Install a Tilt-In Window in the Old Jambs
In this article, you will find:
Page 2
Step 2: Delicious Demolition
Building Smarts
Double-hung windows have their own lingo. Sash refers to the moving wooden frame that holds the glass. Stops are wooden molding that hold the sash in their channels. The outer stop holds the lower sash. The parting stop separates the two sashes. The blind stop is found behind the upper sash.
Start by removing the outer stops, sash, and any hardware that would interfere with the new window.
Remove the Outer Stops
After the replacement kit arrives, remove the moving parts of your window. Remove the outer stop gently if you plan to reuse it. If the molding refuses to move, drive some nails through with a nail set, and then slip in a margin trowel. Pry outward until a small crowbar fits behind the outer stop.
To reuse the outer stop, pull the nails through the back with locking pliers. (Hammering the nails from behind makes big divots in the face.)
Remove the Parting Stops
Pry out and discard the parting stops between the sashes. Hammer a trowel into the slot near one end and pry—the stop should be jammed, not fastened, into place. Remove the inner sash and any sash-lifting hardware. Remove the top parting stop.
Once the parting stop is free at the bottom, add a crowbar to your arsenal. Pry against the inside of the jamb, not the outside, so your marks can be covered by the vinyl jamb liner.
Clean splinters and loose crud from the jambs. The demolition is done, and the window is ready for the replacement kit.
Step 3: Puttin' It All Together
Hard to believe, but half the job is done! Now you'll nail the jamb liner clips to the jambs, attach the vinyl jamb liners, and insert the sash in the liners.
Attach the Jamb Liners
Use 1" roofing nails to attach the jamb clips.
Now insert the vinyl jamb liners into the jamb liner clips. Note: The clips don't hold the liners tight to the jambs. The liners rest on foam that causes them to float 1⁄4" above the jamb so you can compress the jamb liner to slip the sliding sash into the track.
Push the jamb liners against the jamb to engage the clips. This is the only tricky part of the installation—if the liner slips onto the wrong side of the clip, it won't engage.
Slip the new top jamb parting stop into the channel left by the old top jamb parting stop. Fasten with three small finishing nails.
Push the sash lifters toward the bottom of the jamb-liner tracks with a screwdriver. Then turn the screwdriver so the lifter will seize in the track.
Installing the Sash
It's payday on the window crew. With the sash upside down and inside out, slip the sash pins into the channel, above the lifting mechanism. Press down to engage the lifters.
Rotate the sash upward and press it into the track. Push the jamb liner back and press the window into its track. Renail the stops. Painless, eh?