I have ordered and installed 13 sealed units in my house. The old window sash is wood, 1 3/8 inch thick w/ 2 1/4" top rail and styles and 3 1/4" bottom. The first 4 I did years ago and just smashed out the glass, routered the crap out to 1/2" by 1/2" (wear appropriate safety gear you may hit bits of glass and glazzing points) then installed the double unit (1/2") then covered the insightly joint with burlap mold that I made up myself. This time I am manufacturing the sash myself w/ a table saw, chop saw, small router, BIG router in a table, some fancy expensive router bits and a morticing attachment in a drill press. I am doing this because the windows this time are quite badly deteriorated (70 yr old). I just use framing lumber 2by8, or 2by10 which I plane at work and let sit for a few days(weeks). I have even found a source for the casement hinges. When I went to the supplier to get the hinges I discovered that they also sell all the stuff you need to make double windows (except the glass). BUT everthing is bulk and like buddy said above I might wind up spending more to make them myself than it would cost to buy them, but that never stopped me before. Seems you need corners (4 @ window) that come in a bag of 100. So 25 windows or less and you may do ok. Just depends how much waste you have. Then you need "bar" which comes in all sorts of thicknesses but I will use 1/4". Then there is the dessicant which I need to research. Not sure if it is in the bulk bar or if it has to be somehow injected at assembly. Then there is some fine little sealent that comes in a roll that gets laid into a barely perceptable channel in the bar on both sides before the glass is laid on. Finally the outside eges are sealed with some black goop. Why build it myself? Well if you are at this site you should intrinsically know the answer. Because I can. I think the project will take research and maybe even result in a few inferior units that I can hide in a basement door but with a dozen units to go (some of them multi pane) I think it is worth a try.

 

Hi Jomacan,

Welcome to the forums!

I moved your question into its own thread, you attached it to one which was more than six months old so you'll get better visibility this way.