Question from KS936899
Dear Green Living Q & A blog: Does anyone know of a 100% non-toxic glazing compound or similar type of product used specifically to install a new double paned window pane in a window frame that is truly reliable?
Debra’s Answer
First let me explain, for those who don’t know, what a window glazing product is.
When you install window glass in a wood frame, the glass is held in place on the interior side and then on the exterior side, putty is applied to hold the glass in place. This putty is called “glazing” and it has a pretty strong odor. One product I looked up contained phthalates and ethylene glycol, both pretty toxic.
So the process of finding the least toxic window glazing would be to look at the MSDS for different brands and choose the one that is least toxic. I don’t know of one that is nontoxic offhand, so reader, if you have experience with this, please write in.
Years ago, I needed a small window pane in my front door replaced, and the man who installed it did so by nailing in strips of wood instead of using glazing. This was how the pane was installed originally. I don’t know of any reason why you couldn’t use strips of molding or quarter-round in place of the glazing. That would be totally nontoxic. Of course, you would want to paint it to protect the wood from the elements, with a no-VOC paint.
I found your answer while searching for non-toxic glazing compound. I have yet to find one, but I do want to add a few notes to your answer for others. Firstly, if you are using glazing compoud, the glass should be held in place by glaziers, which are flat metal triangles that lay flat against the glass with one tip inserted into the wood. This is what is really holding the window in places. The glazing compound is adding additional security, but it’s really protecting the sash by not allowing water to pool. The paint that goes on top of it helps seal it to the glass (it’s recommended that you overlap by about 1/16″). I was considering the wood anwer too, but I live in a region with a lot of climate variation and for exposed windows, I would be wary of the quarter round or wood stripping options. I have looked into DAP 33 and Nu Puttie, but both seem quite toxic (DAP for sure and Nu Puttie won’t give its ingredients or whether its distributed in CA).
I don’t know what the best option is, but I would encourage those who are also looking to be aware that glazing compound is NOT the only thing that should be holding glass in on that side AND it serves very important functions besides just seucring the glass so those functions need to also be met if substituting something else.