The glass is dark, deep and painted. There is no clear glass it is all colored glass. The glass does come from the same source I get my glass.

This is a close up of one of the pieces. All the dark space is black paint. The artist uses a cross hatching pattern to dampen down the brightness of the glass. This piece was cut, painted by the artist and then fired in a kiln to permanently adhere the paint to the glass. These steps were all done by someone else (my father and the artist). I am only helping my father out by leading, soldering, puttying and cleaning the panels. 

Each painted piece is assembled to make up a larger picture. This is the base of a tree trunk. 

Here is the whole panel. In this window there are 44 panels. 

cool beans.

installing glass into door

Many times clients, contractors, architects want to know how the glass is installed in the door. For many of the designs seen on the website the art glass is installed up against the tempered insulation glass facing the inside. Here is how we do it. 

We start with a door I get from one of several suppliers. I get the door with no glass. 

I also get a double pane of tempered insulation glass. This is what provides all the insulation and protection from the outside. This panel is 7/16" thick.

After applying a sealer on the exposed wooden back stop I run a bead of caulk around the edge. This will seal the unit from the outside elements.

I place the double pane of tempered clear glass up against the caulked back stop. 

Then we put the art glass up against the tempered unit. This is facing the inside of the door. The art glass is exposed to the inside of the home or building.

The last step is putting the inside stops up against the art glass to keep everything in place.