Has anyone out there built their own windows? I salvaged a couple of pieces of 1/4″ plate glass that I want to make into windows for a house I’m having built. These won’t be casement windows ( i.e. , won’t need to open ) just for letting in light.
Are there articles , web pages etc. that might be helpful as to construction methods , materials , weatherproofing etc.,?
Thanks,
Bill
Replies
I made all the doors and windows for a log home that I built in the mid nineties. I bought a set of shaper cutters from Freeborn and my windows were not true casement because they didn't have the hardware to open and close them but they were hinged to open in. I liked them because when you wanted air they were completely open and were easy to clean.
I don't know where you are generally speaking double paned glass will provide better insulation.
pins
Pins:
I'm in western Washington so extreme cold isn't a common problem. I'm thinking of making storm windows glazed with acrylic . I grew up in Minneapolis in the fifties and we survived many a 30 below day with storm windows.
Thanks for the info.
Bill
I made some windows for my basement... many years ago. I used a crank opener and the cam locks. I also used the same weather stripping system that is common. At that time, the hardware and sealed unit cost me about $150 CDN. But I had some used fir, that was bone dry and I built them to fit. They were about 18 by 20 inches. I don't know if I saved any money but I sure got a lot of satisfaction. Oh, now I remember, it was going to take six weeks if I ordered but I built them in a week because I was on a tight schedule. Gee, I sure got off topic.
Some tips: Use a paintable silicone caulk. I would use a sealed unit instead of the used plate glass (used plate glass is fairly cheap so you really are not saving a lot). The sill should have 10-15 degree slope on the outside. Prime the wood before installing the glass, including the stops. Support the glass with firm/hard rubber blocks, just a bit in from each corner. Use glazing tape between the glass and the wood to prevent the glass from rattling from vibration. Fill the gap between the glazing tape, with the caulk. Glazing tape goes on the inside. Put a small chamfer on the window stops and install the chamfer against the glass. Fill it with caulk. Caulk all seams exposed to the outside. Then paint everything.
If you want a nailing flange for installing you can prefit some brickmould to the window but your frame should be at least an inch thick.
Hope this helps.
nv
Thanks for the response . That is the kind of information I was looking for. It is one thing to know how to build a frame around a piece of glass, but I have found out over the last seven years that I have owned the cabin ( soon to be house) that there are a lot of subtle things about carpentry that help weatherproof a building. Stuff that isn't obvious when you look at it.
Thanks again,
Bill
Hi Bill,
In Canada, we used sealed units for everything, including a cabin. However, in your neck of the woods, wherever that is, you may be able to get away with a single pane of glass.
You can get the glazing tape at a glass and mirror shop. It comes in two thicknesses, one sixteenth and one eighth. I don't think it makes a big difference what size you use.
Good luck on the windows.
Aaron
Melonhead,
I ruetinely make my own windows for my home.. But since I worry about energy useage I double pane mine. actually triple pane some because I put double pane on the outside of some salvaged stained glass windows to ensure that I keep things efficent..
I made all the doors and windows for my log house, using a matched set of cope and stick bits from Oldham. All were morticed and tenoned with all joints pegged. I saturated them with spar varnish before painting the outsides. soaked it into the joints, etac. Have held up well for 5 years. Used poplar I allowed to dry, stickered for a year. They are 8/4 stock milled to 1 3/4. I had to rip each piece to make space for the glass. Then there were no cutters for glass doors, now there are.
I made about 50 casements and a dozen doors, so it took a long time. Also, it was my first experience working with a router. Never had one before. Took a long time to get the router bit setup right. I had only one router. Wouldn't do it without 2 now! I had a cast iron table that I really like. Still have it mounted to the table saw.
Got a book on how to do it, but can't remember the name. There are a lot of tricks I learned that weren't mentioned in the book- read jigs and sleds, but all that kind of stuff has had great innovation since I started the project 10 years ago.
Stef
You can make windows - I hear people do it all the time.
Several things to bear in mind: Use the best species you can. Poplar is the absolute worst (guaranteed to rot in 8 years or so). Honduras Mahogany is the best. Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Sugar Pine, White Oak are all ok. Use the best paint you can find, and pre-prime it all.
If your windows are fixed, just insure there is a 10 degree slope on the exterior sill to run water off, and seal the glass on both sides with a good urethane sealant.
If operable, do some experimentation with weatherstrips and how they will affect the action of the windows. A little error here will make windows that are close to intolerable.
You should also consider tilting the window itself at about a 15 degree angle with the top farther out than the bottom. Why, you ask, would you want to do that? For some reason, birds won't hit windows tilted at an angle.
Scotty
Scott and acornw:
Thanks for the tips. The 15* tip is interesting; my house will be on the edge of the national forest in a very remote area so the potential for bird hits is pretty high.
I was thinking of buying some high end doug fir 2X6 stock and ripping the most verticle grain pieces I can get from it ti joint and plane and then use a coping and sticking set as you suggested. What type of urethane sealer are you reccomending?
Thanks again
Bill.
Douglas fir is a great wood for some applications but you will find that the coarse grain is difficult to work with in the small cross sections of the window elements. You would be much better off using pine, which is the most common wood for most architectural woodworking. As someone else suggested, stay away from poplar.
John W.
John:
Your response prompted me to look at a couple of local (Seattle area) lumber yard web sites for pine . This seems to be a 'foreign ' product locally. Most moulding for finish work seems to be hemlock , a type of fir, or Douglas fir.
When you say " coarse grain " are you refering to the size of the growth rings or the difference in density between the dark and light parts of the growth rings ( I don't know the proper terminology that describes this ) ? The lumber yard sells what they call "verticle grain" Douglas fir , which is ( I think ) essentially quartersawn. Would quartersawn make a difference as to the difficulty of working it?
FWIW -- I'm not trying to make all of the windows in the house. I had salvaged a largish single pane window that got broken in the 'storage precess'.I was able to cut two decent sized pieces ( 45" X 24" and 28" X 34" ) of plate glass, which I am too cheap to throw away , so I thought that I could make a couple of windows for the house from them. That is when I got to thinking that, " I know how to frame a piece of glass, but that doesn't mean I know how to make a window". That is why I'm not terribly worried about the insulating properties and why I asked about the carpentry/joinery aspect of building a window.
Thanks ,
Bill
Yes, Douglas fir is hard to work with hand tools both because of the coarse grain and the large difference in hardness between the winter and summer wood.
As long as you are doing all of the joinery with power tools you wouldn't have a problem but trying to cut a mortise, or chisel out a hinge pocket, by hand will be very difficult. Another thing to consider is that the coarse prominent grain of the wood doesn't take either paint or stain very well.
Douglas fir is a commonly available and relatively inexpensive wood, if it were usable as a trim material you can be sure it would be.
Most of the pine we get in the lumber yards here in the east is from the west coast and Canada, I would call around and actually ask for it rather than trusting the web sites. The big box stores out here have aisles full of pine.
John W.
Hi John:
Thanks for the response. I will check with the big box stores ( reluctantly).
Bill
I find it very hard to believe that west coast lumber yards don't stock pine. If you don't want to deal with a big box, call a local lumber yard, I'm sure they have pine.
John W.
Hi John:
I stopped by the nearby HD today and yes they cary pine, but only 1 by x premium white pine. Someone mentioned that I should use at least 1" finished thickness. I suppose I could face glue two pieces but it seems like way too much trouble .
As to your respons to Pins; that is the sort of thing I hoped learn to avoid with my original post. I do have a contractor who will install all of the windows but your comments about rearly seeing it done properly makes me wonder what to look for in his work. The environment in my little piece of woods is considered temperate rain forest. Needless to say , the ability to handle a lot of water is a necessity!
Thanks again for your interest,
Bill
I have been involved over the years in investigating, and often repairing, a number of homes that were suffering from rot caused by poor installation of doors, windows and trim. In many of the cases the homes were only a couple of years old when extensive problems developed.
Some of the things that are common in almost all of these homes. These are in no special order, and the list probably isn't complete:
1. Water will never just disappear, it will always go somewhere.
2. If you don't account for all of the water, and control all of it, eventually it will get inside of the envelope and start rot.
3. Once water gets inside of the envelope it will stay there for a long long time, creating the perfect environment for rot. Even if only a few drops get inside of a wall every time it rains, after a few years there will be pints of water inside of the wall or behind the trim. Once wood starts to rot it turns into a sponge and very efficiently moves water deeply into the structure.
4. The biggest single failure is not accounting for the fact that water runs down hill. The single best way to control water is to give it a clear sloped route away from the building. Flat is not sloped. One or two degrees is not sloped, a slope should be a minimum of ten or fifteen degrees. Paint, caulking, rot resistant wood, and flashing are never a substitute for creating a sloped escape route no matter what the carpenter tells you.
5. Metal flashing is your friend. The uphill edge of all flashing must go underneath something above it. Nails through flashing must be placed where water doesn't run over the nail head.
6. Caulking is never a substitute for sloping and flashing. Any caulking applied after all of the trim is in place is always useless. Silicone caulks do not have magical powers. Caulking that is applied so that it is inside of the joint between two pieces of wood can be very effective.
Hope this helps,
John W.
Thanks for the clear , concise look at something that I was probably trying to make too complicated. This is my first foray into looking at a building in this way. My contractor's first project for me was to build me a 16' X 24' shop ; I will be taking a much closer look at it with these things in mind.
Again Thanks,
Bill
John W,Why not poplar? I made a whole log house full of poplar windows and doors and they were great. I also made all the windows for my current shop with poplar, great again.The only problem with poplar is that you cannot let it stand in water. But it takes primer and paint very well and occasional rain blowing on them is not a problem if they are well sealed and installed with compensation for proper draining.pins
Any wood will work as exterior trim if it is properly installed with good drainage and flashing and all of the other critical details, but not everyone has the knowledge or takes the time to do the job properly. In fact, in my long experience as a consulting contractor, most of the work I have seen was poorly done.
The problem with poplar is that if it isn't installed very carefully it will fail quicker than any other commonly available wood so most makers of exterior trim won't touch it, it's not worth the risk.
John W.
ScottNewsom,
Another solution to bird strikes is the use of stained glass, shaded glass, window grills, window screens. Glass crystals hanging in front or behind the window.. Windows with lights on behind the window, Certain window trim colors reflect well and also prevent or reduce bird strikes..
Windows on non reflective sides of the house need no such attention.
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