Window Repair Project

    The window sash hangs at a slight angle in the frame.  It has been that way for a couple of years, maybe since we moved in.  I have put off trying to correct the problem for various reasons. 

     I assumed it was poor quality work on the part of the window installers.  The frame must not be square.  Correcting it would mean taking off all the trim, cutting or pulling nails or screws, depending on what the installer used.  If there was caulk involved, it would have to be cut so the window frame could be jiggered into square.

       It was easy to find something more important to do.  After all, it didn’t leak a whole lot of cold air.  The imperfection wasn’t really noticeable there hidden by the curtains.  Lurking in the back of my mind, the possibility that wall studs may be misaligned and require some major surgery to correct the problem.

      Last week, the time arrived when I had nothing on the priority list higher than correcting the window problem.  My confidence had been buoyed by the completion of another project I had put off for the same two years.

      Under the kitchen sink, there were hoses and shutoffs spread across the cabinet floor.  It made it difficult to store the usual suspects, soap, cleansers, spray bottles, dish drainers, trash can, etc.  I took it on one day while the Goodwife was off on an all-day quilter meeting of some sort.  I could live without water at the kitchen sink all day, if needed.

      This job was the result of a former owner’s do-it-yourself installation of washer and dryer in the garage.  The hot and cold water supply and the drain all run for five or six feet horizontally behind the corner kitchen cabinet.  They emerge in a corner of the garage adjacent to the kitchen wall.  I think the job must have been done when they replaced cabinets or at least the counter top. 

      Anyway, to supply water to the washer, the installer used braided hoses.  They connected to the hot and cold water supplies for the kitchen faucet.  Rather than fasten the hoses up out of the way on the back wall of the cabinet, he put the hoses on the cabinet floor and fastened two more shutoffs to 2 X 4’s screwed to the cabinet bottom.  The cabinet floor looked like a plate of spaghetti noodles.

      The shutoffs strapped to the floor were really superfluous.  He had installed double shutoffs on the pipes that rose up through the cabinet bottom for the sink.  I had prepared for the occasion by buying compression tees and laying in a supply of 3/8” copper tubing.

    The normal sink water supply would have water going to the dishwasher and maybe the refrigerator ice maker.  This one has those branches, plus the supply for the clothes washer in the garage, and a countertop water heater that never worked as long as we owned the house.  Quite a few branches.

       I removed the unneeded shutoffs and the hoses that led to them.  From the double shutoffs on the pipes coming through the floor, I added the compression tees, using copper tubing.  I eliminated the feed to the water heater that never worked.  All the pipes and hoses are now towards the back of the cabinet, and off the cabinet floor.

      Thankfully, the 2 X 4’s that held the hoses and shutoffs to the cabinet floor were held in place with screws, not glue.  They were easily removed.  Voila!  A blank space to put stuff.  It’s still crowded under there, but now, you can move stuff around without hitting pipes and hoses and causing something to leak.

     Buoyed by the success of the kitchen sink reform, I decided it was time to take on the window.  To start, reconnaissance to scout the enemy.  Out came the square.  Well!  The window frame was square.

     I pulled the sash out of its tracks.  These windows are easily removed so you can clean them.  The window sash was very slightly out of square, but not nearly enough to explain the gap in the upper left had corner when the window is closed.

      Back in its tracks, the sash would slide all the way to the top and the gap disappeared.  But when I closed the latch connecting top and bottom sashes, the left side of the top sash sagged, and there was the gap again.

       In the olden days, sash windows had a channel on the outside of the window tracks, where the sash slides up and down.  In that channel were window weights tied to ropes.  The ropes went around a pulley at the top of the window frame and hooked into the top corners of the sash.  The weights served as a counter balance to help raise the sash and keep it in place.   If the installation was done properly, the weights and the window balanced, so that wherever you positioned the sash, it stayed.  If the job was not done so properly and the counterweights and sash were out of balance, the sash would fly up or fall as soon as it was unlatched. 

     In the newer days, spring-loaded strings attached to little gadgets in the window tracks catch the bottom of the sash and help raise the sash.  To keep the sash in place whether opened or closed, the little gadget has a floppy metal clip that acts as a brake on the spring-loaded string. 

      When removing the window, the little gadget does not go flying up like the old fashioned spring-loaded shade.  The metal clip will hold the gadget in place, so when you reinstall the sash, you need to make sure you are putting the bottom of the sash above the gadget in the window tracks. 

     In theory, you get the sash back in its tracks, pull down on the window, thus releasing the gadget, sort of like a ratchet.  The gadget released then assists you in raising the sash and holds the sash wherever you place it.   A closer inspection revealed that the left gadget was not releasing.  It lollygagged down where it was when I lowered the sash to remove it.  The gadget wasn’t doing its job.  Or maybe doing its job too well.

      I have had a painful experience with those little gadgets.  The metal clip has some sharp edges that dig into the window track if things are moving too fast.  If you accidentally release the metal clip, the gadget shoots up like a released rubber band, only with a lot more power.  Once I accidentally released one while trying to clean a window.  Sproing!  The thing went up and caught my finger on the way.  I didn’t bleed too much.

      But I knew enough to take a screw driver to the stuck gadget on this window.  I got it to release and go up where it belonged to help hold the window in place.  No more gap at the top left corner.

     There still needs to be something done to get the thing to work properly.  I don’t know what, yet.  But it isn’t major surgery.  The cold wind shut out, the window has scaled down quite a few notches on the priority list. 

      We have three styles of windows in our house, horizontal sliders, double hung sash, and casement.  The casements are best for closing tightly and sealing out the heat and cold.  They are somewhat of a pain to clean the outside pane.  The sliders are also a pain to clean and leak where the two panes meet.  The sash windows are easiest to clean, but also have problems with leaking.

        I guess I would go with casements.  They are probably most expensive.  Go figure.