We Made 5 DIY Windows from 2x4s and Saved $1,500 

You did a great job. However if someone wants to try this ; cut the channel for the windows first and the big cut second. The workpiece will be much more stable.

a couple of points, the flashing needs to be bent at the bottom away from the house. Surface tension will allow the water to flow down and toward the house. Also for silicone chaulking, and to get a smoother cleaner finish, spray rubbing alcohol on the chaulking before smoothing it.

I would love to know how your DIY windows have held up over time!

You gotta admire the sheer will to go DIY here - think it through and do it as best you can. A trained carpenter, not to mention an experienced window maker would probably have one or 2 suggestions to add, but - the lesson here is that the trial and error principle decides the outcome. Thanks

I was thinking about this today, great job and thank you for some ideeas.Mitre saws don't have angles above 45 degrees because you can just substract from 90 what you want to get as a cut angle and turn it around, for ex if you want 47.5 degrees you just set 42.5 and turn the wood around :)

An ice cube works real well for smoothing calk . and the reason the window trim goes wider on top and longer on side is to drain water away from the wood

Wood glue would be best for the corners, glue the ends line up the two pieces and use tiny finish nails to hold them in line then use a strap to clamp around the window checking for square. Run the bead of sealant in the channel before assembling them around the glass and finish the outside with a second "trim bead". Great work though!! One of the few videos I've found actually making the frames

I recently moved into a house built over 100 years ago. The windows on the basement are original to the house. I noticed that the screen windows are removable from the basement and they are also original. I will tell you that they are built with a through mortise and tenon joint. The joint that you built has a design flaw in that you are joining and grain to end grain which means you have less adhesion then you would if you were joining long grain to long grain. In the future, you might consider using a dowel joint which is much stronger than a nail or screw system and still takes advantage of the glue on the grain

Use redwood, paint the end wood and learn how to use linseed oil putty to hold in your glass, loads easier and so easy to do. Great job guys.

Can't thank you enough for this video. I wanted some 6" x 72" windows and could not find them commercially. So I had the double-pane windows made locally for $80 each and this was the perfect solution for mounting. You saved the day!

Thank you guys for a comprehensive tutorial, as well as all the helpful tips in the comments!

You could have just spent the extra dollars on treated wood and a good primer and paint it will save a lot in the long run

I have an old house and want to make large picture windows but do not like the cost. I've been looking for instructions online for a while, so thanks. It seems to me that finishing those frames with countertop epoxy would make the windows totally waterproof on the outside at least.

I love how in depth your videos are! Thank you for being so helpful.

I really like your ideas presented here. Our house dates to 1935. The wooden casement windows are simple, built like a small door. It has stops on the inside. The operator is a pushrod with a nut on top which locks the rod by tightening on it. The pushrod is available on vintage house hardware sites. Those crank assemblies always seem to fail eventually.

Great idea for a DIY window. Love it. No fancy tools! Good lesson on testing angles, testing dados, using scrap first. So nice to see down-to-Earth yet totally viable process.

Could make some of the parts of the frame removable so that the pane can be replaced if one leaks or breaks. That Alex stuff should really be painted for longevity. Silicone caulking adheres nicely to glass.

I think you did a great job and this was very helpful to me. The only comment I would make is that I think it would be helpful to add some glue to the joints before screwing them. Great video, thank you!

Thanks so much for making this video, super helpful. I've got 22 windows on my 100 year old house, many need replacing and I'm considering following your direction!

If you are only screwing the corners together (ie no glue) I would definitely paint the end grain on the end of each piece before constructing the window

This video may be long but informative for someone like myself whose never had to build anything. I'm looking to install a viewing window for my outdoor cat house and possibly add solar. Our Texas weather flux from being either really hot one day or cold the next. Thanks for your video!! :)

Thanks, I’m at basically this stage, but with recovered (Restore) Windows. This is encouraging.

Neat idea! But how would you change out a broken window? Where I live the double glazing is usually mounted floating. So it's not touching the frame. It's supported in a few places at the bottom. In and outside are taped with compression tape. So the glass pane is floating in the frame. The glass is then framed with battens and the voids chalked. The chalking is what holds the glass pane in place and let's the wooden frame expand and contract with seasonal changes. Let me know what you think.

19:59 instead of pulling the caulk gun, if you were to PUSH IT, you would push the caulk into the joint (so no cavities, where there'd be pull-out) and have minimal waste, and a nice "cylindrical profile" with LEAST WASTE pushed aside.

Would really love to see how these are holding up five years from now. They look great - but the only way these would work in a dry climate. In a wet climate or exposed area they will not last more than a few years.

Love Seeing these money saving ideas! You two are doing a great job! Can't wait to see more

I’m not sure if the “make sure your saws off when you do this” was a joke or not but it got me

One little point two years after the event! Before priming the wood, use shellac or knotting on the knots. In summer the resin around those knots warms up and with movement breaks through the paint film causing the start of the deterioration of your wood. A little shellac on the knots a half hour before you prime stops this. An even better solution than using primer, undercoat etc. is to use microporous paint which still allows the wood to breathe. You only need 2 coats of microporous rather than 4 for a conventional paint system and then when you come to repainting in 5 - 10 years you just wash down the microporous system and paint, rather than the labour intensive sanding/undercoating, sanding gloss system. You can get microporous paint in white so it doesn't look too different to the norm.

This was totally worth watching to the end. My favorite part was the broken screw in the caulking tube. Laughed my a** off!

Highly recommend zflashing above the windows... keeps a lot of water off. Also, your flashing on the bottom needs a ridge and bending it back towards the house will pull the water straight in to the wall. Just my experience with old wood windows in wet mountain areas. Also, the reason the windows are wider on top is to provide a way for water to get out of the frame if it penetrates the frame. Sealing them tight prevents the drainage. I usually add a wee pilot hole to let them breath from the bottom. Nice attempt!

Is this Mic The Vegan?? Good video!

I like your detailed & kind instruction along the process step by step. I was planning to make my laundry room window in the basement, and this video will be very helpful! Thank you for your great teaching.

So helpful, there’s barely any diy window vids out there!

Clamping end-to-end for the router is a great idea. Great job on an intimidating project!

The "sawstop" table saw could cost $3000 to buy....🤣

Nice job, the only thing I did when I made my windows was to add caulk to my miter joints just to keep any moisture out of the joint and I used a better grade of caulk. No DAP crap for me! I used all GE caulk.

I’d love an update on how these are holding up!

Respect from Dublin Ireland...great bespoke work!

Awesome video. I am getting so many ideas from this. Thank you. It looks really good and functional too!

Thank you it is very hard to find this information online. thanks for your time in putting it out.

To get a crisper caulking line I like to mask it off with painters tape. Once the caulk is placed, I remove it immediately, and it looks nice! Although that is an added expense, and not necessary.

Aluminium strip on the bottom cilll, needs to run full length and tucked round your mitred joints at the bottom edges of the cills, also you need a capillary drip groove also run again whole length of bottom underside of cill , 5 x5 mm long , about 25mm in from cill outer nose......7 out 10 for effort. English Mik Royal Carpenter to Her majesty Queen Elizabeth 11

I love this video, I was wondering how I might use thick acrylic the same way to make some picture windows. Thanks!

Thank you for the end to end router lesson.

To summarize the cost, it was about $575 total: $500 in custom double pane inserts, $25-30 in wood, $10 in paint, $20 on the casement hardware, and we used leftover screws and flashing but that could have been another $30. One thing we didn't mention in this video was that we originally thought we were going to make our own double pane inserts to save even more money and learn some more. But getting 10 pieces of custom glass and a bunch of rubber desiccant spacer (super spacer is a product that looked the best) would have been more expensive, not vacuum sealed, and could have eventually had condensation issues.

That's a very thorough and precise and well-done walkthrough. Thanks

Well I was not expecting to come here and see him, that is so cool, what a small world

Look at the prices! Wow I remember those days; the good ole days.

Great job.

Would have been cool to use Trex composite decking for the frames.

Great video guys, definately going the extra mile with it. love the attention to little details, its the small additions that make it your own.

It has given me some ideas. Many thanks indeed.

So nice when you got the right tools available.

What company did you buy the glass from?

I knew you would have to recut because of the thickness of the paint. didn't think of that before hand eh, that comes with experience and now you have it. lesson learned, good job.

Wow fantastic video, this is really great information. Thanks a lot! But seeing you cut the beams on the table saw you could see it moving up and down lol. With more care at that stage you would probably have a more precise cut and less cleanup. I'm also wondering if using epoxy to make the wood waterproof would be a good idea. It would need epoxy and then varnish for UV protection. But maybe that is not good because if water does get trapped it can't get out again? PS: Btw I'm pretty sure you can't paint over silicone caulking.

Finally a DIY window video that actually shows really clearly how to do it!

Thanks for sharing it's what I need to do it!

Thanks! I’m going to take these principles and do a triangular shaped casement window on a tiny home a-frame… wish me luck 😅

absolutely brilliant guys thank you so much. I am about to make a window and never done it before, so this helps allot, Cheers.

Thank you going to try this out because it’s so expensive to have custom windows made

Haven’t seen you guys in a while. I love your videos. Your very clear with your explanations. Thank you.

So satisfying to watch these projects! Maybe you'll build your own larger house one day...also 'twas nice to see you guys at Veg Fest!

Great video. I’m a new subscriber. I’m homesteading in the Ozark Mountains and building my own home and ranch. I started a RU-vid channel. I just knew that I would like this DIY on building a window. Now I’m gonna go back and check over your other videos.

Nice craftsman/lady ship! BestRoy

Best way? Copy a 'Proper' window frame. There are grooves to lower air pressure and angles to direct water away. Why reinvent the wheel? Also - Use treated lumber and waterproof glues.

Amazing! Thank you for sharing your know-how. I'd never seen metal studs/frames before, that's really interesting.

Great video thank you

Great vid, very well structured :)

Thank you for your expertise. But How would you protect the frame wood from rain water in the long future?

Most anything other than straight up wood, white Lowes, etc, trim, maybe--resists sun, too; live with the white color and do not paint. Wood is the weak point, water being the enemy, as many have pointed out.

How are the windows holding up? Any moisture or thermal issues? How about a follow up video!

Great video. u could also just make this from off the shelf... 3 pieces eg a flat and two bits of trim

Beautiful, thank you.

Nice job. Thanks for sharing.

I love your idea of building windows, reason I'm here. I would not build a window like this & encourage others to keep watching videos. My option is from experience of what I have seen over the years. 1 You didn't glaze the pane into place, caulking is not the same, & no cushion to ride on.. 2 Having a wood trough to encase the glass is a very bad idea, if it is tight it way twist with weather changes & bust the glass or the seal, also if water ever leaks past the caulking it has no way to escape & will rot the wood, a removable sacrificial strip would have been better. 3 Never paint aluminum without using zinc oxide primmer & proper paint, guaranteed these are peeling already. 4 Wood dowels would be much better than screws. I applaud your efforts, but you didn't really save yourself as you will be rebuilding these soon, a few minor changes & you would be doing basic upkeep in 5 years instead of thinking about rebuilding them in the next few years. I have a 100 year old house and have the original windows in it. I was thinking of replacing them all with new windows but I think I'm going to make my own replacements, these new windows don't seem to last very long. I want to use energy efficient glass & will keep the storm windows to protect them.

That is awesome you build your custom windows. Great job.

Well done ... just a couple things ... I'd glue the corners. You have to take the windows apart if the glass breaks/fails ... I'd use a moulding on the inside. I'm in the middle of repairing the result of professional metal clad window frames ... ROTTED OUT WOOD. The wood cannot drain or breathe if metal or plastic clad.

I think I'm going to fill that groove with silicone so it doesn't leak but I like that design. As far as being able to replace the glass I think I'll change a little bit of the design there as well. But all-in-all this was very thank you

The paint will come off the aluminum... AL must be primed with an etching primer or must be cleaned with alodine prior to painting. Bare AL will oxidize immediately and the oxidation prevents the paint from bonding. THIS is why you see airplanes with dull green primer, which is a etching primer.

Impressive! Nice work, great channel. Good luck with the new tiny house.

cheap pine home depot studs will rot to pieces in 10 years here in wet missouri but in New Mexico is fine.Im planning on building 40 fixed panes to save 16,000 bux...bt im dont know what to use.....white oak maybe...cedar not good because it doesnt take paint good...fixed panes will be so simple for me,i may even buy store bought vinyl brick mold(at great cost though)...I will build them factory style ....cutting all parts to length before moving onto next process...i figure 40 hours will save me 16000 bux....only 2 sizes for this massive project

Wow amazing job guys.

Great video...keep up the good work and good luck with your dream home. I Admire your dedication and attention to detail. Thanks

I'd probably have used mortice and tenons rather than mitred corners personally. Thanks for sharing your experiences all the same.

I had a good laugh when the dude said " best practices"

A better DIY corner would be to drill and glue dowel rods into the join, use a very strong glue such as what boat builders use.

Damnnn bro can be a professional beard model

This was an awesome video! Great job! How have them been holding up?

Helpful!!

Not bad, not what I would do but it’s awesome that you did it yourself.

How you planning to replace broken glass when it will happen?

Would probably want to do this in the driest place possible. Condensation on the inside of the window would probably rot those out over time

I enjoyed your video and I got some great tips and ideas from it - thanks

when I just converted some frames to double glazing. I used external beeding with a slope under the bottom beeding ( like a mini window will) and a gap to drain any water out.. The main problems with wood is the channel's fill with water and make the double glazed unit fail.. You can drill drainage channel's out of the lower frame as well.. Yours looks good though, but I would worry about water getting in, can you drill some hole's some how?

6 years later... how did those untreated wood and Alex caulk hold up?

Very interesting, but maybe a discussion about your window headers could help. I didnt see how the roof above was supported over those 3 window bays.

What a brilliant idea!

There's a treasure trove of suggestions in these comments.

Where did you get the glass and what type of glass are your options? Thanks