Building Windows

After a long break from blogging, I felt compelled to dive back in. There have been so many projects for the last several months, I've hardly found the time to eat, sleep, go to work, and work on the house -- much less create new blog postings. However, you loyal readers (all three of you) deserve more than excuses, so here we go again -- a begin-again blog to catch you up a bit.

My current project is building windows for the new kitchen and master bedroom additions we'll be starting in the next few weeks. In the tradition of Loving Old Stuff, I couldn't bear the thought of putting vinyl windows in the additions. And in the tradition of I Love To Save Money, I couldn't bear the thought (or cost) of buying wooden true divided-lite windows either. Just one of those babies (for a good one) can cost several hundred dollars each.

Last August, I wrote about a couple of sets of window sashes that I rescued from going to the dump. (See my previous Historic Windows post.) I mentioned in that post that I had called my friend Bob Yapp to see if I could get him to pull together enough interested people to put on a hands-on training on how to build window jambs. Window jambs are the "frames" around sashes that hold the sashes in place. After several phone calls over the course of a few months, I pestered Bob enough to get him to do a private class for me. I headed up to Hannibal, MO to Bob's Belvedere School one weekend in February, and we built the prototype window jamb that will serve as the pattern for all the double-hung jambs I will be building.

Of the two types of windows I'm building (double-hung and casements), the double-hungs are the more complicated ones. Since I have my prototype to refer to for the double-hungs, I decided to start building the casements first. Casements are nothing more than a hinged door, so I reckoned I could figure those out on my own. The one change that I made to the casements is that instead of being an out-swing window as the were in the house where they used to be installed, I am converting them to in-swing windows so I can put storm windows on the outside to make them more energy efficient. They'll also weather better since they won't be directly exposed to the elements once the storm windows are installed.

(click picture to enlarge)

The picture on the left shows the three casement windows that will be installed above the kitchen sink in the soon-to-be new kitchen. The right and left units swing open, while the center unit is stationary. The big challenge with these casement windows was that none of the sashes were square. Over the years, the previous owner of these windows had planed the edges of the windows as they began to sag and as the house began to settle. Not only were the sashes not square, they had all been planed varying amounts, so none of them were exactly the same size either. My first challenge was to find the "lowest common denominator" measurements among all of the window sashes, then work on squaring them up all to the same dimensions. It was tedious work because I couldn't afford to make any mis-cuts. If I were to mess up one of these things, there wasn't any chance of running to Home Depot to get another one!

Antique, yet brand new latch

I'm re-using the original hinges that were on these windows, but I couldn't re-use the latches because they were designed for out-swing windows. Instead, I searched online for some reproduction latches that would work for an in-swing window. Much to my delight, I found a fantastic website for a store in Cooperstown, NY that deals exclusively in "unused antique hardware". In other words, all of their hardware is really old stuff, but it is "brand new" in the sense that it has never been installed. My guess is that they must come across a few matching pieces of hardware from time to time that may have been in the basement of an old hardware store or other such place. I love these latches. They are in perfect condition, but because of their age, they already have a beautiful patina that says, "I'm old." They are better than I'd hoped for!

To make these windows energy efficient, I'm incorporating several features that will make these units on par with the efficiency of a vinyl insulated-glass window:

Grooved stop molding, showing how a small
section of the silicon bead is inserted. The
sash compresses the weatherstrip when the
window is closed, creating an air-tight seal.

• Low-E glass panes
• Low-E glass on the storm window that will be attached to the outside
• Grooved stop molding that accepts silicone bead weather-strip 
• Silicone sweep installed into the bottom of the sash

The silicon weather-strip and sweep are products I found on the Conservation Technology website. They have many very good weatherization products that far exceed the quality of what I have been able to buy locally.

One other product that has been incredibly useful is a two-part putty called WoodEpox by Abatron. It is an epoxy compound that can replace rotted wood, then can be sanded or machined as needed. The sash shown in the lower right had a small rotted place on one corner, which I repaired with WoodEpox. Once the sash is painted, you won't be able to tell that a repair was even made.



Groove in the bottom of the sash with the silicone
sweep inserted. The white stuff  in the foreground
corner of the sash is WoodEpox.



I'm having a blast building these window jambs. If I counted correctly, I have 21 windows to build. By tomorrow evening, I will have the seven casements units built, so I'll be a third of the way done. Next -- the double-hungs. And on Wednesday, I meet with our architect and the general contractor that will be shelling-in the kitchen and bedroom additions. Things are finally starting to move along!