On Oct 8, 9:47*am, "Lou" wrote:
"Kompu Kid" wrote in message

...



Hello All:

Windows at my nephew's home won't close unless one pushes it with
substantial force from outside. I looked into it a bit. I first
thought it was paint buildup, but ruled this out after cleaning the
buildup did not help.

I have photos of the windows at:

http://cid-eb85de77506ba8ba.spaces.l...EB85DE77506BA8...

I think the windows are slightly warped over time --this is a 60-year-
old home. I am thinking that if he can replace the pins in hinges (one
of the hinges is marked with "B") with a smaller diameter one, the
"A" side of the window would be slightly pushed out, and the "D" edge
then would get to touch the mating frame (it now stands 1/4" or so
away).

The title of this post is "Older metal windows won't close" - it's not
obvious from the pictures that the window frames are metal. *You don't say
what the metal is, but I'll bet it's aluminum.

I doubt that the aluminum and glass have warped on their own. *More likely,
in my estimation, is that the house has settled since the windows where
installed, and the dimensions/orientation of the frame have changed over the
years.

Possibly, taking the windows off the house entirely, and reinstalling them
as though they were new (shiming and sawing as needed), would fix the
problem - unless of course, the house continues to settle.

Alternately if the lateral edges can be bent inwards a bit this would
also get the Edge D closer. But I cannot think of an easy way of
bending these edges in a controlled manner, and without breaking the
glass...

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Deguza

They are steel windows. And I think you are right about the cause. I
also think that removing and reinstalling the windows can help.
However, this is beyond my and the nephew's skill set... Having some
else do it would be costly--this is the first home nephew got, and he
does not have much funds left to hire someone.

What do you think of putting slightly undersized pins at the hinges--
say 10 or 20 mil smaller in diameter? This would make the Edge A go
out slightly, which in turn should get Edge D closer to the window
frame when closing.

Deguza