How to REMOVE & INSTALL a Window (THE RIGHT WAY!!) Step by Step

Look at that. That's crazy. Hi, my name is Sean Yon, owner of American Window Concepts, and today I'm going to show you how to replace a single pane aluminum window with a dual pane vinyl high performance window. Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to remove this bottom piece here. There's a stay bar in the center that's holding this in place, and we're going to get rid of this as well. So first thing Tristan's going to do is he's going to remove these stoppers on the end here to allow for us to remove this sliding panel after he's gotten this, and we'll be able to actually pull this thing out. Otherwise, it will not remove because these here are stopping it. Okay, so he's got that out. Now he's going to lift this up and then basically to one end, and then it should just pop right out. You're going to pull off the screen, which is going to allow us to pull off that center stay bar, and we'll get to that here in a second. And the whole point of a retrofin replacement is leaving behind this main frame that you're seeing, this about an inch thick aluminum frame that's going around this outside. That is what we want to maintain so that way the new window can sit right over the top of that. We get off any of the dust that's on the window around the stucco, around the frame itself, because caulking does not like to stick to dust. So you have to get that off. You run the risk of a seal failure down the road. You know, if it's starting to rain really hard, you can separate the caulking from the new window because we didn't take this little step right here. The next step he is going to do is he's going to block the bottom, basically making sure that there's support underneath this window. For a single hung window, like what we're doing now, you only have to do it on the ends. Give yourself a little bit of a gap on each end for the welds of the window itself. But he's basically making it so that way there's plenty of support underneath this window. This is a particularly crucial whenever you're dealing with a sliding window. So we'll dry fit the window to make sure that it fits nicely. And it does. Say again? It's all the way in on the top. What we'll probably end up doing is we'll knock off some of this stucco here. So we'll take this and make a little line around the perimeter. And what that, what we'll do is we'll knock down some of that stucco. Some of this stuff has popped out pretty far and we want this to be as flush as possible to the wall. So we'll pull the window out and we'll get that knocked down. Not hurting anything. All that's doing is just making it so that way we can have a nice flat window up against the stucco. Makes it look really nice. One more time. Let's knock down. We just created some dust and I want to get rid of that again. The one thing I want to show you guys is the type of caulking that we use. We use a Max Shield All-Weather window and door specific. I like to use the clear for the under, which is the first layer that goes underneath the window. You'll never see this again. But I like the clear because it stretches 900%. So on a hot day, if the window begins to expand, this will not break. It will stay intact and you won't have to worry about leaking in the future. Now when you're applying this, you want to make sure you stay on the frame. Don't put it on the stucco. Stucco is not going to offer you any resistance against the water. If you're, you know, blasting this window with water, like a garden hose, or if it's raining really hard, you want to make sure that it's on the main frame underneath the retrofin. That's how you can guarantee this thing will never leak on you. And me being me, I like to go overboard. So I will go a little bit more over the top here. There's a misconception about a retrofin window being a bad way to go. And that's just not right. I mean, if you do it the right way, you're never going to have a problem. So if you apply the right kind of sealant, enough sealant, you do the steps necessary. Like for instance, whenever we brushed off the dust, that's a huge step, believe it or not. So, you know, you factor in all those things, this window will never ever leak. It'll, it'll be perfect. He's going to guide me in from the inside so we don't make a mess. Once this thing's in, it's in. How are we looking? Oh, I can feel it. You can feel it whenever that caulking is grabbing it. All right. Push in all the way around. So what he's doing is he's reaming out the bottom screws. So that way the slider that goes up and down doesn't knock on the screw heads. So he's reamed those out just for that purpose. So as he's going to screw this, he's going to pull in on the frame to make sure that it's going in as far as possible. Since we're going through aluminum, it's going to force them a little bit or it's going to give them some resistance. One of the things that we like to do is we like to check with a tape measure our sides and top to make sure, you know, the reveal is going to look right. We try to make everything as perfect as possible for the install, the interior trim. So he's checking to make sure that the window on the left side and the right side is even or as close to even as possible. Now what we're going to do is we're going to take the sash and this particular window style, you can remove the sash very, very easily. And I'm going to set that in all the way. Make sure both ends are in all the way. There you go. Tilt it up. And now what he's going to do is he's going to make sure that that window is straight. If there's a gap where we don't want it, then we have to make some adjustments. So that looks pretty, pretty close. In fact, that looks really good right there. Second reveal to make sure that the stay bar is in line. And this has to do with the locking mechanism itself. There we go. So we're good for this section. Now what we're going to do, since this is all good, we're going to go ahead and shoot some foam into the gap areas, the actual window foam, the polyurethane style window foam. And this stuff here is just to ensure that wind, you know, if there was ever a seal break on the outside, which isn't going to happen, but we're just making sure we take another step to protect the homeowner. So he's carefully shooting in the foam here. Now this stuff is slightly expanding. If you were to use like a cracks and filler foam, it would just make this frame warped because it doesn't stop expanding for quite some time with windows and doors. This type of foaming here, it expands very, very minimal. Perfect. So at this point now we're ready for the interior trim. The cool thing about this material here is that it's pre-scored. So you're able to actually tear off a few of these little pieces to give you the size that you would need. And we like to usually go with anywhere from a quarter inch to a half inch reveal. This stuff works really well. The cool thing about it also is that it's self-adhesive. It has the 3M tape on the back. So you're able to just apply it straight to the frame and it will adhere very, very well. So a lot of companies will do a butt joint to the trimming where they meet at the ends there. But what we like to do, this is kind of just our own preference. We'd like to do an overlap, but we miter cut the end. So that way it gives it kind of a cleaner look, cleaner finish. One of the things that we're sticklers about is making sure that the finished product looks as perfect as possible. And what we do is like to use our masking tape, painter's tape on the outside against the edge of this vinyl and up against the stucco. And the reason why we want to do this is give it the cleanest possible look. Then this is also your first line of defense against water, moisture, things of that nature. So we want to make sure this looks as clean as possible. And then you don't have caulking smeared all over the frame, all over the stucco, and it just looks crazy. So what I like to do is apply water to the edge of the frame, moisten it, because this is a water-based caulking. And when we apply this, it keeps it so that way it's not a huge mess. So this caulking, as I said before, is a water-based, so you can actually use water on this and makes it look extremely, extremely clean. This is a painter's trick is what this is. Rub the frame down so any of this caulking that's on the frame is gone. And once I peel off the tape, all you're left with is a very clean caulking line. Look at that. That's crazy. Then take a little shop towel and just make sure that we dry off all this excess water. And then you have a very, very clean caulking line on your outside. We'll just go vinyl to vinyl and then vinyl to wood. Just gives it a nice clean finished look. Okay guys, well that's how we install a dual pane vinyl window from a single pane aluminum window. I hope this is informative. This is the right way of doing it per AMA standards, using the right materials, things of that nature. If you have any questions or you wanted to get a quote from us, if you live in the Ventura, Santa Barbara area, you could just go to our website, americanwindowconcepts.com. You click on request a quote, fill out a little bit of information, and then we'll reach out to you as soon as possible. Thank you so much for watching.