Good morning all. I am in the proccess of remodeling a mid 19th century commercial building as a home and shop. I am trying to find away around the high cost of replacement windows. The building needs 8-28’X 84″ and 2-40″X 84″ double hung windows with arched tops. The sash and the glass are not a problem. The glass can be purchasted and the sash easly made. I’m looking for a source for some sort of spring balence system (or alturnitive). And ideas to minimize air infiltration at the check rail and tops and bottoms. Surely someone out there must have made their own windows,This is not rocket science it is just finding the right parts. Ideas anyone?
Thanks Thom
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http://www.blainewindow.com
http://www.conservationtechnology.com
http://www.phelpscompany.com (but they sell really expensive stuff)
TIPI,TIPI,TIPI!
Ah, that reminds me of one of my favorite threads: http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=53734.1&maxT=7
(Any Window Builders out there. You'll have to cut and paste, because Mozilla doesn't want to make this an active link.)
I haven't built any double hungs, only casements. However, as far as I'm concerned, nothing matches the feel of counterbalanced windows, and I would probably try to use pulleys and weights in a way that could be sealed up well- building a little box around the pulley/weight so that the rest of the cavity could be shot with foam. Keep asking questions, and order the resource conservation catalog that Jim suggested.
zak
My local hardware store has spring balances in stock. These are steel cables with a pully that you mortise into the jamb.You can also order spring loaded Jamb Liners from many window companies. They will make compatible sashes.Kirk
Zak
I know what you mean about the feel of a traditional double hung window. However these new windows must be tight. There is only 1200 sq. ft per floor here but the ceilings are high and I can't afford to heat Cedar county any more. Add to this a girl friend who has a thing about clean windows, all of a sudden vinel side jams look really attractive.
Thom
Thom
and I can't afford to heat Cedar county any more
When I read that I had to check your profile to see where you were from. I know that area very well!
Cedar county aint all that big, whatcha bitchin about! Besides, you had a very warm January.
I'm building some new windows for my house out in the Amanas, double hung, just like the old style ones. The check rail is where I'm getting some assistance with weather tightness.
A shop that I worked at down here in TX built a lot of windows for a couple of old court houses and they had a pretty good way to seal the check rail, I just need to stop in and find out where they bought the material that they used.
Doug
Doug,
What a strange sensation to read your note, another Iowain interested in woodworking, building double hung windows reading
a note on the web. What are the chances? Where are you from, and how long in TX?
Any info you can pass on will help. Glad you wrote.
Thom
Thom
I've lived down here for about three years now. I do intend to move back to Iowa some day, I miss winter. Yea yea, I know thats sounds crazy but its true.
I lived in CR for a long time. While going to college I was doing some work for a doc and found a good deal on a house in Middle Amana, I was able to take out school loan for the down payment and voila, I have a 120 year old house that needs a lot of work! Mainly new windows.
A shop that I used to work for here in Austin, Tx built about 120 double hungs for a couple court houses so I got initiated into the fine art of window making! I had knives ground for my shaper and I've built a few just screwing around. I plan on setting the shaper up at the house in Ia. so that when I'm there I can run all the parts and replace windows a few at a time.
We used a rubber strip on the check rail that made the sashes fairly weather tight. I need to stop by the old work place to see where that stuff was procured.
I'm not sure what your plans are, were you thinking of making new windows? I thought I read that you wanted to make sort-of-a storm window? Let me know if I can help, there are others on here that have built replacement windows so you shouldnt have any trouble getting some good advice.
Doug
How married are you to the double hung design? If you want it tight and easy to clean, consider the traditional European idea of putting both inswing and outswing casement sash in the same jamb. That gets you two sheets of glass, and access to clean them.
Given the large 84" height, perhaps you might want to divide things up, with a fixed lite above operable casements.
-- J.S.
If you're building your own anyway, you can get around a lot of your problem if you build wood storm sashes. These are removeable, hang from hooks from the outer casing trim and are able to seal very well with the right hardware and weatherstripping. I've installed these on my house and they work so well, I'm able to take out my double-hung sashes for refinishing in the middle of winter. Its the storms that keep the air out, not the primaries...
Someone mentioned the possibility of tempered being required because the windows could extend close to the floor. I believe some codes require tempered in large windows close to outside doors.
Stay away fromVynal side jambs especialy if you are thinking tiltin sash . They creak and they leak . A squegee on an extandable pole is the way to clean tall windows.
Will you actually open the windows? If not, simply building a fixed window makes more sense and is 5 times easier. Make them look like double hungs, but without the air leakage and mechanicals of one.
Personally, I'd build them like a traditional double hung, but with double insulated glass, or simply use a traditional window and build a good quality removeable storm window to insulate and seal the opening.
It's surprising that people don't realize how much of an improvment a good double or tripple pain storm window can be. If you're cheap, double pain fixed windows made from salvaged glass can be ordered for about $2.50/sqft (tripple is $1 more), at least around here they can be.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
"If you're cheap, double pain fixed windows made from salvaged glass can be ordered for about $2.50/sqft (tripple is $1 more), at least around here they can be."
Would that be tempered glass? I'm not a builder but an 84" high window sounds like it might end up being installed low enough to require tempered.
Not tempered. It's also common to avoid tempered glass by adding a horizontal bar across the lower portion of the window--codes will vary as to what they allow.
:-)
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
thats fine til the inspector comes in and wants to see the engineering stats.
it happened to me and I had to hire an engineer to say they were ok.
These windows are all on the second floor at least 18" from the street. I was planning to use double pane glass but I was not aware I could buy recycled glass.Is this something get through my local glass distributor. The sash it self I'm going to build of 6/4 mahogany, moulding the inside and outside edges then plowing a groove to hold the glass. The frame will be assembled and glued around the glass. This will make it tough to replace broken pains but seems to remedy the problem of glazing compound. At this point I'm not sure weather to salvage the existing window or build new.
I was not aware I could buy recycled glass.Is this something get through my local glass distributor
I have no idea of how many glass shops keep old glass, but a favorite shop gets a number of different types of glass and mirrors and sells any of it for $.20 sqft or they'll build a multipane window from it. Probably most of it comes from schools & businesses upgrading large panes from single to double.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
"This will make it tough to replace broken pains but seems to remedy the problem of glazing compound."
Glazing compound is for the birds. Use wooden stops instead. If you rip them on a bevel they paint out just like glazing compound and I defy anyone to notice the difference. Or, you can leave the stop proud and make them part of the design.
Plus, any trapped water can get out under the stop, which is why the stops are supposed to be on the outside of doors and windows - at least, that's always been my understanding of that convention.
I don't think trapping glass in a groove is a good idea at all. TIPI,TIPI,TIPI!
I'll second Jim: putting them in a groove doesn't sound like a good idea. I put the same profile on the 3/8 x 3/8 molding that I have on the interior of the sash, and then tack and glue it on. That way, you can bed the glass on a bead of silicone or polyurethane caulk, sealing it up better in my opinion. Are you sure 6/4 mahogany will be thick enough to accomodate your IG (insulated glass) units? I used 3/4" IGs, and stock planed to 1 5/8" was barely big enough.zak
Zak
I know 3/4 glass is more insulation But my initial though was to make the sash fit into the original frames. So I had planned to use 3/8 glass. I like the idea of wood stop, it makes more sense and will be easer.Unfortunitly the budget is slim and cost rules.
Thom