Very Rough Openings...


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Old 12-26-04, 11:09 PM
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Very Rough Openings...

So, I'm putting in some new replacement windows in the first floor of my house, which has concrete block walls, stuccoed on the outside. Having ripped out the old windows, it's clear that the openings in the concrete are very far from being nice smooth rectangular holes! I've fitted a 2x6 rectangular wooden buck frame into each opening, to which I can attach the window, but the frame only fits very roughly with the concrete block wall - there are gaps of several inches in places around the buck frame. My next job is to try to seal up these gaps and install flashing around the windows, but it's not going to be easy since there are no nice flat even surfaces to attach the flashing to, and everything is very uneven, including the exterior wall surface (I've cut back the stucco a few inches around the window).

I just wondered if anybody out there had dealt with a similar situation and had some bright ideas on how to make everything nice and watertight.

Cheers,

Sy
 
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Old 12-27-04, 03:36 AM
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I would use a chisel and grinder to smooth out your opening, so your wood lays flat as possible, Caulk under your wood then secure.then caulk between the wood and block.
 
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Old 12-27-04, 10:14 AM
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Hmm, unfortunately this is Rough with a capital "R". Not helped by the fact that a big chunk of concrete block at the edge of the opening fell apart while I was knocking off the stucco on the outside... To get a better idea, imagine that the concrete hole was formed using only a sledgehammer and not much subtlety... So I think I need to fill at least the gaps with something a lot more substantial than caulk.

I was toying with the idea of using some kind of cement filler, with bits of plywood where needed. It doesn't need to be a watertight join I think since the window flashing membrane will cover the join between the buck frame and the concrete block. The edge of the buck frame is flush with the exterior of the concrete block wall and I've now removed a bit more stucco so I have a better surface to adhere the flashing to. And then on top of that the whole thing will then be re-papered, re-lathed and re-stuccoed. It's not great, but it'll do hopefully...
 
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Old 12-27-04, 02:59 PM
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I would put in the right size wood frame and fill around it with peices of block to fit the big gaps, the smaller areas you can use stones and cement to fill in the areas and float it up to the wood frame inside and out
 
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Old 12-27-04, 04:12 PM
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Originally Posted by Frank99
I would put in the right size wood frame and fill around it with peices of block to fit the big gaps, the smaller areas you can use stones and cement to fill in the areas and float it up to the wood frame inside and out
That's pretty much what I've ended up doing. The trick is making the whole shaky arrangement watertight, but I think I'm getting there: I'm using concrete and rubble to fill in the larger holes around the frame, self-adhesive flashing attached to the window nailing fin to bridge the remaining gaps on the outside, and insulating foam from the inside to fill the remaining voids. It's kinda tedious and I had wondered if there was some magic trick that experts used instead...
 
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Old 12-27-04, 07:48 PM
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If the voids are realy big, nail a wood on the frame about 6" down from the top and pour cement into the form, wait 2 days remove form and fill in top part
 
 

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