I have a couple of window installation questions. In this case it's an aluminum window. I have included a sketch to explain my questions below. (1) I have seen a bunch of youtube videos and also hired window pros to install windows before. What's confusing me is most of the videos I saw, they do a water proofing all the way around the window opening with felt plastic or whatever, folding over to the outside surface of the exterior wall. However in South Florida, I have NEVER seen any window guys do any sort of paper waterproofing. Most of the time it's just buttering some caulk and sealant. Why is this? Is it because most homes down here are masonry walls and the stucco layer over the edges effectively waterproofs it? (2) When installing an aluminum window, install instructions said to apply a bead of silicon all the way around the underside of the flange (point A in my sketch), and put the window up. That seals it from the inside. After it's all secured and screwed in, then another bead of sealant all the way around between the edge of the flange and concrete on the outside. Sounds good. However, I have seen people down here removed windows on a few projects, and I have never seen any caulk or sealant on the underside of flanges. Usually the cut the outside sealant with a blade, then unscrews the edges, and the window comes out, never any window got "stubborn" with any sealant on the inside of the flanges. So is that inside flange silicon really necessary? (3) On a concrete wall, do you set your strips of window buck tight to the window frame by shimming between the buck and the concrete face? Or do you attach the buck to the concrete face, then shim between the window frame and the buck? Which is the right way? (4) Since there is a "lip" around the window frame (point B), once I pushed the window in there is still a little bit of space between the window's metal edge and the buck. When I try to screw the window in through point D, the screw will "pull" the edge towards the buck. Is this OK? I was thinking inserting another piece of 1/8" shim under the screw hole but the lip is in the way I can't slide it in there. Thanks for any advice! :)

I have a bay window - is this the proper term? The top pane that is sloped, has a crank and he said when he tried to crank he met resistance and he forced it and the window glass broke. So I think the crank mechanism is broken as well. This is an old house 1950s so this window is not the new hurricane impact resistance kind for Florida. Glass is very thin. Here are some pictures and you can see the top window broken. On the third picture down you can also see part of the crank mechanism in the middle of the pane. [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1040770_zps393acade.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1040768_zps1bb73b46.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1040769_zpsab389606.jpg[/IMG] Here are the dimensions annotated in inches. [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1040770anno_zps10ceb1f6.jpg[/IMG] I am pretty sure this is a custom window. I want to avoid having to replace it, as that would involve breaking the inside window sill that are made of ceramic tiles that I have no spares of, and outside stucco work. What is the best way to fix this? Is there a way I can remove the entire pane - the sloped portion and take it to a glass shop to have them put in a new piece of glass and seal it? Then call a window company to come look at this crank mechanism?