Replacing wood panel with glass in old 4-panel interior door

[Suzanne]

Our 1895 terrace house has 4-panel doors throughout, some of which have glass in the top two panels. for the ones that dont, is it possible to remove the two top wood panels and replace them with glass too? (door 2) The image is close to what we have, there are strips of wood (moulding? architrave strips?) that seem to be holding the panel in place, and look like they could be prised off with a chisel etc. so they are like the image door 1? View attachment 1? I realise it might be easier to buy new doors, but want to keep these ones (save a tree etc).

If we can do that, are the glass panes standard at glaziers, or woudl I need to order them, and if yes, do they need ot be the exact size of the empty hole? I assume I'd use putty to hold them in place, then re-attach the wood strips back and front of the door to hold them in place?
Thanks for any advice!
Suzanne

 

[plasticpigeon]

Yes I believe what you are suggesting can be done. However the wooden panels are usually set into rebates in the rails and stiles of the door, even if there are pinned on mouldings, so the wooden panel may have to be cut out as it won't fall out when the mouldings are taken out. When the glass is inserted it will have to be held in with the mouldings as it won't fit into the rebate. If the mouldings are integral to the door rails and stiles, they will need to be cut off on one side, and the moulding replaced with separate ones to hold the glass in, but you say that your doors have separate mouldings so this isn't relevant.

 

[88v8]

If the beading is nailed on (what's known as 'planted' ) then it is possible to prise it off. Probably the nail heads will be puttied over, which you will see if you carefully burn off a bit of paint with a micro-torch. With a wide scraper as a heat shield you can do this without frazzling the adjacent paint so as to minimise repainting. Another clue is if the old paint is already split between the mould and the stile.
If you find no nail heads then the moulding is machined in one with the stiles and rails, and can't be removed. They could be chiselled off, not so easy unless you're good at woodwork.

Removing old nailed moulding has to be done with great care or it will split or shatter and the door can be gouged or dented. Worse if the door has been chemical stripped as it makes the wood brittle. Start at the middle of the longest piece. Put something like a paint scraper between the chisel and the door to prevent denting. The nails might pull out, or they might tear through the moulding.

After glazing, the mouldings may be too narrow, depending on the thickness of the panel you've removed. A typical Victorian panel will be up to 1/2" thick. If you are putting in leaded lights then they might be a straight replacement by the time you've puttied them in, but if you are inserting sheet glass (is supposed to be toughened for doors I think, if you're bothered about modern Health n Safety, but doesn't have to be, from my 35 year's experience of glassed doors), anyway because of the thinness of sheet glass you might need to make up the thickness with putty, or you may need to position the glass off-centre and make new, wider, pieces of bullnose moulding for one side.
As you may gather, I have done this, both adding leads and bevelled plate to plain doors, and removing glass and inserting oak panels. Fiddly, but possible.

Looking at your pics, I would guess the top door has removable beading, the second one might be solid-run.

Ivor

 

[Lime]

In general you will find the panels in old doors are integral with the whole door, held within a grove into the stiles and rails, they are not just slipped in.
I suggest it would be better to replace the door because the panels often hold the door square too.

You need to have toughened glass (and marked as such).
The glass is cut to size and then heat treated to toughen it.

 

[Roger H]

Hi Suzanne,

I've just done the exact same task. Once I'd prized off the beading my panels easily lifted out. The timber panel was 10mm thick and I went for 6mm rather than 4mm glazing so as not to leave too big a discrepency to be filled. I set the glass into glazing silicone and secured it in place with the replaced beading (glued and pinned). It worked fine. Your door may be constructed differently though. Glass was £18 cut to size.

 

[worms]

You need to have toughened glass (and marked as such).
The glass is cut to size and then heat treated to toughen it.

I thought you could also use laminated glass for doors? If so, it can be cut to size (by a suitable expert).

 

[Lime]

You need to have toughened glass (and marked as such).
The glass is cut to size and then heat treated to toughen it.

I thought you could also use laminated glass for doors? If so, it can be cut to size (by a suitable expert).

Laminated or reinforced as well, yes.
Perhaps I'm lucky (?) but the local glass merchant can cut and toughen glass with a days notice and it isn't that expensive.

Just don't be tempted to use ordinary glass.
My memory of seeing a beautiful young lady falling face-first into a glass door with plain Victorian glass fitted is one I would not want anyone else to have.