How To Install A Basement Window In Concrete Foundation

Basement windows are usually out of sight and out of mind, merely if your old steel-framed, cast-in-place units are starting to bear witness signs of corrosion, or the single-pane glass and lack of gasketing means leaks and drafts, then it'southward time to tackle a replacement. In this video, host Justin Fink visits Fine Homebuilding veteran Mike Guertin to see his method for removing an old basement window and replacing information technology with a mod, energy-efficient vinyl window.

Step 1 – Remove old window and frame

Start by removing the old window sash from the metallic frame. Then, using an angle grinder with a metallic cutting wheel, cutting through the lesser of the frame, going all the way from the within to the outside edge. Cut completely through the sash terminate and the concrete within.

Echo the process across the height of the frame. But if the exterior-side of the window has a top flange that is covered by wall sheathing and siding, leave this spot for now. That will be easier to access after the next stride.

With the top and bottom cut, pry each side toward the heart making an 'X' shape from the severed metal window frame. Prying the window out of the opening may be quick, or information technology may be a major struggle. The difficulty depends totally on the thickness of the metal; and the oldest windows were built from the heaviest gauge of steel.

After the tiptop of the frame is payed down in the middle, apply a reciprocating saw to cut the outermost portion of the summit flange. I wasn't kidding almost the "major struggle." In this case, Mike had to use his largest pry bars and fifty-fifty a sledge hammer. But with the sometime window out of the fashion, the hardest part of the chore is backside yous.

Footstep 2 – Prep the opening for the new window

Next, chisel away the remaining concrete left past the hollow sash stops on the bottom and sides of the opening. A pneumatic chisel makes quick work of cleaning upwards the opening, but a hammer and masonry chisel works fine, too.

Afterward sweeping the concrete make clean, coat the surfaces of the opening generously with siloxane masonry sealer until the concrete is saturated and won't absorb any more sealant (several brands are bachelor). Wipe upwardly excess and let the surface dry out earlier moving on to the sill.

Mike likes to set the new windows atop a ii×8 pressure-treated sill, which he rips with a five- to 10-degree gradient on ane edge to assistance water bleed away. Cut correctly, the sill should snuggly and require a few taps of a hammer to seat it in place in the opening. It should project between i/4 in. and 1/2 in. beyond the exterior confront of the wall. Once you lot've got it located, mark its position. If the acme of your opening doesn't permit the use of a full-thickness 2x sill, you tin can re-saw or plane the pressure-treated stock to exist thinner.

The sill will be secured in the opening with a combination of masonry screws and agglutinative sealant. After boring pilot holes through the forest, switch to a masonry chip to bore holes into the concrete. Then, remove the sill. Apply adhesive sealant across the bottom of the opening, including a thick bead on each of the 2 ends. Then spike the sill in place.

Step 3 – Making the bucks

Side by side, dry-fit the window in the eye of the opening and measure the gap on both sides. If the physical opening is out of square by more than than 1/iv in., the cadet pieces may need to exist tapered. In some cases, like on this installation, there won't be room or need for a cadet to a higher place the window. That'due south okay. The window can be fastened to the mud sill.

Cut the side cadet pieces to friction match the gap between window and concrete, only subtract about one/16 in. to account for the sealant that you'll apply. The bucks should fit snugly, and Mike fastens them using trim head screws driven at a steep angle into the mud sill higher up and the window sill below.

Step 4 – Stops and sealing

Next come up stops for the front edge of the window to seal against, which Mike cuts from 5/4 cedar. Which he then rounds over with a trim router for a cleaner await. These stops are cutting to length and fastened with screws to the side bucks and mud sill.

Afterward applying sealant to the inside face up of the stop pieces, slide the window into the opening. If it is fitting too snugly between bucks, don't forcefulness it. A cake plane can be used to shave the side channels of the vinyl frame to requite the window a scrap more jerk room.

Once in place, screw through the sides of the window and into the side buck pieces. Choose screws that are long enough to bit into the wood, just non then long that they'll bottom out on the concrete beyond.

The terminal step is to add a bead of sealant effectually all four edges of the interior-side of the window, and another bead across the pinnacle and two sides of the exterior. Never seal along the outside of the window sill, which should exist left open for drainage.

Read the companion commodity:

Replacing a Basement Window

More on basement windows:

How to Trim a Basement Window — When trimming windows in thick walls, you'll demand wide extension jambs and thick stools. Here'southward how.

Can a Deck Ledger Span a Basement Window? —A new deck ledger will cross two bandage-in-place basement windows. Glen Mathewson covers the code implications.

How to Brand an Egress Window Well Not Look like a Window Well —A FHB reader describes how he solved an aesthetic problem with a new basement window.

Egress Windows: Understanding 'Net-Clear' Opening Requirements — Code specialist Lynn Underwood responds to a reader who wants to put a bedroom in a basement.

Source: https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/windows-doors/replacing-a-basement-window-2

Posted by: hansenmirere.blogspot.com

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