On Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:24:09 -0400, aemeijers
wrote:

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 ?!?!)
Yes they did - and did a very professional job of it - EXCEPT they
forgot about the thickness of the cladding interfering with latching
the windows.

A very highly respected contractor - known for high quality work and
generally deserving - but he screwed up on this one - and the owner
(my friend in his mid-upper eighties) didn't catch on untill a couple
years later what the problem was.

The cladding isn't coming off - it's a mansard and that would be a
REAL job. Cutting out the cladding and caulking would make a water
trap that would get them right back to the problem that existed
before the cladding was done ( a couple sills were also replaced,
having been rotted away where water sat.) With no overhanging eaves,
the windows have little protection, and being a mansard they are set
back in with deep sills. It looks like everything will be fine if we
can get the windows to latch so they seal better.

I'd hate to see what kind of mess they;\'d end up with if one of the
big replacement window companied got their hands into it.