I was chatting with a buddy of mine about replacing my windows and I mentioned that I was planning on removing the siding to get to the window. He basically shook his head and mentioned that typically what is done is a circular saw is run around the perimeter of the window and that is what is used to remove the window. Basically he described it as cutting out the siding that hides the window frame and attachpoints then installing the new window, then using 1x2's or whatever to frame the window and cover up the cut the circular saw made.
Is he basically correct here. For some reason I just can't see myself taking a circular saw to the siding as proper window replacement.
or the Andersen window site and download instructions on installing their windows. Read warranties. Without proper flashing, you might as well keep your old windows. The flashing should go beyond the window frame width so I don't see how you can do it right without removing the siding unless you use very wide trim. The flashing is also supposed to be attached to the paper underneath the siding (assuming you have tyvek or something similar).
Thanks for the link. As for Tyvek - Hahahahahahaaaaaaa, nope I'd be amazed if my house had plywood under the siding. It was just too cheaply made for fancy geegaws like a vapor barrier.
Take your pictures down to your building supply store and talk to them about vinyl replacement windows and how to install them. It is very likely that you can put some in without touching the outside. If you're feeling industrious, you might carefully take out a window and remove the sill and sides to see what's there and take pics of that too.
I would guess that if you raise the window, you can take out the glass. Do so. Then gently pry up the inside sill and remove it. Then figure out how to remove the bottom plate of the window. Likely it's just a couple of screws. Take that out. Then, basically the window comes into piece in front of you when you take out the side screws. No reason to cut the siding. I'm no expert on windows, but almost everyone one I've seen come out (and goes in) from the inside.
Once you've measured them up, they just order them in whatever size you need.
No I'm not ready to tackle doing larger windows. I just couldn't figure out in my head how old windows are removed. What I was told sounded reasonable but destructive. But looking at the siding, I'd have to remove the entire siding from the house just to get the window out and its likely I'll bust planks doing it given the age of the wood.
So I asked. Someone responded basically that carving up the siding is only what a hack would do - so now I'm curious exactly how a professional quality job would do it? What you're indicating in this post is that the window is dismantled from the inside. But that raises a question in my mind as to how you remove the old window frame flashing ( I call it flashing, you know the metal tang that goes around the perimeter of the window and holds it to the house).
You're down south and I'm up north. What you have as a window is basically what we use as storm windows. Up here, they don't use flashing to hold window into place. I doubt if they do there, either.
When they frame a house, they leave a box for the window. Then slide the window in, make sure it's square (real important), and screw it into place. then put up the molding and trim.
In on pic there appears to be a screw. Tha't what holding it in place.
So either take your pics to a store or CAREFULLY remove the window, then the trim and see what you have. Probably the aluminum is just held in by some screws. If you remove them, you be back to the framing. Ask the store about measuring, but usually it's edge to edge of the framing.
Going some googling wouldn't hurt, either. See how to DIY a replacement window.
A little scary, but not too hard.
If they wrapped the window in aluminum when the sided it, put the window to that point and caulk it. If you want it gone, probably a dremel tool would work as well as anything. But again, go ask at the store.
As always, if you are messing with old paint (pre-1980), work carefully, work wet, and clean up carefully afterwards (HEPA vac only).
I don't know how common my windows are. They are sliding windows with
4 grooves, 2 for windows and 2 for storm windows, so since they don't use thermopane, I guess that means they're cheap.**
When the guy in the next townhouse had his windows replaced, the workman took the panes out of the frames*** and used a sawsall to make one or two cuts in the alumininum window frame, but in the frame only and not in any of the wood. ***Maybe he had removed screws through the frame into the wood, but if so I missed that part. I guess there must be screws or the windows would fall out.
Then they slid out the rest of the frame, or it just folded in on itself. Then he just slid the new frame in, screwed it in, I guess, and put the panes in. He didn't touch the siding. He finished up by making a little rectangular tube from plain white aluminum that he atttached above the window, and a smaller one for below, on top of the t1-11 siding. It makes his window look bigger than mine, and the extra white frame might have a nice appearance, but I'm still pleased with mine, which goes from brown wall to glass window, with only an inch of aluminmum in between.
I'm also a little disgusted to realize that the decoration around at least some of the windows I see is hollow. I know there has always been imitation stuff like this, but it's better for me when I don't know where.
He also applied thin lines of white caulk outside between the frame and the wood and between the tubes and the t1-11. He made the edges of the caulk straight. If you can't caulk well practice somewhere else. The look of the caulk will be more important I think than the look of the windows.
(The guy I bought my house from was cold all the time and caulked everywhere, and never did learn how. You want to push the nozzle of the tube away from you as you put down the caulk and use the size of the opening and the nozzle to delimit the width of caulk lines. He seemed to have been pulling it back, and had no control over thickness. And if he then used his finger to push down the thick parts, he made them too wide. Push, don't pull.
ALL of this was done from the inside of the house. It took him iirc 2 or 3 hours to do 3 windows, and the biggest single chunk of time, maybe a fourth or third of the total, was making those rectangular tubes.
**I suppose after a while the fuzzy strip between the storm windows and the windows falls off, so that would be bad, but I'm careful to glue that stuff back when it starts to get loose. I guess eventually the fuzzy strip won't be fuzzy anymore, will be bald, so that will leak air for sure.
But the only really bad part now is that while I'm lying in bed, I can reach up and open or close the window, but not the storm window. So if it is closed, I have to sit up, get on my knees and turn around to open or close the storm window Also I have to stick my fingers almost between the windows to open the storm windows. These are not big problems. I also get condensation on the aluminum frames inside, but it hasn't damaged the window sill after 27 years, hasn't even hurt the paint. I don't know how much heat loss this represents. But while neighbors are replacing their windows, I still don't think it is worth it.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.