Stained glass window for church

Stained Glass 
Studios, Inc.

  Church Stained Glass Windows, Repairs, Protective covering, 

Stained Glass Restoration and New Protective Covering at First United Methodist Church in Murphy, NC

     In 2016, Laws Stained Glass Studios visited First United Methodist Church in Murphy, NC. First UMC has (41) leaded opalescent glass windows that are about 100 years old.  Most of the windows had some steel braces that were loose, and some had minor bulges.  The window that was the worse had a rotten, bottom rail on a sash which had caused the leaded window to pull apart.  The windows had various broken pieces of glass.  But overall, the windows were in relative good shape for their age.  The lead was still very viable and the windows were quite straight.  A few years back the church members had put up 1/8" Lexan polycarbonate as protective covering.  Although the polycarbonate had discolored and turned yellow, it had helped to protect the windows from the elements.

     In 2016, Laws Stained Glass Studios returned to restore the windows and provide new 1/4" Lucite acrylic as the protective covering.  The windows ranged in size from 50" wide x 177" high to 24" wide to 66" high.  The repair work consisted of resoldering braces on nearly every window and applying new ones where there were minor bulging.  The one window with the rotten sash was repaired. About 20 pieces of broken glass was replaced.  All of the windows were cleaned on the inside.  Some ventilator sections were screwed shut as well.

     The scope of work for the outside of the windows included the following:

           -Removing and disposing of the discolored old protective covering.

           -Chipping off the loose putty, re-glazing with a polyurethane glazing, and painting the new glazing.

           -Scrape off the loose paint and paint one finish coat of paint, using an exterior grade paint, around the perimeter of the wood that is to be covered with new Lucite.

           -Clean the exterior of each window.

           -Install new 1/4" clear Lucite acrylic as the protective covering over each window as listed above.

           -The new Lucite will be held in place with a white aluminum stop material.

           -The new Lucite will be sealed using a clear silicone caulk.

Windows before the restoration 

Before the restoration

Close-up showing a beebee hole shot in the glass

 

Beautiful pictorial window of the Good Shepherd

Beautiful pictorial window of the Garden of Gethsemane

 

Close-up showing a loose brace

Another close-up showing a loose brace

 

Simple opalescent glass windows.  The window to the left has a rotten sash.

Close-up of the above window showing how the lead has pulled away from the glass

Close-up of a balcony window

Opalescent glass window in the sanctuary

 

View from the front showing the discolored Lexan polycarbonate

Another view of the discolored Lexan polycarbonate

 

Close-up showing how discolored some pieces had gotten

Close-up showing how discolored some pieces had gotten

 

Old Lexan as the protective covering

Stained Glass Restoration and New Protective Covering

View of the new 1/4" clear Lucite acrylic as the protective covering

 

This photo shows how much paint and caulk was on the leaded window before Laws cleaned them

This close-up shows how the paint and caulk was scraped off the glass before the frame was re-painted

 

View of the new 1/4" clear Lucite acrylic as the protective covering

 

Another view of the new 1/4" Lucite acrylic as the protective covering

 

New cleaned and restored windows

Close-up showing the new vertical brace bars at the bottom of the window

 

This is a picture before the restoration.  Note the four broken pieces of glass in the background glass.

A picture of the same window to the left.  Note how well the replaced pieces of glass match the window. (Hard for you to tell that they are not original pieces?)

Contact Information

First United Methodist Church

73 Valley River Ave.

Murphy, NC 28906

(828) 837-2718

www.fumcmurphync.org

73 Valley River Ave, Murphy, NC 28906