How do I build a window???? (For a house)

[cjeanean]

All right, our house is freezing, and it's mainly cause of the windows. We don't have real windows, we have a double sliding glass storm window. Buying windows is very expensive, so I'm looking to build some. Just 2 basic wooden sashes per window, nothing fancy. Anyways, does anyone have some good links for how to do this??? I've been googling for the past 2 hours and haven't found anything that tells me how to do this from scratch, they're all about hanging and buying windows. Thanks, guys!!!

BTW, even if this is a difficult task I'm still gonna try it. I'm pretty good at figuring things out, but in this case I don't have something to look at to get an idea. So yeah, just to let everyone know, I'm NOT gonna be discouraged!! I'm dead set convinced to try to build at least one!!!

 

[cjeanean]

so does anyone know??? Or should I be talking to GopherBoy??? LOL!!!

 

[Rosalind]

Hard to say without knowing what is there. Are there spaces for windows framed in? I assume so, if you have storms attached.

Basically, it's like building a door or fancy cabinet, the kind with the floating panel in the middle. You build one big rectangle to fit the window frame, with 2 deep grooves routed along the inside part of vertical sides. Then you build two more rectangles, this time with tongues that fit the grooves and with a small routed groove all the way around the inside of the rectangle. Slide piece of glass into the grooves and glue shut.

You'll need a sort of stick contraption to hold the window open though. Modern windows stay open because they're mostly plastic and the plastic is sort of pressurized to stick open. Victorian era wooden windows stayed open or closed by means of a counterweight embedded in the casement, and that is a real pain in the tookus to build--plus, sometimes the counterweight cord breaks and then it's stuck.

Here's a link that tells you how to do a single panel window, but you will have to experiment to see how to hang two panels in the same casing.
Rebuilding antique windows

 

[Kesta]

ask my stepdad!

 

[jvls1942]

I could do it for you easier than explain how..

You should have a table saw ??

why don't you build a simple fixed window if you are just trying to keep the cold out??

after the weather warms up, then do the more complicated double hung.. that will buy you some time to look at a few windows for ideas..

 

[JennsPeeps]

This is a really good book about old windows: http://www.amazon.com/Working-Windows-3rd-Repair-Restoration/dp/1599213117/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230447804&sr=8-1

It's actually quite a good read, too. Dare I say, fast & amusing? Seriously... a book about windows... funny.

Rather than buld your own window, I'd go buy one from a construction salvage, repair it per the book's instructions, and frame it in where you want it.

ETA: I've repaired several old windows from construction salvage places and prefer older windows to new ones. A properly installed and maintained window that's 80+ years old is something like 95% as efficient as one that's brand new. I once went to a home show and was chatting with the sales person for a national brand of windows. He told me not to replace the old windows with new ones, which won't last more than about 20 years. My windows are original to my 1924 Craftsman home. Here's a pic of one, taken last week during our snow storm. You can see the storm window, which we put up in mid-October and take down in May: