Putting a window in the hole means sealing around the edges, too
Episode 6: Window Installation
Last time on the Model Remodel Show we were Setting trusses and sheathing the roof with it sheathing, which is a favorite of Ben’s for various reasons.
"Probably my favorite thing from the professional end, is the speed that a building weathered in, so that we can start bringing our trades in for rough-in.
We sheathe our roof and tape it off and we're ready to have guys start coming in. We can still wait to do further detailing for our roof after that, but trades are coming in as soon as we've got that sheathing down on the roof deck.
—Ben Bogie, remodeler
And the trades are beginning to come in—to Professional Remodeler’s Model Remodel
So this week's goal was to get all of our window openings prepped, waterproofed, and get our windows in.
Window installs are—pretty run of the mill for us, especially windows this size. We just pay really good attention to making sure that we;ve got good waterproofing in place in our sills and pans, take our time to make sure the windows are plumn, and straight, and square, properly fastened.
And then just walk through our exterior flashing details and water management.
The general idea of installing windows is to plug the big hole that you just cut in the wall. The bottom should slope out and away from the house, and the rough opening should be protected with flashing tape.
Ben shims the corners of the window so it will be level and then he caulks the sides and top against water and air leaks.
When the window is level, he nails the bottom corners.
Measuring diagonally and shimming the top corners ensures that the window is square and that it will operate properly.
Now, he nails off the perimeter and tapes the side and top flanges against water or air leaks.
The bottom is left un-taped for drainage. And to help it along, Ben installs little shims to create a drainage channel.
Our process for installing windows is to flash out window pans first with a stretchable membrane, in this case, ZIP Stretch tape.
We detail the interiors of our openings fpr air sealing, in this case we tape from our exterior sheathing back across the framing members to create an air seal, so we don't get any interstitial leakage into our wall cavities from the windows.
After that, we check out window openings and caulk the opening where the window flanges will go and set the windows.
Then we start working our way through our exterior detailing, which consists of doing our leg flashings and out head flashing—making sure that our windows before that are properly fastened off.
The last thing that we do is add horseshow-shaped shims at the bottom to create a weep channel so that in the event that in the futurte if the window did leak or if water made it past out exterior details, and got into the sill, there's a clear path for them to drain out and water to get toward the exterior of the building.
"Next week's goal is to get our exterior trim buttoned up, doing our frieze boards, our mud boards, out corner boards, our window and door casings...
...any of our plinth blocks, mounting blocks, light locks, things like that and work our way to being completely prepped so we can start putting siding on."
—The Model Remodel Show is a production of the SGC Horizon Media Network and was shot on location at the 2017 Model Remodel project in southern Connecticut.