DIYbanter - View Single Post - Replacing window pane. 'Putty' recommendations.

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wrote:
wrote:

I agree with much of what you say, but its all minor in comparison to
the real point, which is that linseed lasts many times as long as any
of those alternatives. Thats what counts, and thats why a 100 year old
house done with silicone would have more rot than one done with
linseed. MTTF (mean time to failure) is all important.

Linseed does not let rain in, not until its reached end of life. Nor is
it diffcult to apply IME. I last applied it hanging out of a window
semi- upside down, and had no difficulty doing so.

Silicone is untried for time because its relatively new in the market.

yes, only time will tell us for sure. But I've probably seen more
silicone failures during its short existence than I have from linseed
on century old houses, hence I stick with linseed.

nearly all my puttied windows have tiny gaps between the hard putty and
the glass and this lets the rain down the glass to the wood. Its the
same everywhere I look.

So either theyre not painted properly, or the putty has failed, or the
wood has swollen due to paint failure. Linseed should always be
overpainted where it meets the glass, this painting fills the hairline
crack its prone to. It may sound a bit crude but it works well enough
in practice.

you are probably handy at putting on putty but its tricky for a layman
and most dont even know how to soften it. then its terrible to get off
your hands and stinks.

its totally harmless, and smells nice enough. The components, if of
adequate grade, are both edible.

If you had to reputty your own window surely that proves that the putty
wasnt up to the job you are saying it is.

MTTF of 100 yrs or more is perfectly consistent with some failures.
AFAIK theres no putty that will produce 0 failures per century, but
linseed has come closest so far. I'd like to see the day we have
something that beats it, but I dont believe acrylic or silicone show
much sign of lasting as well. Its not perfect but it does last
relatively well.

NT