Entry door glass replacement with clear; door shade
As we were driving our new 2250 home, I noted I couldn't see out of the window on the entry door. That same location on our Four Winds had a window just above the barrel chair; the entry door was 3 feet aft.
I used that window to see down the road when we were at an angle to an intersection or from driveways, etc.
I purchased new door glass through the dealer - less than $19 shipped.
After disassembling the black frame and old glass, I used alcohol to clean the frames, then sprayed them with high coverage gloss white. I also sprayed the screw heads so they would match.
The problem with plastics on an RV in general is the lack of UV ingredients to protect the plastic from the effects of the sun. If you've seen yellowed plastics, it is due to the sun. Black is particularly bad; I've removed more than one warped and shrunk window frame & tossed them due to this issue. Spraying them with a good coat of paint adds a UV coating and makes them last a lot longer. I don't care for black in this application anyway - had the frame been white, I still would have painted it to add the UV coating.
When I mounted the glass & frame in the door, I added a small amount of adhesive/caulk to further seal up both mating surfaces - outside frame to glass, and outside frame to door. Once the assembly was in place, a little wipe up was all that was needed to clean the excess caulk. I used clear water based tub-n-tile caulk. I don't use, nor have used silicon based caulks for years. Water based caulk is easy to clean up, and is plenty durable for these types of applications.
Here's the door with the new glass: (you can see the barn wall through the glass)
Now that it has clear glass, it needed a blind or shade. We looked for a variety of materials, and decided to purchase a pack of pillow cases. My wife used a seam ripper &opened up one of the cases, then I went to work on the sewing machine. I added a stiffener & velcro patches:
After applying the fuzzy velcro to the wall/door frame, here's the result:
And the velcro detail:
Project Complete!
I used that window to see down the road when we were at an angle to an intersection or from driveways, etc.
I purchased new door glass through the dealer - less than $19 shipped.
After disassembling the black frame and old glass, I used alcohol to clean the frames, then sprayed them with high coverage gloss white. I also sprayed the screw heads so they would match.
The problem with plastics on an RV in general is the lack of UV ingredients to protect the plastic from the effects of the sun. If you've seen yellowed plastics, it is due to the sun. Black is particularly bad; I've removed more than one warped and shrunk window frame & tossed them due to this issue. Spraying them with a good coat of paint adds a UV coating and makes them last a lot longer. I don't care for black in this application anyway - had the frame been white, I still would have painted it to add the UV coating.
When I mounted the glass & frame in the door, I added a small amount of adhesive/caulk to further seal up both mating surfaces - outside frame to glass, and outside frame to door. Once the assembly was in place, a little wipe up was all that was needed to clean the excess caulk. I used clear water based tub-n-tile caulk. I don't use, nor have used silicon based caulks for years. Water based caulk is easy to clean up, and is plenty durable for these types of applications.
Here's the door with the new glass: (you can see the barn wall through the glass)
Now that it has clear glass, it needed a blind or shade. We looked for a variety of materials, and decided to purchase a pack of pillow cases. My wife used a seam ripper &opened up one of the cases, then I went to work on the sewing machine. I added a stiffener & velcro patches:
After applying the fuzzy velcro to the wall/door frame, here's the result:
And the velcro detail:
Project Complete!
