Removing steel windows

[Herb S]

My house is about 50 years old and has steel double hung windows which I want to remove and replace with new windows. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to remove these steel windows?

Herb

[Al Davis]

On a brick house, we nail those steel windows on the stud from the outside before the brick layers put on the brick. It you have a wood frame home, then we put it on before the exterior trim. It also depends on the kind of steel window too because some of them are attached from the inside.

If you have a brick construction home, you may have a problem because the brick cover some of the trim from the steel windows that are fasten to the stud from the exterior. The only way that I know to solve this problem is to remove the windows from the inside. You do this by removing the materials around the inside of the window to get to the stud; this is serious remolding because you will have to remove the inside stud where the window is attached. Don't remove the load bearing stud! This stud support the header that supports the roof over the window. Maybe someone else knows a trick for this, because I don't know of a easy way-out unless you want to remove some brick. I speak of steel windows that are attached to the outside stud. Steel windows attached from the inside are easy; just remove the nails from the inside.

If you have a wood construction home, then just remove the exterior trim and the answer will be there in front of you. Again, speak of steel windows that are attached from the exterior. These windows are a pain.

The situation can get messy with stucco:) It's just like removing some sheetrock, but you will have to repair the stucco. I really hate windows jobs unless it's a wood construction home.

Have fun,

--AL

[geemike]

Our steel framed windows turned out to be welded along the top to the steel header ( or whatever that thing is called). The installers had to use disc grinders to cut the welds, which added appreciably to their time on the job. Our home is a '56.

Mike G