Posted: 10/2/2007 9:03:18 AM EDT
| Looks pretty easy but is it really? I've got an old 1950's home. Brick exterior, lathe and plater interior. All of the windows are original single pain wood. I would like to start replacing them 1-2 at a time (have 14 total, plus to big windows). It is as easy as pull the old trim off, remove the nails in the old window and install the new in reverse? |
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Doing your own windows is a great DIY project. It seems intimidating but once you've done the first window you'll feel like a pro doing the rest.  I was able to buy most of my windows off the shelf at Lowes, except for 2 large windows in the living room and 2 short fat DH windows below them in the family room. I would do one bedroom at a time. Buy a few windows, bring them home and install them. My current house was built in the early '60s It's a good house to work on because most stuff in the house is "standard" sizes, hopefully you house will be like that too. My last house was built in the early 1900 (1914, I beleive) and NOTHING was a standard size in that house!  I hated the plaster walls too. 
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| I was gonna do my own windows but after I added up the cost of materials and then got contractor estimates, I had somebody do them. I had 14 windows and got them all replaced with double pane, double hung, Low-E glass, Argon filled and the exterior trim wrapped for $5000. I decided to put the money into that and my time into some other project. |
You forgot the part about loosing glass space by using the old window frame. This is the fast and cheap method. Pulling the while window out and replacing it preserves window opening size and keeps the house looking decent. As long as you do not have a masonry house (no studs in exterior walls) it is not that hard to do a better job. Even in manonry houses you can use tapcons and polyurethane caulk to hold the window in the masonry opening and avoid using buxks all around. If you do use bucks, at least you loose less window area (they only need to be 1xlumber). |
Those are Home Depots windows made by Andersen. I've used them and don't care for the look or quality of the window. The size of the frames are out of proportion with the glass area and really cut your window size. I also recall the windows sticking a lot and being flimsy. I used the low end Pellas from Lowes and the quality seems much better then the American craftsmen. It's been 5 years since I've used an American Craftsman window so things may be different now. |
Thanks for the info. As a humerous note....I have installed 4 Pella windows in my house and I HATE them. Worst windows I have every used. I installed Croft windows in the rest of the house and while they aren't a top of the line window, they are a LOT better than the Pella windows from Lowes. I've done some research on line and seems that the consensus is that they are decent for the money. If I go with them, I'll put the top of the line version in.....I just don't want to spend $500 per window. |
Even in a brick house? If this was wood framing it would be a no-brainer for me, I've done it so hunderds of times in new housing and lots in remodels. It's the brick part that throws worries me. |
Please post the pics !!!!! |
So they are aluminum framed? Take a picture of the exterior and interior if you can. I should be able to point you in the right direction. |