Sash replacement kits


  #1  
Old 05-30-02, 06:46 AM
MsAnnie
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Sash replacement kits

When I bought my 47 year old cape, the inspector told me that the windows were in very good shape. But they are a pain to paint and almost impossible to clean, and the aluminum storm/screen combos are in very sad shape. So I'm planning to replace the sash only, doing a proper job on insulating the hollow part where the current ropes arelocated. I want wood interior, aluminum clad, tilt out for washing. I also want a good looking snap in grid. Any recommendations for brands?
 
  #2  
Old 05-30-02, 02:41 PM
Tn...Andy
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Sounds like another inspector that worked for the realtor


No brand recomendation as to sash with tilt inserts, but I do recommend you avoid them.

All the wood sash/windows manufacturers that I've seen make a tilt window using a spring loaded vinyl jamb in order to tilt the sash. Several problems with this method.

1. It just about takes 3 hands to tilt them. Your left hand pushing on the left jamb, your right hand pushing on the right jamb and your middle hand to actually pull the sash out

2. Most of them put their pivot pin in the center of the sash....so when you DO get it tilts, you have to remove the screen or the sash hits it in the arc of travel.

3. The vinyl used for the jamb is sorta thin in order to be flexible enough to accomplish item #1, and THIN vinyl gets brittle with age and sunlight exposure.....Look at some of these windows that have been in for 5-10 years and it's VERY common to see broken chunks out of the jamb where the sash caught it on the way out or in and broke it.

4. The strings that attach to the spring in behind the jamb are sorta cheap affairs. And when they break, you have to take the sashes out, and remove the jamb to get to the spring.

5. They are drafty if you get wind where you live. Again, in order to accomplish the tilt deal, the jamb is loose, and even with the foam strips they give you to put back there, air rounds around behing the jamb on the outside edge, across the back and thru the inside edge. I'm currently replacing about 200 of them in some HIGH dollar condos here just do to the wind whistling around them. What I find people do is caulk both edges of the jamb to stop the air, but that also makes them about impossible to tilt since the jamb will not flex.


Now by contrast, take a decent vinyl replacement window, like the Simonton Reflections series or something similar.

1. No problem to tilt. One finger on each "flippy" button and they come right out.

2. Pivots at the bottom of the sash.....screen never need to come out unless you want it out for some reason.

3. Side jambs thick.....different tilt method all together.

4. "spring" is a ribbon of stainless steel, like a retractable tape measure....very, very unlikely to break, but if it does, you take two screws out, and replace it in 2 minutes.

5. Jambs ah-no-move....you caulk them inside and out and no air gets around them. The sashes are also double weatherstripped.

The ONLY downsides to vinyl windows are:

you have to live with the color of the vinyl......oh, they do make a "woodgrain" surface treatment for the inside, but it is a surface treatment....scratch it and you see the white vinyl underneath.

you loose slightly more glass space due to the frame + sash.
 
  #3  
Old 06-03-02, 05:37 AM
P
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I have replaced my windows with MDW sash replacements kits. I have not experience any problems that Andy has. Mine tilt out easly. There are many brands, some good and some worse. Home Depot Carries MDW here in VA. MDW is located in Rocky Mount Virginia and they have a web site.
 
  #4  
Old 06-04-02, 01:37 PM
Davef15
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Are you telling me that all the Marvin tilt pacs I just installed are no good?
 
  #5  
Old 06-04-02, 03:42 PM
Tn...Andy
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I'm just telling ya I wouldn't have gone that route
 
  #6  
Old 06-12-02, 07:14 AM
MsAnnie
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Thanks, folks. My contractor is pushing for Pella windows - but it sounds like a full window in frame, not just the sash kits. They are pricey - so I'm thinking I may use them on the front of the house - and something less expensive for the back and sides. All I know is that I really want wood interiors - I haven't yet seen a good looking all vinyl window.
 
 

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