No Problems

Lets Take a look at your windows and Trim

Window Problems

If no problems are present

and it just looks bad, it might change the look of a home by scraping down the weathered trim, then prime and paint with a couple of fresh coats of exterior latex paint.

Primer is just a sealer

that goes on to assure weather stays out of that piece of wood and to make sure that the paint adheres to the primer and wood.

If in doubt call the Building Department and ask! They will be more than willing to help you!

You always want to think it through.

If I do this, what will happen to the material around and anything involved in this area. Look above to make sure you are not going to pull something off that holds up part of the house. Never ever use the frame or the glass to prise anything against.

No Trim

If You have stucco around your window check for cracks especially at the corners. That is where water can leak in and create all kinds of dry rot and eventually crumble the stucco.

Is your window trim looking a bit weathered?

Has the sun and the rain taken it's toll on it? You know what I'm talking about, that wood that is around the outside of your windows. It gets a lot of abuse from the elements and sometimes it even starts coming off the wall. If yours is doing that , you need to take a Flat pry bar and gently tap it in with a hammer to see if it will loosen up and or come off. Try to pick a spot that won't damage what is behind it at that spot.

If Demo is Needed

So when you get the boards off around the window in question with mold, fungus or dry rot, look closely at it and see what needs to be replaced. Take a picture of it with your digital Camera so that when you put it back together it will be easy to see what it is suppose to look like when done. You can also replace with wider wood or thicker wood for a different look.

Caulking and What To Do With it

Always caulk around the gaps if there are any on both sides of the trim so that water can not get in. Run a small bead of caulk and then wet your finger and run it along the bead to smooth it out. It will clean up with water if you get a latex type caulking. If you are going to paint it, make sure it says on the tube that it is paintable. Silicon caulking is great stuff for sealing but check the tube because some don't take latex paint over them when they have dried. Always wait until the next day a paint over the caulking with paint that matches your home's colour.

Now if your windows don't open correctly or they drag as we call it in the trade, try taking some paraffin or an old candle and running it back and forth on the track at the bottom.

When you slide your windows back and forth are they lumpy felling when they roll? If they are your rollers are more than likely damaged.  If the window is large gets someone to help you if not you can go inside then grasp both side of the frame on the sliding window panel and life up and to you at the bottom with the window in the middle of the frame. It should lift out of the track. If it doesn't lift out, then roll it to one side and look up in the top track to see if there are plastic blocks in the track or screws hanging down.

 Back To Home

• Next Home Repair Exteriors

• Hey Fix Your Dry rot

• Sprinkler Repair

• Fix your Roof

• Look at those Concrete Walks?

• Got a Fence Problem

Do not use a spray lubricant unless the manufacturer of your windows calls for it. Spray lube will actually make it worse by collecting dust and dirt on the rollers. That will act like sand paper on them at the bottom of the window.

Take the window out

To get the window out you have to unscrew the screws or if it is a block; put a screw driver in the side  between the block and the frame and gently prise over the block a little to release it and lift it out, When the window is out, turn it over and look at the rollers. They all are different but most either screw in from the end or you can use that screw driver again and prise them out. Also notice the crack in the stucco at the right upper part of the window. This can be a way for water to get into your framing wood under the trim or stucco in this case. It can dry rot the framing members in a short time. It should be sealed, primed, and painted if no rot is present.

Go Buy The Parts

Take it with you if it is not completely round or it is broken. You can match it up with a new set at the Warehouse parts store. Get the set of two when replacing them.   Some even have an adjustment on them but don't do this until you have the window back in the track. Then put them back in the window bottom and back into the track. Don't forget to put the screws at the top back or the plastic blocks. These keep someone from lifting the window out from the outside if they can get a hold of it.