HUGH McMAHON B.A (hons.) STAINED GLASS
EST. 1994
TEL. 0115 9700987
Repairs And Restoration
Fractured joints
Single broken section
2 Adjacent broken sections
Repairs fall into three categories:- In situ repairs, bench repairs and full restoration repairs
In situe or on site repairs involve those carried out without removing the panels from their door or window frames. These are limited to very simple repairs such as single rectangular pieces of glass. Two adjacent pieces can also be repaired in the same way but this is not wise as the lead between the two pieces will suffer too much stress. Sometimes a panel with several adjacent broken sections can be repaired onsite on a mobile work bench and replaced before leaving the property, but the condition of the leadwork or position of the breaks will often rule this out .
Bench repairs are the most common type of repair and involve removing the panel from its door or window frame and then rebuilding the damaged section in the studio .This type of repair is carried out on panels whose lead structure on the whole is still fairly solid. Because of this the cement drying time is shorter and the panel can often be reinstalled within a week.
Full restoration repairs involve taking the whole panel to pieces and completely replacing the lead structure and any broken or mismatching glass . This type of repair will basically bring the panel back to a condition very close to when it was first made , with a full structural life ahead of it . A complete restoration is carried out when either the the lead structure needs replacing because of stress and age related damage or when the damage is uneconomic to be treated as a bench repair .
