Glass serves many uses in modern buildings. Insulated and specially treated glass keeps in warmed or cooled air and provides good condensation and sound control qualities; tempered and laminated glass makes doors and windows more secure. In large commercial buildings, glass panels give skyscrapers a distinctive look while reducing the need for artificial lighting. The creative use of large windows, glass doors, skylights, and sunspace additions make homes bright, airy, and inviting.
Glaziers select, cut, install, and remove all types of glass as well as plastics and similar materials used as glass substitutes. They also install mirrors, shower doors and bathtub enclosures, and glass for table tops and display cases. They may mount steel and aluminum sashes or frames and attach locks and hinges to glass doors. Sometimes glaziers build the metal framework needed to install glass panels or curtainwalls in large commercial buildings.
For most jobs, the glass is precut and mounted in frames at a factory or a contractor's shop. It arrives at the job site ready for glaziers to position and secure it in place. These workers may use a crane or hoist with suction cups to lift large, heavy pieces of glass. They then gently guide the glass into position by hand.
Once glaziers have the glass in place, they secure it with mastic, putty or other pastelike cement, bolts, rubber gaskets, glazing compound, metal clips, or metal or wood molding. When they use a rubber gasket a thick, molded rubber half-tube with a split running its length to secure glass, they first secure the gasket around the perimeter within the opening, then set the glass into the split side of the gasket, causing it to clamp to the edges and hold the glass firmly in place.
When they use metal clips and wood molding, glaziers first secure the molding to the opening, place the glass in the molding, and then force springlike metal clips between the glass and the molding. The clips exert pressure and keep the glass firmly in place.
When a glazing compound is used, glaziers first spread it neatly against and around the edges of the molding on the inside of the opening. Next, they install the glass. Pressing it against the compound on the inside molding, workers screw or nail outside molding that loosely holds the glass in place. To hold it firmly, they pack the space between the molding and the glass with glazing compound and then trim any excess material with a glazing knife.
For some jobs, the glazier must cut the glass manually at the job site. To prepare the glass for cutting, glaziers rest it either on edge on a rack or A-frame or flat against a cutting table. They then measure and mark the glass for the cut.
Glaziers cut glass with a special tool that has a very hard metal wheel about 1/6 inch in diameter. Using a straightedge as a guide, the glazier presses the cutter's wheel firmly on the glass, guiding and rolling it carefully to make a score just below the surface. To help the cutting tool move smoothly across the glass, workers brush a thin layer of oil along the line of the intended cut or dip the cutting tool in oil. Immediately after cutting, the glazier presses on the shorter end of the glass to break it cleanly along the cut.
In addition to handtools such as glasscutters, suction cups, and glazing knives, glaziers use power tools such as saws, drills, cutters, and grinders. An increasing number of glaziers use computers in the shop or at the job site to improve their layout work and reduce the amount of glass that is wasted.
Glazier secures glass in window frame with glazing compound.
Glaziers often work outdoors sometimes in inclement weather. At times they work on scaffolds at great heights. The job requires a considerable amount of bending, kneeling, lifting, and standing. Glaziers may be injured by broken glass or cutting tools, falls from scaffolds, or from improperly lifting heavy glass panels.
Glaziers held about 39,000 jobs in 1992. Most worked for glazing contractors engaged in new construction, alteration, and repair. Others worked for retail glass shops that install or replace glass and wholesale distributors of products containing glass. Glaziers work throughout the country, but jobs are concentrated in metropolitan areas.
Employers recommend that glaziers learn the trade through an apprenticeship program that lasts 3 to 4 years. Apprenticeship programs, which are administered by the National Glass Association and local union-management committees or local contractors' associations, consist of on-the-job training as well as 144 hours of classroom instruction or home study each year.
On the job, apprentices learn to use the tools and equipment of the trade; handle, measure, cut, and install glass and metal framing; cut and fit moldings; and install and balance glass doors. In the classroom, they are taught basic mathematics, blueprint reading and sketching, general construction techniques, safety practices, and first aid.
Many glaziers learn the trade informally on the job. These workers usually start by carrying glass and cleaning up debris in glass shops. They often practice cutting on discarded glass. After a while they are given an opportunity to cut glass for a job. Eventually, helpers assist experienced workers on a simple installation job. Learning the trade this way may not provide training as complete as an apprenticeship program, however, and may take longer.
Local apprenticeship administrators determine how apprentices are recruited and selected. In general, applicants for apprenticeships and for helper positions must be in good physical condition and at least 17 years old. High school or vocational school graduates are preferred. In some areas, applicants must take mechanical aptitude tests. Courses in general mathematics, blueprint reading or mechanical drawing, general construction, and shop provide a good background.
Standards for acceptance into apprenticeship programs are rising to reflect changing requirements associated with new products and equipment. Glaziers need a basic understanding of electricity and electronics in order to be able to install electrochromatic glass and electronically controlled glass doors. In addition, the growing use of computers in glass layout requires more and more that glaziers be familiar with personal computers.
Advancement consists of increases in pay for most glaziers; some may advance to supervisory jobs or become contractors or estimators.
Employment of glaziers is expected to increase faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005. This growth will be in response to anticipated increases in residential and non-residential construction and a need to modernize and repair existing structures. Glass is expected to remain popular in bathroom and kitchen design, causing demand for glaziers to grow. Improved glass performance in insulation, privacy, safety, condensation control, and noise reduction are also expected to stimulate the demand for glaziers.
Although the employment outlook for glaziers is expected to be good over the long run, people wishing to become construction glaziers should expect to experience periods of unemployment. These result from the limited duration of construction projects and the cyclical nature of the construction industry. During bad economic times, job openings for glaziers are reduced as the level of construction declines. Because construction activity varies from area to area, job openings, as well as apprenticeship opportunities, fluctuate with local economic conditions. Consequently, some parts of the country may experience an oversupply of these workers while others may have a shortage. Employment and apprenticeship opportunities should be greatest in metropolitan areas, where most glazing contractors and glass shops are located.
In addition to jobs created by increased demand for glaziers, openings will occur each year from the need to replace experienced workers who die, retire, or leave the occupation for other jobs.
According to the Engineering News Record, union glaziers received an average hourly wage of $24.75 in 1992, including fringe benefits. Wages ranged from a low of $15.80 in Dallas to a high of $35.92 in New York City. Glaziers covered by union contracts generally earn more than their non-union counterparts. Apprentice wage rates usually start at 50 to 60 percent of the rate paid to experienced glaziers and increase every 6 months. Because glaziers can lose time due to weather conditions and fluctuations in construction activity, their overall earnings may be lower than their hourly wages suggest.
Many glaziers employed in construction are members of the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades.
Glaziers use their knowledge of construction materials and techniques to install glass. Other construction workers whose jobs also involve skilled, custom work are bricklayers, carpenters, floor layers, paperhangers, terrazzo workers, and tilesetters.
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Reprinted with Permission of U. S. Department of Labor