Glazing gasket (seal)
Also called: glazing seal, window gasket, glazing rubber, EPDM gasket
A glazing gasket is the rubber or EPDM seal that sits between the glass and the aluminium frame, holding the pane in place and keeping the joint weathertight. It's a small part doing an important job: it stops water, dust and draughts getting past the glass and cushions the pane in the frame. In Dubai the enemy is UV and heat, which slowly harden and perish the rubber until it cracks, shrinks or falls out — and then you get the classic symptoms: whistling wind, dust ingress, water leaking in at the frame, and rattling glass. People often blame the glass or assume the whole window needs replacing, when replacing the perished gaskets and re-sealing restores it. On the coast and on sun-facing elevations gaskets age faster, so they're a normal maintenance-replace item. Re-gasketing and re-sealing tired frames is routine glass fixing in Dubai, far cheaper than replacing sound glass and frames.
Related terms
Weep hole
The small drainage slots at the bottom of an aluminium window or sliding-door frame. When they clog with dust, water backs up and leaks inside.
Mullion (and transom)
The vertical bar that divides a window, door or facade into sections — a transom is the horizontal one. In aluminium systems they carry loads and hold the glass.
Still have a question about alu & glass?
Real answers from UAE homeowners and tradespeople.