Exterior wall design is evolving. Some climates benefit from exterior insulation and or Rain Screen furring straps. This creates challenges and opportunities around door and window openings. Often the location of the standard window flange(fin) does not work well with the window trim.
I am considering using windows without flanges.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of installing and flashing and sealing flangeless windows.
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Replies
Shocking! No one's ever done that before!!
Old timey stuff.. nostalgic... Cool.
Easy advantages are you can set them to whatever depth you want. Takes a little more time/patience/skill to set the correctly. Jigs can be made to set the correct depth (whatever you chose) but the fine skill of using a level & shims, hammer & nail are required after that.
I find that most nailing fins are for the most part useless with a hefty amount of dangerous mixed in. They are dangerous because some folks think they do something. Most don't.
You will not be any worse for the wear if you knock them off and use some other techniques for securing the windows to the rough frames. It's all basic carpentry techniques, but nowadays some inspectors seem to think a 5 cent plastic fin needs ten nails in it to properly secure a window....when the fin will separate from the window with a minimum of effort by a two year old pushing on it.
Some will argue that you are damaging the integrity of the window by ruining it's ability to shed water if you mess with the top fin on some windows. They fail to recognize that if the window is recessed, it doesn't have any chance at capturing water running down the side of the walls, but that won't stop them from worrying about it and warning about violating the manufacturers warranty. They may be right...but if you have a hefty shelf overhanging the window, I wouldn't lose any sleep about that issue.
Try it, you'll probably wish you had done it years ago.
jim
fka (formerly known as) blue