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aemeijers

wrote:
A friend's house (about 50 years old) has what I believe are original
Pella windows that need a bit of sash work. The balance mechanisms are
aluminum or zinc and have a round hump profile - flat on both sides
and bulging out in the center. The sashes ride up and down on these
"humps" running in a channel or groove in both sides of the window. If
I remove the sash stops from the inside will the balances come out of
the jam with the sash?

Does anyone know where I can view a picture of exactly how the balance
connects to the sash, and what type of balance it is?

I need to remove 8 lower sashes to correct the hieght of the sash to
compensate for a botched job of cladding the outer framing and sill so
the windows can be latched. The cladding was done by a contractor
several years ago. They were looking at getting the windows replaced
and asked my opinion - I looked at them and the sash etc is all in
good shape, just cannot go down far enough for the sash latches to
engage so I need to either cut down the top or the bottom of the
window so the sash-latches will line up again (roughly 1/4")

How about stripping the botched cladding off the outside, instead? Even
a good cladding job sometimes traps water against the sill and molding
and rots it out. Strip the cladding, stabilize any damage, and prime and
paint. I'd do that (on the sill, at least) before I started carving up
the sashes. Or maybe even use a straightedge and a sharp knife or
multi-tool to carve off the part of the cladding that is interfering,
and then just caulk that joint. (They ran the cladding into where the
window actually seats when closed ?!?!)

--
aem sends...