One of the stained glass windows in this front door from Surbiton was badly in need of refreshing. The use of Sellotape holding panes in place always shows that problems have been building for some time. In this case some urgent action was required in order that the leaded window did not collapse entirely.
The leaded units in front doors typically work hard with all the coming and going and the structure had begun to collapse with any number of cracked and weakened joints despite the window being supported by external steel re-bars to which it was copper tied.
The English Muffle glass required to be matched in and replace a few cracked panes was obtained from our main suppliers at Kansa Craft who have all the traditional colours available.
Stripping the glass out and rebuilding with new lead came was all that was required to restore the window. The key task is ensuring that as much of the glass is salvaged and this requires careful separation of the lead joints to release the glass without it being twisted which can cause breakage. Overall that process can take as long as the actual rebuilding with the new lead as it cannot be rushed.
Following the rebuild patination was also applied to the lead to ensure it was impossible to tell the new (on the left) from the old. The leaded unit is now sound and with the copper ties to the re-bars in place should be good for another 100 years.
Sellotape holds stained glass…
Any follow up woodwork on strengthening the structure of the door was handled thanks to local firm: R&K Joinery