Custom Building Windows...Part Four

In the first three parts of this series, we have covered everything right up to the final painting of the custom built windows on the outside. Now it's time to go inside and finish the White Pine telescoping frames that we built. And by finish...I mean stain and finish. "Then" we'll get around to installing them.

As mentioned earlier in this series, the interior stain was a special blend previously chosen by the homeowner. All we did was get the numbers off the old can and order another gallon of it. It's not always that easy! We pre-cut all the trim pieces, and then laid them out across sawhorses in the garage. It was still early enough in late summer that we could leave the doors open, and they dried quickly. Everything from the interior frame parts (on the right) to the casing (one of which is second from left) and the stop (far left) was made ready before installation. 

The last thing to be applied was two coats of latex Polyurethane in a semi-gloss finish. Before the new inside trim could go on there were many places where drywall had to be repaired from removing the old sill and overhead shelf. Then it had to be primed and painted before the casing went on. For safety, we went ahead and installed the interior frames and glass stop, otherwise the only thing holding the glass in was the caulking, and a good gust of wind could have pushed it inward. Safety ALWAYS comes first!

In the process of finishing up the inside trim, we also had to change out the old trim to the new trim color, which meant going up and over two patio doors leading into the sun room that were jambed tight to the wall at each end. The previous trim had been butchered up because the installer didn't know how to do it, so we fixed it as it should have been. 

We also added a new extra wide jamb to the one opening leading to the kitchen. The dark trim is the kitchen side, which hasn't yet been changed to the new color. You can see the new trim around the entry door and windows in the sun room.

We also custom built and installed a new oak threshhold for between the kitchen and sun room. We always fill all nailholes, and apply a specially colored filler to our trim. Leaving nail holes is equivalent to not finishing the work!

This concludes our custom window building project, and the associated work that went with it. We hoped you enjoyed seeing the kind of work we used to do.

What a difference the new windows make...in the amount of light let into the room, in the much improved views, in the general looks of the place, and the increased value to the home!

In the next set of posts, we'll talk about the two decks that were added (actually the smaller one you see out these windows was just rebuilt, whereas the other one was totally new). The decks were finished prior to the window job, because we needed a place to stand to work on the windows!

Actually, as we finish writing these posts, there will be a few other decks shown at other locations. If you have considered taking on a project like this yourself, and have any questions, please feel free to comment below and ask me. I will be glad to help you by return comment or email, free of charge.

Custom Building Windows...Part Three

In parts one and two, you saw what the job entailed, how the windows were designed and built, primed, pre-painted and installed...well, OK, at least one of them. The next five of them were not over a deck, so we had nothing to stand on to reach the tops. The whole front side of the room had bushes in front of it, so maneuvering a ladder and having to run up and down all the time was not an option. But we had already made the answer for this during a previous job. 

I had used some leftover lumber...a 4 x 4 vertical piece, and notched into it a couple of 2 x 4's which were all secured to each other with 1/2-inch carriage bolts. By using some ratchet straps to secure the top and bottom of the vertical 4 x 4 to the support posts of the room, and bracing it underneath with a scrap 2 x 4 so it couldn't slide down, we were able to make our own "outrigger"scaffold. With a couple of 2 x 10 planks on the top, it would easily hold two of us, and anything we would be able to lift.

Unfortunately, I only made two of them, so we worked on one set of windows and then had to move one of the supports to a different post to do the next two windows, but it was still better than a ladder.

Disclaimer: Don't try this at home! (Or at least not because I did it!) I'm sure if OSHA saw this they'd pitch all kinds of fits, first of all because it doesn't have a railing around it, and doesn't come with a support harness, and all that other crap they would want. But remember, I have been doing this for 40 some years, and short heights like this don't bother me. I am very careful when working on scaffold, and have never had an accident. For some people who can't walk and chew gum at the same time, you might want to surround yourself with a cage AND safety harness!

To get up and down from the scaffold, we did have to use a 6-foot stepladder, but that was easy enough.

With all the new window frames installed, it was now a matter of installing the glass.

Unfortunately, when they arrived, we were all so busy removing the temporary plywood covers and adding the glass caulking ahead of them that we forgot to take pictures, but let it be known that we used a special clear, non-yellowing, paintable caulking to set the glass. This was applied to the inside face of the glass stop around the frame. There's no need to put it anywhere else. When the glass goes against it, and it is pressed into place, it adheres to both the glass and the painted wood. Any excess that is squeazed out is best left to set a couple days, as it remains sticky a long time. When it sets, it becomes like a hard rubber seal. Then the excess can be trimmed off with a razor blade type scraper. The glass panels were set on rubber blocks to raise them off the bottom about a 1/4-inch. This is standard practice when setting glass like this, and again, knowledge of that, and to make provision for it, along with sufficient space around the other sides of the glass, is necessary when doing a job like this. One mistake in this area can cost hundreds of dollars in wasted time and materials to do over again! 

Only after that was done, did we go back and fill in the little "chair rail" blocks that were part of the continuous apron under the old windows. It didn't look right to leave them off, because they showed up in other places around the siding, so we cut each block to go between the new frames. Then we caulked around each window and over the top of all joints with a good grade of exterior painters's caulk, and then applied a last coat of paint to everything. Even though it is standard practice to use a drip cap (usually aluminum), slipped up underneath the siding above the window, so that it sets right on top of the top piece of casing (to drain rain off and prevent it from going back into the siding), it still needs caulking...especially at the ends.

What a dramatic difference the new windows make! The above picture is looking at them from the west, and the picture below is from the east side.

The new decks were also built by us, but we'll cover those in future posts. For now, we need to go to the inside with Part Four, and show you how the inside went together.

  

Custom Building Windows...Part Two

In part one we showed you how the custom frames were built, from the Red Cedar exterior to the telescoping White Pine interior frame. The next step was priming and pre-painting the exterior part of the frames.

As each frame was done, they were stood along the side of the garage to dry, with runners underneath to prevent picking up and sawdust off the floor.

While the frames were drying, we started the demolition work on on the sun room. In a couple of places, we had to remove electrical outlets and turn them horizontally, and move them to the bottom of the wall. Allowing for this prevented us from going all the way to the floor with the windows, but most installations have to do this in order to put the outlets where electrical code calls for them, if there isn't enough room between the windows. All of this had to be planned ahead of time. Also, you'll notice that there is a horizontal 2 x 4 in the bottom of the wall to serve as a nailer for the base trim. This isn't exactly normal building practice, but is actually a good idea that most builders don't think of doing. In order to cut the wall stud out, we had to get creative with working around that 2 x 4, the center stud, and even the electrical box. To do that, we had to cut some notched support 2 x 4's to support the other flat 2 x 4 that would serve as the lower sill of the window. These simply dropped into the opening, and were screwed in place with deck screws.

In some places we were able to cut out entire panels of exterior wall with the studs still attached.

Each opening was completely prepped before the new frames were set in place. The picture below shows the first one in. We actually built new decks for this place before the window job, so we made sure to leave the deck railing back far enough to slip the window casing in behind it.

As each frame was set in place and secured, we used a "sandwich method" to secure temporary plywood panels to the outside. We cut 2 x 2's the width of the window opening, and then screwed the plywood to the 2 x 2's. That way, we didn't create any new holes in the exterior trim that would only have to be filled and repainted again. We like to work "smarter", not "harder".

While all this was going on, we ordered the new one-inch-thick insulated glass panels from a local glass shop, and when we were ready, they came and set them in place for us. We didn't have to lift any of them!

In part three, we'll continue with this series on custom building windows, and show you how we worked on installation from four feet off the ground to the bottom of the frames. 

Custom Building Windows...Part 1

In the same house where we did the arch top doors, we had previously completed a custom window build. There was a sun room where there were eight single-hung vinyl windows, two on each end and four across the front. 

The owner wanted new full height thermopane panels installed, to have a better view of the lake. On the inside, there was a display shelf across the top of the windows, as well as an extra wide sill on the bottom, and all of that had to come off, along with the casing.

Before we could remove the windows, we had to have the new ones ready to take their place. No one makes windows like we needed, so we had to design and build them ourselves. The outside had to be rough-sawn cedar to match with the T-111 siding on the house, while the inside had to make a transition to White Pine for the custom stain.

I just happened to have an excess of 2 x 8 Red Cedar planks on hand, so that was the starting place for the new windows. Custom made sills had to be cut which included all the features needed, including a sloping outer surface, and inner dado for the White Pine to fit, and even a drip edge on the outside bottom (not yet cut or shown on the picture below).

We also ordered enough "1 by" Red Cedar to make the side and top pieces of the frame, plus the outer casing and aprons (the part under the installed window sill).

In the next picture, looking at the assembled bottom of the sill, you can see the drip edge slot near the front (upper) edge of the sill. The prevents rain from running back toward the house, and possibly into the siding, The white is standard painters caulk, which we applied to all cut ends of wood that "might" be exposed to weather, although that part was actually within the interior of the wall, and was only painted from the "ears" forward.  The picture below shows the outer portion of the frame, complete with the outer casing installed, and ready for the inside frame to be matched to it.

Because of slight variations which can be found in almost any walls, the inner White Pine frame had to be made to "telescope" into the Cedar frame. All of this had to be worked out on a plan of the window frame, done on the computer, before the first cut was made on any of the window parts. The picture below shows the bottom of the frame, with the outer glass stop installed and nail holes caulked, and then the inner White Pine frame telescoping into it.

The next task was cutting the inner glass stop, which can be seen in the next photo. Although this was all pre-cut, nothing was nailed in until the frame was installed in the window opening. At that point, the inner frame was fitted flush to the inside finished wall before nailing into the outer frame. As always, enough space was left around the frame to shim around it with wood shims to square it and hold it securely in place before nailing.

All exposed end grains that could not be primed and painted were coated with painters caulk, to seal moisture out. Below is a top left corner of one of the windows, showing where caulking was applied between the vertical casing and the top casing.

All eight window frames with inside trim were built like this and ready to install before any of the vinyl windows were removed. 

Custom building windows should not be attempted without the knowledge of all the components of a window, and why they are needed. There are certain angles that are pretty much standard in the industry for sill slopes, as well as knowledge of how all the trim parts fit together. Also, it takes the proper tools, which would include a large table saw and a power miter saw, as well as belt sanders, orbital sanders, power drills with special attachments and much more. Mostly, it takes a keen eye for design. You have to be able to visualize what the final product will look like before you even put the details down on paper or on a drawing program. Final dimensions have to be worked out, with the ability to add and subtract fractional measurements. Not everyone has those skills, and it takes time to learn them. Being able to use a drawing program of some kind with the ability to accurately scale the project really helps when putting final dimensions together, and making sure each piece fits with the other.

In part two, we'll continue with this window project, and show you the prep work involved before they could even be installed.