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Historic Conservation

RESTORATION

Conservation and releading of historic windows, rebuilt to last another century.

Lead has a working life. Most American church windows were built with milled lead came that begins to fail somewhere between seventy and a hundred years in, and when it goes the glass starts to bow, joints crack, and pieces work loose.

Restoration is not repair. A panel is taken out, taken apart, cleaned, releaded, and rebuilt, so the original glass, which is the actual artwork, is preserved while the structure holding it is replaced.

How It Works

THE PROCESS

Every window is different, but the sequence holds. Panels come out, come apart, and go back together with new lead and matched glass before they return to the frame they came from.

01

Assessment

The window is surveyed and documented in place. We record what is original, what has already been repaired, and what is failing, so nothing is guessed at once the panel is out of the frame.

02

Removal & Disassembly

Each panel is removed from its frame structure and completely disassembled, then cleaned. Where panels are curved three dimensionally, molds are taken first so the original geometry can be rebuilt exactly.

03

Glass & Releading

Cracked glass is replaced and matched to the original. Panels are releaded with steel heart lead, which carries far more load than the milled lead most of these windows were built with.

04

Reinforcement & Reinstallation

Reinforcing bars are soldered directly to the panel rather than clipped to the frame, and the window is reset in the opening it came from.

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