Replies

1. 
   GRCourter | May 11, 2009 03:58pm | #1

   It looks like you have aluminum windows in the openings now and that they have a nail fin.  I remove the glass, take a sawzall and cut the frame extrusions as far back as possible in the middle of the opening and pry the frame out.  In 90% of the aluminum windows that I have replace the installers used a couple of 8d nails in each side and either the nail will pull out (especially if you have had water leaks) or the flange will pull right thru the nail.  Make sure that you use a block of wood on the stucco to minimize cracking.  Yes, minimize cracking because you will have some stucco patching to do.  When you set the replacement window I suggest that you use  Geocel 2300 sealant.

1. 
   MBaybut | May 11, 2009 04:12pm | #2

   Thanks for the quick response. I just replaced all the windows at my home, which was stucco block. I had to chisel most of the stucco from around the frame to get the frame out and the new one in so I'm anticipating a bit of stucco work. I'll find out when I get the old one out, but I think the sill may need replacing. The water is getting down there and actually running down the wall cavity to the window below. Should I put some kind of flashing where the window meets the sill?
   Mike

1. 
   frammer52 | May 11, 2009 04:54pm | #3

   Should I put some kind of flashing where the window meets the sill?>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

   Of course.

   I have never put replacements in stucco, so I don't want to comment much, but, with question like this, you might be better to hire someone to do this project for you.

1. 
   florida | May 12, 2009 08:20pm | #9

   I wish. I've been replacing aluminum windows in stuccoed CBS walls for 35 years and have never seen any flashing. There's nothing to flash to in most cases. The sills are preformed concrete with an integral lip that the window buts to. Any flashing would be on top of the finished sill. Leaks are very rare.

1. 
   frammer52 | May 12, 2009 09:39pm | #11

   Like I said before, I have no experience with stucco.  Logic says there should be some kind of flashing at the bottom, but.........

2. 
   GRCourter | May 11, 2009 05:06pm | #4

   I have been repllacing aluminum windows for more years than I wish to count.  If the sill is stucco and solid (no cracks) I have been 100% successful by using Geocel 2300 sealant around the window as it meet the stucco/sill.  There are a couple of other tri-polymer sealants out there, but I have never seen the reason to change.  I have been back to jobs that I did in the early '90s and have never found sealant failure.  I have seen flashings that have warped and or corroded, and even if you use a flashing you still have to seal the flashing where it meets the window and the sill.  2300 is not cheap, about $5.25 a tube retail but you only buy it once.

2. 
   rdesigns | May 11, 2009 05:10pm | #5

   I'm not offering any suggestions here, just asking some Q's, more for my own education, but some of the answers from more experienced guys might help us both. I have two aluminum frame windows left that I'd like to replace, but mine have a drywall-wrapped "casing" on the inside, and hardboard siding on the outside that butts right up to the aluminum frame.

   If I understand the intention of your OP and the suggestion given, it seems you want to install new windows without the need to strip back to the original rough opening (more on the outside if the nailing fin were to be exposed.) Doing it this way would eliminate the need to trim around the new window, both inside and outside.

   If you just take out the aluminum frame and the nailing fin along with it, it seems that the existing finished opening (the stucco "casing") would become the rough opening for the new window. If so, wouldn't the new window be an odd size? Maybe that's not a problem.

   If it's possible to get the custom size that would be needed, then it seems that you would be setting a finless unit in the stucco-wrapped opening and hoping that caulking will be permanent enough and waterproof enough to keep the window from leaking again.

    

1. 
   MBaybut | May 11, 2009 09:28pm | #6

   I don't have the window out yet so I'm not sure exactly how they're put in. I'm presuming the standard sized window was fixed into the rough opening and then the stucco place around the frame. Can't use the opening without the stucco removed, it shrinks the opening by about 2"
   Mike

3. 
   migraine | May 11, 2009 11:03pm | #7

   I will ask this first...

   do you know for fact that the windows are leaking at the stucco to window frame, or the water infiltration from somewhere else and just finding it's way to the window opening?

   Most of the leaks that I have found are from the outside edge of the flange that is behind the stucco, or farther up the wall

   Just replacing the window may/may not fix your problem.

    

    

1. 
   MBaybut | May 11, 2009 11:13pm | #8

   Yes, this is a two story home. I was washing the top window and the water was dripping from inside the window directly below it.

1. 
   florida | May 12, 2009 08:25pm | #10

   Your house looks like stucco over frame. Is that correct? If yours is a typical 25 or 30 year old Florida home your windows won't have any fins. Remove the screws from the inside, raise the bottom sash, get a pry bar under the bottom center and bend the aluminum up. That will pull the sides in enough that you can work the bottom out and get a bar behind the upper sides. It should come right out.

1. 
   MBaybut | May 13, 2009 12:57am | #12

   Thanks,
   Actually it's a 1923 house, tarted up probably 30 yrs ago. Getting the old one out isn't my problem, although I am grateful for the technique. I needed to know the correct way to install the new vinyl one.
   Mike

1. 
   florida | May 13, 2009 05:45am | #13

   If you're prepared to do battle with the stucco you knock it off all the returns, pull out the lath, install flashing across the bottom, install the window, flash the sides and top, re-nail the lath, stucco, prime, caulk and paint. It's tedious but not really that bad on smaller windows like yours.
   If you're not prepared for stucco you cut the flange off the window, stick it in the hole, and do the best caulk job you can.
   I'd go with the first way if you want the job to last.
   Good luck!

2. 
   MBaybut | May 13, 2009 12:25pm | #14

   I'm gonna go with method #1
   Thanks.