How are windows installed?

Hi everyone,

In this installment of our blog, we are going to run you through how your windows would be installed by us and why we do the things we do, as we all know everyone will do things differently but this is our take on the 15 years experience we have with installing windows and doors.

So firstly, upon visiting you and agreeing on the work you want doing, your happy with the price you've been given, we will then arrange a survey. Depending on the size of your job, this could be 5mins to an hour.

What we are looking for here are things such as access to the frames, does the house have a lintel, do we need to install lintels, are your windows low internally and do they need toughened glass. Those are the kind of things we look for in our surveys and we generally check over all the ways the frames will open, any last minute changes before the frames are ordered.

So we skip forward 3/4 weeks, your lovely new windows and doors have arrived and we are here on day 1 to begin the installation of your frames.

Typically we will begin with sheeting up areas we plan to work in, we start upstairs as to never work over newly fitted frames.

Then once ladders are up, sheets and tools in place we will begin by removing any glass then screws and then by running a sharp knife around the window to give a clean break from the plaster line.

Personally I choose to cut out timber with a handsaw for a more controlled cut as recip saws can be a bit extreme if your not careful and plaster and brick work can become damaged with saw marks if your not careful.

A sharp hand saw will cut as quick as a recipe.

If we are removing uPVC, then no cutting is generally required and once all silicone and mastic is cut or broken with a pry bar, the frame push out.

We will then clean down the area either with dustpan and brush or the trusty hoover, clear all the old sealant away, leaving a clean edge for us to apply your new sealant at the end.

So we've cleaned up, removed the frame and now we can prep the new frame to go in.

Internal tapes are removed, unless plastering is required and then we leave them on to protect your frames.

The cill is cut, horned if necessary and leveled up using packers. A bead of silicone is then applied to the cill, this is to form a barrier against the window blowing water through the cill and into the house. We will then fix the cill down and place the window into the hole.

Window in, we then wedge the frame into place, level it up left to right, in and out and begin fixing the frame up.

Generally we will use 120mm direct concrete fixings unless longer are required. We use a woodscrew down into the cill, this is to prevent any water in the frame from running down the screws, into your bricks or stone and freezing in a cold frost, blowing the face off the bricks when the water expands.

Frame screwed, we will then install your glass, all opening casements will be towards and heeled (explained below) with the correct packers to ensure the window opens and locks correctly without any nasty clicks, if your current windows are clunky or don't lock properly, chances are they need reglazing as they have dropped because this wasn't done properly.

Toe and heeling;

The act of offsetting the weight of the glass on to the hinges to stop the sash from dropping and not opening or locking correctly.

These are done in opposite corners starting on the bottom opposite the handle side making an L shape with the packers in that corner and then doing the same in the top diagonal corner.

We use bridge packers to make sure the glass unit is packed across the whole unit and not on one pane of glass.

Window glazed and operating properly, we move on to cleaning and sealing up the frame.

It is incredibly rare that we have any more making good to do inside than a simple caulk line, we are meticulously careful when it comes to removing your old frames as theore damage we do, the more we would have to put right.

And that is a guide to how windows are installed. I will come back to this blog post with images as I didn't think to take any when this post came to my mind.

Any questions please do ask below.

Take care and thank you for reading as always ☺️