Anyone got tips on installing a complete replacement window (not an insert) solo? This is on 2nd floor with 1st floor sloping roof outside to stand on, but hiring a helper leaves me open to medical liability if he slips…. It has occurred to me to screw a ledger into the sides to hold the window in the RO…. Shimming would be interesting….. Major PITA but feasible?
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
A high-performance single-family home builder shares tips from his early experience with two apartment buildings.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Fine Home Building
Follow
-
Fine Homebuilding
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial Now -
GBA Prime
Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
- Home Group
- Antique Trader
- Arts & Crafts Homes
- Bank Note Reporter
- Cabin Life
- Cuisine at Home
- Fine Gardening
- Fine Woodworking
- Green Building Advisor
- Garden Gate
- Horticulture
- Keep Craft Alive
- Log Home Living
- Military Trader/Vehicles
- Numismatic News
- Numismaster
- Old Cars Weekly
- Old House Journal
- Period Homes
- Popular Woodworking
- Script
- ShopNotes
- Sports Collectors Digest
- Threads
- Timber Home Living
- Traditional Building
- Woodsmith
- World Coin News
- Writer's Digest
Replies
Bar clamps, three big ones.
Remove the sash to make it lighter.
Use the often available installation clips offered by manufacturers. They mount to the outside sides of the jambs. You can bend them so they stop the window from falling out, set from the inside. Remove the drywall/plaster at the clip locations and cut the clips to length so the trim will cover.
What brand window are you using? I know the clips are available from Marvin and Pella.
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Actually it's a casement, no sash removing :-(It's a Marvin, installing DIY was the price for getting a nice window.Thanks for the tip, I'll see if I can find the clips. Can they be removed/cut away once the window is nailed in (it has a nailing fin)?
Taylor, no nailing fin. You set from the inside using the clips I'm sure marvin has a detail or can show you at the distributor.
You can remove the casement sash. Unclip the keepers and slide it out. Hang on to it when you remove the top one. When putting back in, fasten the top one first.
If you have the fins, remove the sash, crawl out on that roof, set the window like matt suggests, Hell, use waferhead screws if you want, reset the sash and then go back out and check the fit. Don't hook up the crank extender, you can open the window from the outside. No need for a ladder.
This wouldn't be in the bathroom would it?A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Matt and Cal, thanks. I have the window, it has a nailing fin.I guess the point is, once the sash is out, everything can be done from outside. Not sure how to adjust it for the sash if it's screwed in. A fastener is a fastener.Bathroom: yes....
Alright man, nearing completion. Let's get the push on for a present for the wife come Christmas Eve.
Screw in the four corners not snug. Shim to level and plumb. Reset the sash, crawl out, check the reveal, adjust if necessary, nail it off. There's always a set proceedure, but you have the opening, the window and certain skills, adjust as necessary for a beautiful thing.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
you have the opening, the window and certain skills, adjust as necessary for a beautiful thing
Well 2 out 3 ain't bad....
Thanks again....
A few related thought:
If you did have a helper he/she would be inside the house helping to hold the window during nailing and reading the level. Not on the roof where he/she could fall off.
Removing the sash(es) to make it lighter and is a good idea, but having the sashes installed, shut and latched helps hold the window frame square and in the correct position to make for a good seal. Therefore, it might be best to 1) remove sashes, 2) tack frame in place, 3) re-install sashes, and 4) fully nail unit.
Edited 12/8/2005 6:59 am ET by Matt
If you did have a helper he/she would be inside the house helping to hold the window during nailing and reading the level. Not on the roof where he/she could fall off.
Depends on what one expects the helper to do. Someone has to read the level and adjust the shims. Someone has to lift the window in and hammer the nails. Which is the more critical job for a correct installation? I'd say the work on the inside. And in a pinch, the guy on the inside comes out to hammer the nails, so all the guy on the outside does is stop the window from falling out. So I was thinking of something to replace that function.
Related question: Marvin says to use roofing nails. Is smooth shank okay? Since windows are only warrantied for 10 years (20 years for the glass), ring shank might lead to problems down the road.