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wrote:
My house was built in 1989. Most of the builder grade, double pane,
double hung, aluminum frame windows have ruptured seals and are fogged
up. I am considering repacing them myself but have no idea how to
remove them.

The original windows seem to have a flange that has been nailed to the
sheathing before the siding was put on. The house has aluminum siding
and also brick veneer, and I don't want to damage either when tearing
out the old windows.

The interior is drywall boxed in around the window openings with a sill
made of a corian looking material. Damaging the drywall would be easy
enough to fix, but I'd like to avoid that too.

I take on a lot of home repair projects and get good results, and I
assume I have all the tools I need. I just need some direction here as
to how to start.

One final question, and I suppose this is something all DIY people need
to ask themselves at one time or another: Will there be any real
savings buying windows from Home Depot and installing them myself vs
ordering from one of the many local companies, who I assume get them
bulk for better prices, and letting their crew install them?

Thanks,
Christopher

I have a half height brick veneer also and since I
didn't know how to do it I hired a window guy to
put in the three front windows. I was amazed at
how simple it was. You just collapse the frame by
drilling holes in the aluminum and then use a
come along to put the sides together. Essentially
it pulls the nail out of the wood, no damage to
the siding or the brick. Then remove the flange on
the new windows (see CR response) set the frames
in drill holes in the frame and use screws to hold
the frames in. Sealing can be a bit of problem
but basically use caulk, If you can leave a bit
of the flange on the frame it will help and then
overlap with a bit of waterproof material, i.e.,
#30 felt, heavy vinyl, etc. You may find that the
new widow frames also set back more which will
require cutting the inside wall board and your sill.

In my case, I bought the other windows and
installed them, but I also cut the siding back
(wouldn't want to do that with brick) and then
made 1-1/4 molding that goes around the window,
with grooves that are filled with ground to finish
off the window. I still removed the flanges and
installed with screw to make the windows fit with
a about 1/2" stand out from the surface of the
siding. Worked very well, but you need a saw and
router to make the molding from 2x4s and a sense
of what would look good.

The cost of having it done will be about 3 times
the cost of buying the windows at HD. You might
want to have someone do a window or two and watch
what they do before you decide to do it yourself.

BTW. There is no comparison between old aluminum
frame windows and new vinyl for insulation and
sound reduction.