Mortising and tenoning doors and windows

[Michelle Becker]

Mr Clarke, my husband and I need to replace the windows in our home. My husband is an avid and accomplished DIY guy and thinks he is capable of building the windows himself. Seeing as how it's been a year since you started your projcet, could you please post an update on your progress, along with any problems you experienced along the way, please? If you would post some pictures of the windows completed thus far that would be great as well! Thank you in advance for your help!

[Leon]

LOL Good luck.

[Sonny]

Yeah, good luck with that! If I were to try to replace all my sashes (or did you mean your whole window units?), I'd draw up the specs, then have a milling company mill all the woodwork, then do the assembly myself. Doing the millwork, yourself, would be the real challenge, more likely requiring more expertise (and dedicated tools) than a typical DIYer has. It may not be the idea of doing things because they are hard, but to do things accura tely and properly, for best results.

If nothing else, at least you might consider getting prices for milling the (sash) woodwork required.

Sonny

[Ed Pawlowski]

Even at that, a local shop probably has more cost in milling a dozen windows that Marvin or Anderson doing a couple of thousand. Unless it is a historical building, pre-made has to be more sensible. May not make much difference in mild climates, but the design is critical for efficiency in cold climates. I imagine you can buy some of the locking and tilting hardware, I never looked.

I had nine Marvin Windows installed. It is more than my skill set could handle to build them that well including the inserts in the glass.