Choosing the appropriate frame style when installing new windows

Last week, I told you how to measure for your vinyl replacement windows when replacing aluminum windows. Now that you're ready to order your new vinyl replacement windows, we require to speak about the various frame style choices offered. In most of the country your alternatives are limited to either new construction or replacement frames. New construction frames come with a nailing fin to attach the frame to the studs in the course of the construction of the new home. The replacement frame is essentially the new construction frame minus the nailing fin.

But in the west, exactly where stucco properties are frequent, producers came up with a third sort of frame known as a retrofit frame. The retrofit frame has a fin about 2 inches wide, situated flush with the outside face of the window. This is the finest selection when replacing old windows, but not all jobs will accomodate a retrofit frame application. So let's discuss how to establish which frame is going to work for you.

If you have a stucco exterior, retrofit is the way to go. You install the new window from the outside, and the flush fin covers the old aluminum frame that you are going to leave in location. Then you screw the new window in using deck screws by way of the side channels as properly as the prime header. We will get into more detail on the actual installation in a future write-up. If you have a stucco exterior, but there is a wood trim about the opening of the window where the flush fin would normally go, you can nevertheless use the retrofit style frame. You would require to eliminate the wood surrounding the opening, install the retrofit window, then buy and install new wood trim. The old trim will no longer fit since the retrofit window frame dimensions will be larger in width and height than the old window frame. An additional option is to install the retrofit fin on prime of the wood trim. You can do this as extended as the depth from the face of the wood trim to the point in the residence of the innermost portion of the old aluminum frame is less than three inches deep. The purpose is since a very good good quality retrofit window will have a three inch frame depth from the back of the flush fin to the innermost part of the frame. That innermost portion requirements to be further into the property than the innermost element of the aluminum frame so that the aluminum frame will be hidden following we apply the inside trim. What if you have brick around the window openings? Or siding? Then what? catholic stores in san diego online Well, if you can install the window against the face of the brick or siding and nonetheless have the innermost portion of the vinyl frame be additional into the house than the old frame, then you can use the retrofit style frame. If not, surplice then you have to use the replacement style frame,then use trim to finish the outside. If you are able to get a retrofit frame with a fairly thin fin, you can also trim down tabernacle keychain the fins so the window fits in between the brick or wood. That would get rid of the require to trim out the outside. Some producers of retrofit frames will have grooves in the back of the retrofit fins. You merely run a utility knife in the groove till you are in a position to break off that piece of the fin.

The principal point to bear in mind when determining no matter whether or not to use a retrofit frame or a regular replacement frame is that in order to use the retrofit frame there requirements to be much less than three inches from the outside point exactly where the flush fin will rest to the inside point in the space exactly where the old frame ends. If it is less than three inches, go with the retro, more than 3 inches, use the replacement frame and add trim to the outside in lieu of the flush fin.

Next week I am going to clarify the process of removing the old aluminum window.