making window frames

[dan614]

Thanks all for your replies. Amanda used the right term "friction channels" Doing a search for that yields alot of articles but still no source to buy them. HD does not have them. I will have to try Lowes. I know these work because I have them on several windows in my primary residence that still has about a million projects to be done. So why do I want to build a cabin? Has anyone seen a source of these?  

I have great sashes, I want to make frames for double hung. I know they make metal tracks. Anyone have any insight? I can get these great antique 6 over 6 double hung windows for $20 a set from the used warehouse. What do I do with them, when my wife wants them to slide up and down?

[peg_688]

Dan Will you have to meet any code where you'd be using these sash?


 

 Typ. old window sash/ jamb.

 If you need to meet code I'd "THINK" you'd need to be in a historical distrist to make it fly.  And then it MTL would require some type of "storm window " applied over it , to try to conform to code .

 I have a couple of old books that show how to make a window jamb , out in the shop . If you think they can work for you I'll dig them out .

 Problems will be finding pre made sill stock , common back then, stock item at most lumber yards ,now MTL you'd have to mill your own , or goggle like mad for some one still making it , or go to a millwork shop and have the # of L/F made or order the # of "lenght's " you need made , remember to add for casing / brick mold , any desired sill projection , the "dap" for sill to jamb rabbit etc .

 Good luck , let me know if you'd like me to dig out the book titles . PEG  

[peg_688]

The two book where in the house . Not great / simple details but more detailed ,  details to look at , sort of too many but they are all there,if you look .

#1  Carpenters and Builders library by John E. Ball ,  Theodore Audels &co. a division of Howard W. Sams & co., Inc . 4300 West 62nd  Street  , Indianapolis , Indiana  46268.    Chaper 5 Windows. copyrite 1976

#2  Modern Carpentry  , Willis  H. Wagner  The Goodheart _Willcox co. , Inc Publishers   copywrite 1973  Unit / ch. 11 Windows and exterior doors .
   


#3  Salvaged Treasures  ;    Michael Litchfield / Rosmarie Hausher; copyright 1993.
   Ch Two nice simple drawings of old window details . Which makes me think, does the place have one total good old frame / sash combo ?  Why not buy it and make that your template for the parts you'll be needing to  make / have made ?  

 Ok three books not two   Not in any order BTW.
 Good luck , PEG

[stricsm]

If your wife is set on the windows sliding up and down, this probably won't help, but I've made french windows from old sashes.  They swing inward with a fixed screen on the outside.  The sills are cut from 2X6 PT at ~15 degree angle.  They look great.  I plan to install them in a storage building we have at our cabin.

Sliding up/down would be difficult especially if you need counterweights.  I suspect that you could find modern side guides that incorporate springs to use in lieu of counterweights, however, you may find them pricey.  A friend of mine and cabinetmaker genius who is now 95 built windows for houses in his early days.  He would go to the house during construction, measure for windows, and return to his shop and build them from scratch.  It's not impossible to reuse the sashs - it depends on how much patience you have, tools and know how, and how tolerant you are of heat loss.

Good luck.  

Mark

[mark_chenail]

Like stricsm I also made my wonderful old bargain sash into french casement windows with a fixed screen over the outside. I used PT 1x6 dogeared fence boards for the casework which I got  on sale in the scratch and ding rack at Menards.  It worked pretty well although the PT lumber made making the hinge inset tough going.
I also made up a modified sash window. without a parting bead.  The upper sash was nailed into the window casing and didnt move.  Then I cut some outside stops that went from top to bottom ..they were only about 2.5 inches wide for the heigth of the upper sash and then there was a jog that went under the thickness of the sash and from there to the bottom the stop was wider...2.5 inches + thickness of the upper sash. This made a sort of parting bead that the lower sash could run against and kept out the weather.  On the inside I used regular window stop. The sashes move pretty well and I just use a little window stick to hold them open rather than go to the  trouble of sash weights.  They keep the weather out pretty well.   If this isnt clear, I could make a little drawing to post.  The nice thing was that I was able to do this with nothing but a little electric jigsaw and could have managed it with just a handsaw under primitive conditions.  Good luck with your windows.

[Amanda_931]

I don't have a link handy, and you do not want to be using my internet connection today, but there are plenty of companies that would just love to take your old windows--or the frames--and put nice modern insulated friction fit windows/hardware on them.

Probably expensive, and certainly not all of them will use your nice multi-light windows.  But apparently they don't look too bad.

[dan614]

Mark, could you make that drawing? Might be an excuse to buy a router

[Amanda_931]

Computer problems seem to have been fixed by a 3 dollar phone cord (I'd been afraid of buried-by-erosion and 35 feet of no-longer-listed-as-buriable wire--or fighting with the phone company for a month)

Look down this page to the "install new friction channels" section.  It might help.

http://www.ehow.com/how_115265_fix-tight-loose.html