Lead Designs
Whether your home already has traditional leaded windows or you fancy a complete change of style we can reproduce any traditional lead pattern using self adhesive lead.
Self adhesive lead is available in 4mm, 6mm, 9mm, 12mm widths in silver, aged effect, black, gold along with some other colours. Profile is available either as flat or oval and we can solder all the joints for that special finish.
Traditionally Lead lites were made up of individual panes of glass held together by lead came.
Modern sealed units saw the arrival of self adhesive lead that is applied to the glass to form the required design, This is normally applied to both sides of sheet one of the sealed unit,( one side being exposed the atmosphere the other side enclosed within the cavity of the unit) The properties of lead are such that they will darken with time when exposed to the elements, new lead is naturally shinny and will darken with time, but the lead inside the glass is effectively sealed so will remain preserved. Some people are ok with this others want the aged authentic look inside. We can achieve this by the use of a specially treated aged effect lead that is so much darker.
You must be aware that when lead is newly exposed to the atmosphere it will go through a natural staining process where white deposits form on the lead and you may even see white streaks running down the glass. In time this will end as the lead ages and becomes sealed…
One way to mask this – is to apply Patination Oil to the lead surface.
If the lead is self adhesive, then in time will it peel off?
Good question: These are specialist produced products, the glass surfaces must be very clean before the lead is applied, and it is then rolled with a special tool to force the adhesive to bond with the glass. It will of course be covered by the warranty details with your contract. So there should be no reason why this should happen; yes there are inferior quality products out there so price can become the issue. The cleaning of the products is important so if chemicals are used this could affect the adhesion of the product or prolonged heavy rubbing (see our maintenance and cleaning tips page)
How do you clean them?
They are in fact easier to clean than original leads as the areas are flat, just a wipe over is normally all that is required with the bonus that the room side glass is clear as the leads are sealed in between for life.
Leaded Designs
Designs available are normally diamonds, squares or simple borders; these can be expanded to produce any geometrical effect required. The examples below are just a few to choose from, various suppliers may call them by different names:
Georgian Designs
Traditionally Georgian effect windows were made of timber often associated with being hard to clean to due the small individual panes, and a nightmare to paint both inside and out. Through the sixties and seventies saw the mass build of houses many of which included whole estates with windows made of softwood in Georgian style, single glazed soon to become draughty and all the problems associated with maintenance.
With the introduction of more affordable double glazing come along the mock Georgian effect windows where the glazing spars are supported between the panes of glass, normally made of 18 or 25 mm white aluminium profiles. Also available in browns and foiled finishes
Benefits:
- Clean sight lines
- Easy to clean flat glass
- Can be made to replicate any existing layout or pattern even curves and arches
Disadvantages:
- Do not look authentic close up (not acceptable in some conservation areas)
- Do not look authentic on true timber windows
- Can look a different colour to the main window frames
- Grid sizes can look odd on some frames unless dummy sashes are used to give equal sightlines
- Unequal Sight Lines
- Glass sightlines are not symmetrical in height and width
Georgian – equal sight lines
Glass sightlines are symmetrical in height and width
Astragal Bars
An alternative to the suspended bars is the option to use Astragal bars. These are more expensive but give a more authentic look to the windows by using face applied decor spars, these sit proud of the glass and can give a good replication of looks to the original designs. There are various methods of achieving this the best is by far to use a Duplo type spacer bar inside the sealed unit cavity and apply the glazing spars to both the exterior and room side, when viewed this will give the effect of individual sealed units and more pleasing to the eye.
