Cracks in Windows

I moved into a new house in July and most of the windows in the house are developing cracks between the plastic window sash and the wood frame (painted white). There is considerabe heat loss through the cracks. I am trying to determine if these are defects in the window construction or normal settling of the windows. The wood frame came already installed with the window so all shrinking should have already occured rpior to installation.

You can see a picture of the crack at http://home.cogeco.ca/~iota/insidecrack.jpg

Has anyone ever experienced this?

 

Kinda hard to tell with that up close and concentrated picture, but looks to just be an improperly measured/installed window. At any rate the vinyl frame of the window and wood framing are expanding/contracting at different rates hence the probably "dollar store" caulking cracking. Would like to see a picture a little further away to see what the heck is going on with the whole thing.

If it's what's I think it is, if it woudl've been installed properly you would'nt hve to worry about this problem

 

I put some more pics up at http://home.cogeco.ca/~iota/windows/index.htm They show the windows just after they were installed and then more shots of the cracks. Thanks for your help here IHI!

 

Looks like a simple caulking problem to me.

It appears the painters did not caulk between the vinyl windows and the wood extension jambs and as the vinyl expanded and contracted (quite normal) and the wood jambs swell and shrink with varying humidity (also quite normal) the paint cracked.

The simple solution is to caulk the joint with a siliconized and paintable latex caulk.

End of story.

 

Very nice house!! Without trying to say it was a bad install I would first point the finger at the over all window design in itself. By what I'm looking at it almost seems like they are new construct type windows without the nailing fin by the picture from outside the house. So from looking It appears they (the builder) had the window units themselves and either the builder/installer put together the 1x wood box and screwed the windows into the box, or they came that way from the factory, its just not a really good design when your putting two types of materials together that have different expansion/contraction rates that vary with so many things ranging from the elements outdoors to the interior climate level.

If they were trying to install them this way, the R.O itself IMO should've been very very tight to what the O.D. of the wood window framing was the ENTIRE way around the box and nailed in a few more spots to help control the way the wood would want to act in the future. I see they had it shimmed in a few spots on the sides, but given the overall depth of the 1x there is enough there the wood has a chance to cup/twist etc...depending on interior humidity and UV rays allowed through the glass itself.

A better option when doing something like that, IMO, would've been to install some sort of inside stop that would've covered the edge of the vinyl window. Now this could've been accomplished with many different types of mouldings-1/4 round, cove moulding, etc... redesign the woodframe the window is in...anything that would've came up onto the window frame itself at least 1/4" to 1/2" or so and also not have been caulked. This way when the window/wood frame are doing their expansion contraction thing the inside stop/moulding would essentially cover up and hide the fact that anything is even taking place. By leaving the edge of the vinyl window exposed for all to see in a wood frame is just waiting for something like this to happen.

I assume the painters either masked off the window before painting and then somebody went back and caulked in the joint between the wood and the window, or they just used "painters caulk" and caulked the joint before the painters came in. For as new as your house is, I would expect even a cheaper brand of caulk to have withstood longer and not shrunk as bad as what your have done. Seems like a better brand of caulk/silicone wouold've lasted alot longer.

At this point I'm sure you've been in contact with the builder since he's still obligated since the house is not even a year old yet and I hope everything can be worked out peacefully between you to. But, IMO something that simple to spot should've been caught and addressed before it even reached this stage.

 

Thanks for talking the time to investigate & I appreciate the comments. I am going to caulk & hope that solves the proble. Also, I don't think any insulation was applied around the windows so I am going to check & apply if necessary.

 

hi
i seen windows framer make pine frame for the window and then nail the trim on the pine box. Then they push it in the window opening and nail it there. sometime the insulation thats there before he pushes that box in gets flatten.

cheers

pg