How Do I Replace a Single Pane of Glass in an Old Door?

Place plastic or several sheets of newspaper over the damaged glass pane from the inside of the house. Tape the edges of the plastic or newspaper to seal them.

Put on safety goggles and leather work-gloves. Close the door to work from the outside. Pull the glass out of the frame. Wiggle the glass back-and-forth to loosen glass pieces and discard the glass shards. Continue to remove pieces of glass until no glass remains in the frame.

Heat the old glazing compound with a hand held hair dryer. Move the hair dryer over the compound at the top, sides and bottom of the frame to soften the compound.

Clean out the rabbet with a thin chisel using care not to gouge the wood or splinter the rabbet. A rabbet is a channel cut into the frame to hold the glass in place.

Grip the glazier's points with long-nose pliers and pull them out of the frame. Glazier points are small pointed pieces of metal that hold the glass tightly in the frame. Remove small loose pieces of glass with the long-nose pliers. Remove the newspaper or plastic and tape from the inside of the door and discard it.

Measure the glass pane from top to bottom and side to side on the inside of the rabbet. Order new glass 1/16-inch smaller in both directions.

Press the glazing compound into the rabbet filling the rabbet on top, bottom and sides of the frame.

Position the glass in place and press it firmly into the glazing compound. Scrape off excess glazier's compound with a putty knife. Press glazier's points in between the glass and the frame with a putty knife every 4 inches along the bottom, top and side of the pane.

Apply glazing compound around the entire frame next to the glass pane. Press the compound in place with a putty knife. Form a 45-degree angle from the glass pane to the frame when pressing the compound in place. Wet the knife with water as you press the glazing compound in place to keep the compound from sticking to the putty knife.