New Construction Vinyl Window Installation in Old Brick House 

If you have wood siding underneath the window then you can flash it a lot better than I could here. Definitely a good time to rebuild and treat with borate.

A better way to do it is to use a glass cutter (unless they are tempered) and then to grab the frame with vice grips and use a type of mini come-along to pull the channels inward. And collapse it on itself. That's a specialty tool though. You don't have to demo the interior drywall, just score it where it is caulked to the window sill. If you have most other types of siding you can remove the trim that sits over the nailing flange and pry the flange up and the whole window can come out without removing the glass. With brick I have not found another way of doing it without removing the glass, or the brick on the front (which is a lot more costly).

You're right. This house was a gut job so most of the drywall was removed to replace rotted studs, but you don't have to remove the interior sill/drywall/trim.

@@MyFortressConstruction ok good. Thanks. I am doing my research and preparation now. I have installed doors, so I should be able to do windows. Lots of different methods out there....very confusing to figure out the best way.

@@JohnPoissant It does kind of depend on your sheathing and how well you want to do it. If you have tyvek wrapping around then I would put flashing tape and then screw in from the inside into the studs and put a bead of elastomeric caulking around the inside to block drafts. If it's an old house with no sheathing or felt then the only way to seal it correctly would be to remove the brick around it and install it with new flashing and adhesive with the nailing flange. If you buy a window made for replacement in brick it's going to have the nailing fin removed and have a deeper frame for screwing into the stud. I just used new construction vinyl windows and made it work with the old house. Just use good quality sealants if you do it the way I did. Keep watching people's videos and you'll probably find a video that is just like your situation.

@@MyFortressConstruction Thanks again for the reply. So my home in 1988 Brick Veneer, with stud walls. There is a small gap between the brick and the wall. The walls have insulation panels attached to the studs. No way, I am going to remove the brick. To seal it, I was just going to use some spray foam, and then calk the outside. I did find a video from Houston Window Experts that is giving me a good way forward.

I really don't know, but anytime I'm grinding on anything I wear an N-100 or better mask because dust + lungs = bad. There are so many carcinogens and toxic materials out there (that they probably don't even know about) so it's my responsibility to protect myself.

@@MyFortressConstruction I believe there is. If you're doing this for a customer you need to check how old the house/window is and if the caulking is dry and brittle. Cutting or sawing into it can release fibers into the home and contaminate everything as well as make it dangerous to breath the air. It's one of the worst carcinogens for construction or demo people to work around

@@danceswithcomicbooks7733 Good thoughts, always safety first.

@@MyFortressConstruction unfortunately most contractors don't follow the rules today. It's an easy thing to do to wet down surfaces or even get a 50 dollar test on suspect materials but is are too lazy or cheap to do it or even warn the home owner. Pretty much why I bought a new home and upkeep it as much as I can so I don't ever have to hire a contractor again in my lifetime. Fingers crossed.

I don't think so, but it's a matter of caulking the vinyl to the brick using a high quality exterior caulking/sealant like OSI Quad or Np-1.

Hey there, yes this is an older video and my method has improved some, but as far as how these did I would say that with any low-cost vinyl windows you will have the issue of warping. Straight from the factory they can already be warped, though you can sometimes fix them by trimming a little vinyl here and there and using turtle wax to make it slide better. Overtime they will become harder to open, especially if you don't have them well adhered to the studs (a nail in every hole on the flange). Vinyl windows are a lot more rigid and not nearly as prone to the opening and closing issues of vinyl. But most aluminum windows you find in the big box store are single pane or storm windows (sweating issues and not as energy efficient). However, if opening them isn't a daily chore then you should be fine. A little wax occasionally will help. Metal clad wood windows are my favorite, but they are costly and can develop rot if installed incorrectly. So, I buy a more expensive window for an area with heavy use and use the cheap vinyl windows where they will not really be touched.

Quad OSI is what is available around here and NP-1, which I haven't seen for a few years. There's also Dynaflex, but it's closer to a regular acrylic caulking and I typically use it only on interiors.

This was the first time I attempted to replace windows on a brick house. I didn't discover the glass cutter trick until a few years later. Definitely speeds things up.

I have never found a good flashing for tying into 1970s tar impregnated particle board. Do you know of a product or good method? It seems to me that old homes need to breathe because if you mix new products with old, it creates water problems. I hate relying on a caulking for my waterproofing, but at least I'm using a high quality caulking and not acrylic/latex like I see many window installers using. On new houses I definitely flash it mechanically and the caulking is just the first line of defense.

@@MyFortressConstruction I am not a contractor, but I did replace 14 windows over the last 10 years on the home I just sold and moved away from in Texas. All of the windows I bought had flanges and were meant for new construction. Most of the windows were in walls with siding. I replaced the siding with new sheathing and Hardie Plank siding. I flashed them like new construction. One window was in a brick covered wall. I removed just enough bricks to get the flanges past. I put the flanges over the existing felt paper wrap. I managed to put that sticky vinyl flashing tape around the window over the flange and sticking it to the existing tar paper on the sides and bottom. It wasn't as perfect as the other windows that had new felt or Tyvek wrap, bit I think I managed to seal that window quite well. My "new" 1960's home needs a few old single pane windows replaced. This house is brick all the way around from the ground to the roof. I am thinking of removing the old windows right down to the rough opening and not disturbing the bricks. So I won't be able to use flanges to help seal the windows from water. So I'm watching more videos looking for ideas. Maybe I can stick the edges of the existing tar paper to whatever sheathing I find underneath with roofing asphalt and then use a combination of expanding foam insulation and window flashing.

@@maxquigley9524 A fluid applied flashing is another option, but like you said, you have to remove brick to get a decent seal. I have remodeled a lot of houses and the old houses that didn't have flashing usually had rot around the windows unless the window wasn't sitting on the wood sill and only sat on the brick. If air can circulate around the wood then it won't rot.

Flex seal in a spray can works wonders. It bonds to almost everything and comes with a tube extension allowing to get into the gap between the brick and the old asphalt board.

If you've got information to share, then by all means. It could help a lot of people out. RU-vid is a great forum for giving tips and things you've learned.

Do tell.