Wild West Window Installation

Wild West Window Installation - How To Install A Vinyl Window Now you may think you know how to install a window. Chances are... you don't. You might be asking yourself; "Why would this guy know more than I do?". Trust me, most installers who have been installing windows for 20 years have no idea how to properly install a window. Yeah right! What makes you such an expert? Well to start with I'm a Certified Window Installer. I was until a few months ago the Inspector for the Siding and Window Dealers Association of Canada in Calgary. I was often referred to as "the Association's best inspector" I don't know if that was true, but I heard it many times. The reason I left the association was that I was unhappy that the Association would not enforce their own rules, making my work useless. I started building houses in 1982 and have built all the windows and doors in my own house out of oak. I know windows. Manufacturers sell windows with nailing fins. These nailing fins are commonly used to hold the window in place without any other support. As I have described in a previous article, this is wrong. There's a very important document titled CSA A440.4-07. This is the correct method of installing a window. Now, it's 114 pages long and I'm not going to try to cover everything in this article. Is it required by the Building Code? Yes, at least in Alberta and I suspect everywhere else in Canada. Article 5.10.1.1. Environmental Separation of the Alberta Code lists this CSA Standard. The Standard itself states that it is supplemental to any Manufacturers' Installation Instructions. That means that whatever the manufacturers' instructions are, you still have to comply with this Standard. Are Installers complying with the Standard? No. I estimate that more than 90% of the windows installed do not comply with the Standard. That includes new homes and renovations. So if you've just had windows installed, chances are they're installed wrong. If the odds were that good in Vegas, my money would be on the table. "My widows work fine! They look great and the Installer cleaned up nicely when he was done. What's the difference?" The difference is durability. If you were to put new windows in your house the bill would probably exceed $10,000. 00, larger houses would be more. How long would you like those windows to last? If the window is not supported properly, the window will sag and shift. Most windows today are made of vinyl, the vinyl will only take so much stress. As the window sags, the frame will crack, or the glass may break. Recently, I inspected a new home. I opened a casement window and found that I could not close it. The frame had sagged and the window no longer fit the frame. This was brand new! I thought that the window could be re-installed, but after talking to the Manufacturer's Rep. I learned that the window could not be salvaged and would have to be replaced. The Manufacturer was supplying the window free of charge to the Builder, because they didn't want to lose the Builder as a customer. If widows are not installed properly they will fail prematurely, how prematurely will depend on how badly they were installed.