In our country, many people choose to install iron or stainless steel doors and windows instead of aluminum when building a house, either due to a low budget or to achieve greater strength. While iron and steel frames provide an excellent and affordable alternative for exterior security doors due to their toughness, craftsmen and homeowners face significant technical challenges when it comes to fixing glass inside them. Unlike aluminum systems, iron or steel frames do not come with built-in rubber locks or ready-made grooves to fit glass; instead, manual methods and specialized materials must be used. Today, we will discuss the correct method for fixing glass in iron or steel doors and windows.
1. Methods of Installing Glass in Iron and Steel Frames
Depending on the design of the frame, the following methods are most commonly used to fit glass inside iron and steel structures:
- Iron Strip and Screw Method: In this method, after placing the glass inside the frame, thin strips made of iron are placed over the glass and tightened to the frame using small screws. If the glass breaks in the future, it can be easily replaced by unscrewing these strips.
- Silicone and Glass Paste Method: If it is a modern stainless steel (SS) door where screws or welding marks would look unsightly, high-quality silicone is used exclusively to fix the glass. The glass is placed inside the groove made within the steel frame, and heavy-duty silicone is filled all around it, which secures the glass firmly once dry.
2. Step-by-Step Method of Installing Glass in an Iron/Steel Frame
The process of fixing glass into an iron or steel frame consists of these fundamental steps:
- Cleaning and Painting the Frame: Before installing glass in an iron frame, anti-rust coating and final paint work must be fully completed on the frame. If you install the glass before painting, the paint will not reach the iron joints later on, which will trap moisture and cause the iron to rust. When iron rusts, it expands and shatters the glass.
- Sizing and Cutting with a Measuring Tape: Take the measurement of the inner section of the iron window or door using a measuring tape. Due to manual welding in ironwork, the corners are often not 100% perfectly square. Therefore, always have the glass cut at least 2 sootar smaller than the actual frame size so that the glass does not hit any raised iron surface while going inside the frame.
- Rubber Packing or Foam Tape: Never place the glass directly onto bare iron. Iron is a hard metal; when a door shuts with a slam, the direct impact of the iron will break the glass. To avoid this, mandatorily place thin packing rubber or foam tape along the inner edges of the frame to act as a shock absorber, and fit a U-type rubber gasket around all four sides of the glass.
- Silicone Sealing and Final Lock: Once the beading strips or screws are installed, properly fill the narrow gaps left between the glass and the iron strip using a silicone gun. This silicone prevents rainwater from leaking inside and tightly secures the glass so that it does not rattle at all when the wind blows.
If glass is installed in cheap and budget-friendly iron or steel frames according to these technical principles, their appearance and durability can match the excellence of expensive systems.
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