On Nov 23, 10:40*pm, "Zootal" wrote:
The picture from the inside looks as though the water has been coming
from under the lower frame/sill between it and the wall opening, not
around the window itself (there's no staining of the paint characteristic
of water except below the window, not on the frame itself).

I'm not sure what that is - it's old and been there forever. If it's from
water leaks, it happened a long time ago. I looked at it a few years ago
before I painted the walls, and it looked like it was part of the concrete.
It's not just stains, it's thick, like something thick ran down the wall and
solidified. Maybe I should take another look at it, but whatever it is it's
very old. The window in the picture has never leaked, at least not since
I've had the house, as it's sheltered from the rain. I also don't know when
the wood frames were put in there, I don't think they are the original
framing. The one in the pic was hacked into place - not the best of
workmanship.

As for the windows themselves, if they were mine I'd go back to
traditional glazers' points and glazing instead of the idea of caulk and
the beading.

So I've read up a bit on this process, and if I understand what I've read,
the idea is to set the pane down on a small bead of putty, and use glazers'
points to hold it in place, and put another bead of putty around it. Let it
dry, paint it, and you have a fixed windows. These panes appear to have used
wood trim to hold the glass in place on top of a bead of putty, yet the old
glazers' points were still there. Go figure. I'm not sure now what the
original construction was.

One of the panes had been siliconed into place. I spent quite a bit of time
thinking evil thoughts towards the person that did that, as it is very
tedious to clean it out and difficult not to damage the wood in the process.
The pane had to be removed in pieces, I could see no way to get it out
intact.

So what are the alternatives, and is there a general consensus about how to
set glass panes into a wood frame? I've seen what a mess silicone makes, and
there is no way I'll use silicone to set the glass into place.

I like the idea of 1/4 round to hold the glass in place with caulking
to help waterproof and then lots of paint. The idea of a second layer
of plexiglass as a "storm" window to help protect the 3-pane window
seems great and will make a big difference in heat loss as well.