How To Make A Double Hung Window

When Kevin O'Connor, the host of This Erstwhile Business firm, renovated his 1894 Queen Anne, he never once considered replacing its original double-hung windows with mod ones. "It would kill me to put new windows in this house," he says. For one thing, the handcrafted sash and blown-glass panes would exist plush to replace—as much equally $one,000 apiece—and substituting anything less would destroy much of the onetime identify'south charm. Still, he was dismayed by how much air leaked in during the wintertime, even with exterior storm windows in place.

How Can I Make My Double Hung Windows More Efficient?

To fix the problem, he needed a product that was both constructive and unobtrusive. "I didn't desire annihilation that would alter the way the onetime windows expect," he says. The solution: a simple weatherstripping kit that uses the same types of seal constitute in modern windows and is practically invisible.

For about $80 and an 60 minutes's installation fourth dimension per window, Kevin got the leak-free performance of a new unit while saving a valuable piece of his house's history, likewise every bit dollars off his heating bill. "The wind is blowing exterior," he says, "but the drafts are gone." Continue on to see how he did it.

Anatomy of Double-Hung Windows

Former-fashioned double-hung windows are so called because they have 2 sash, each suspended from a pair of cords or chains with weights on one finish. They tin be easily taken autonomously, weatherstripped, and put dorsum together.

How to Weatherstrip Double-Hung Windows

Step 1

Pry Off One Inside Stop

Person prying off the stop inside a double hung window.

With a utility knife, break the paint film (if whatever) past scoring along the joints where the stop meets the side casing and the sill. Remove whatsoever screws holding the stop to the jamb. Insert a stiff putty knife in the joint almost halfway up the window opening. Gently bend the stop (shown) and insert a pry bar in the gap in a higher place the pocketknife. Piece of work the 2 tools down toward the sill, putty knife in the lead, until the stop is complimentary. Pull whatsoever finish nails out through the back of the stop, so set it aside.

Step 2

Accept Out the Lower Sash

Person taking out lower sash from double hung window to prepare to seal it.

Raise the sash slightly and swing it out on the side where the stop was removed. Pull the cord out of its groove and necktie a effigy-8 knot in one end to proceed the cord from being pulled down into the weight pocket. If the sash has chains instead of cords, insert a nail through a link instead.

Pace three

Pull the Departing Chaplet

Person pulling window beading from double hung window to prepare from weatherstripping.

Using a utility knife, score the paint (if any) on both sides of all 3 parting chaplet. Take hold of each departing bead on one end with nippers or locking pliers and pull it out of its dado, the apartment-bottomed groove in the jamb. Motion the upper sash equally needed to get a good grip. If the upper sash is inoperable, pry out the beads with a chisel, taking intendance non to gouge the sash. There'south no need to remove the upper sash. Its weatherstripping is on the replacement parting beads you'll install later.

Step 4

Rout the Meeting Rail

Person using a router on the rail of the window.

Place the sash on a padded worktable with the outside side facing up. Clench the sash then its meeting runway projects a few inches past the border of the table. Remove the sash lock and fix aside. Chuck the slot-cutting flake into the router and set it to cut 3⁄8 inch from the router base. (A bearing controls the bit's cutting depth.) Hold the router base firmly confronting the summit edge of the meeting rail and cut a groove from left to right.

Step 5

Rout the Bottom Rail

Person holding a router against the bottom rail of the window.

Unclamp the sash, rotate it so its bottom track is closest to you and overhanging the tabular array, then reclamp. Agree the router's base firmly confronting the face of the runway and cut a groove from left to correct.

Step half-dozen

Weatherstrip the Double Hung Window

Person applying silicone weatherstripping to the edge of the double hung window.

Printing the silicone weatherstripping, spinous border start, into the groove routed into the lesser rails (shown). Accept care not to stretch the strip every bit you insert it. Insert the pile weatherstripping into the meeting-rail groove. Employ a utility knife to trim the ends of each slice of weatherstripping flush with the outside edges of the sash.

Step vii

Replace the Meridian Bead

A measuring tape used to mark the window to prepare for weatherstripping.

Lower the upper sash and measure the length of the dado in the head jamb. Mark that measurement on the shortest parting bead in the kit (shown). Cutting it to length. Tap the bead into its dado with the pile weatherstripping facing out.

Step 8

Cut the Side Beads

Marking the jamb where it meets the horizontal centerline of the sash's meeting rail (shown). Measure up from that marking to the tiptop dewdrop and downward from the mark to the sill. Transfer those measurements to the replacement bead, starting from the bead'southward eye; where the weatherstripping on one side ends and the stripping on the other side starts. (The strips on the upper part of the dewdrop should face out.) Trim the height end of the bead square; trim the lesser stop to lucifer the angle of the sill. Repeat for the bead on the opposite jamb.

Footstep 9

Tap in the Side Beads

The fit should be tight enough to hold them in place. If it isn't, drill, and so tack the bead in identify with a few three⁄4-inch wire brads. Reinstall the sash, stops, and sash lock. When you lot're washed, the sash should slide upwardly and down smoothly and line up at their coming together rails.

Tools and Materials

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/windows/21017462/making-windows-weathertight

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