Hi there, you're really doing great jobs with these houses! I'm a Joiner/Carpenter from Germany and a lot of germans think that americans only do poor craftsmanship and have bad quality everywhere but you proof them wrong! Keep up with that great work and these nice videos. Cheers!
Another question please? Could Tommy possibly do a video on re-squaring a front (or back) door that will not equally space in the frame and against weatherstripping due to many years of new house settling?
What if the frame around the perimeter of the side light is rotted out? Mine are that way at the bottoms on the insides near where it joins the door. You just replaced the pre-made sidelight into the existing frame. But usually that's rotted out also. I went to the local home improvement stores and they wanted huge amounts of money for sidelights. It's tempting to just make the frame around my existing sidelight glass which is fine.
+coolkayaker1 That always sounds like a good idea until you do it and because of heat expansion or cold compression it doesn't fit, causing you have to shove things into certain spots and or replane surfaces which you then have to repaint. Then you're covered in paint, your tools are covered in paint, you've got paint all over who knows what on the customer's home, if you slip you leave a painted handprint on some drywall you also might have to replace now (some paints can instantly damage other paints due to differences in chemical content)... I think you see where this is going. There's also the fact that it makes you liable for not perfectly paint-matching if you have one of those super fabulous wonder-customers which leads to more unpaid work (granted this is DIY related, but people come here to learn/train too). On top of that, paint-sealed edges are actually shockingly strong--several times stronger than the 8 brads at most probably holding that thing together. Because of this, you're going to have to do post-installation paint regardless, as that's what's going to give you your actual wind and lean pressure strength against the body of the installed sash (40-50 mph winds across a 10-12x80in surface area is a pretty significant load, and those brads might actually fail otherwise). As a result, the most you'd want to do is prime with an appropriate primer the night/day before you get the job so everything is prepped for the customer and dry by the time you get to the site, and you have them do the paint matching at their local hardware store to their satisfaction so there's no issues with that (tell them to find a test region as well). That way, you do the part that actually protects your work, and you save them significant time and money as that's roughly 2-4 hours you're saving the customer by having them doing all the steps to paint match (drive time to and from the store, traffic, waiting in line, test site, dry time for confirmation, etc). I'd also highly encourage them to do the painting themselves as taping windows and painting can take a long time--now, I'll grant that seems crazy seeing how these were really simple stock pieces, but you get into some of the custom piece installations and suddenly you have all these intricate designs with swirls and whorls and grape leaves and chalices that need to be painted because they're wood or iron that will rust. You end up having to do these really delicate and high-dexterity demanding tape jobs which generally aren't too suitable for someone with the hands you acquire from swinging a hammer for a living. At 30-40 dollars an hour for your average 5yr+ journeyman in these areas (central california), most customers will agree as paint and prep time alone could literally quadruple the cost of this job: [2-4 hours of $30-40/hr] + [mats x 10-30%] = vs. [8-16 hours of $30-40/hr] + [mats x 10-30%]. You may also think the time quotes/estimates are pretty high, but they didn't show you all the things that can go wrong when you're doing this, like taking out the sash and finding termite sign in the adjacent studs, floor, or door posts, rotted and/or moldy wood, crazy nail jobs from the owners previous, rats and mice or other critters under it, leaky slab or masonry causing water damage... there's a lot of things that can go wrong even with something as "simple" as this.
#formdoggie5 Hi there, you're really doing great jobs with these houses! I'm a Joiner/Carpenter from Germany and a lot of germans think that americans only do poor craftsmanship and have bad quality everywhere but you proof them wrong! Keep up with that great work and these nice videos. Cheers! @formdoggie5
Does anyone know where you can purchase an entire sidelight? Not just the glass, but the wood frame as well. I've searched on Google and it seems companies only sell the glass itself. My wood is rotted at the bottom of the sidelight and I want to replace the whole thing. Thanks!
Where do I purchase the sidelights with the wood frame. All I can find is steel and fiberglass. And nothing is stock at my big box stores - Chicago suburbs
Me and my wife just bought a house in Elkhart Indiana built in 1954 they painted the wind side of the house when they did they painted the windows and frame I tried to get the windows loosened up to open the windows when I did I crack the window now I'm having a hard time getting the window out of the framework on each side of the window there is a piece of aluminum holding the window in I do not know how to get the window out without shattering the rest of the glass and to replace the glass I do not know how these windows work anybody got an idea please let me know Bob
I am up against the same challenge. I need to recheck the width but am having almost no luck finding those wooden replacement sidelights. Did you ever locate them at a reasonable price?
Oh my gosh... only TWO THIN pieces of wood are holding that thing in place?!?! How flipping easy are those to break into? How in the world can anyone feel safe in their house with these flimsy things? I have to replace mine but now have no confidence as anyone can bust this thing in. Don't they make any sidelights that are actually sturdy and impossible to tear down in one second? Yikes...
Does it really matter? If a thief wants to get in they will just break the glass which is much easier than busting through a strip of wood. You people crack me up trying to sound so intelligent.
