Replacing Steel Windows With Wooden Ones

[jcjchung]

Has anyone had any experience with replacing stubborn steel windows?

The house was built in the 60s with original steel windows and I hate them. They are ugly and they rust.

Ive heard its quite hard to get steel windows out. Is this true? I will be expecting some brick damage

How expensive will it be to replace them with wooden windows.

 

[Cartoon]

these days domestic windows are fixed with a bracket, from the age of your house it would be into the brick work, kinda like a wall tie.
yes there will be some brick damage and possible damage to the lintel above.

dun know the price tho sorry

 

[ned261]

From what I've heard the majority of the expense will be for the labour involved with removing them and then fixing the resulting wall damage. The wooden windows themselves don't cost that much I think.

By the way, I was told by a window guy that burglars hate steel windows - one good reason to keep them

 

[Tizzy]

We replaced a horrid steel window with a lovely old baltic pine and jarrah double sash window. We got that from a salvage yard. The walls were double brick and we had to put in a new lintel also because the old one was rusted and was bleeding rust through the render.

We did have professionals fit four cedar windows to the front of the house but we needed to cut costs so did the kitchen window ( side of the house ) by ourselves.

The wooden window we chose was bigger than the steel one too so brickwork needed to be cut. We hired acro props and bought a diamond blade for the circular saw. It was a noisy and very dirty job. It was done on weekends and we were slow so took us 5 weekends to finish the job!!

It was as Cartoon described and well and truly tied into the wall. We were lucky because we could hide the patched brickwork outside with render and on the inside we plastered .

It looked fabulous once installed and I adored that window. If you have exposed brick outside, then a pro brickie should be able to do a neat job for you.

 

[jcjchung]

Hey Tizzi, was labour expensive to remove the steel windows? Do you remember the cost?

 

[Tizzy]

I'm sorry I can't give you an accurate price.

I've just been reminded that although we had the front windows made up for us, Mr Tizzy actually installed them as well. It was 16 years ago and I'd forgotten about that. The 4 small windows cost about $3000 to have made so no money to pay a tradie after that!

We cut the metal ties holding each window in and left them in the wall where we couldn't completely remove them. There were two at each side and flashing at the bottom and it all had to be removed. Once you take the glass panels out, you work away at each piece of metal and drill through any screws or rivets to separate pieces where you can.

We anchored the new wooden windows in through the side into the brick with those screws that expand. Dynabolts I think. Also used a couple of them through each sill and added new flashing to stop water getting in. Then used expanding foam around the edges and plastered over the top.

Mr Tiz said the front windows were easier because they were made to fit the space left by the old windows so no brick cutting, no lintel changing.

As previously mentioned, it is labour intensive and you will pay accordingly.

 

[Cartoon]

go commercial alunimium framing
eazy as to install/remove. i reckon they look great and last for ever.
commerical grade stuff is more of a finishing trade, it goes in after the construction of the structure, usually framing and brickwork, internal linings can do in befor or after depending on the finish your after.
If you want any info on this let me know as i use to do this stuff for a job, dun know the timber windows to well tho sorry

 

[marg4000]

Have you thought of having the steel re-coated, maybe to a different colour? The house up the road had this done and it makes an incredible difference, though I think their windows were aluminium so the process might not be available for steel.
Marg

 

[Cartoon]

i have painted mine in my place, it was time consuming till i worked out the best way to do it.
problem is drying time for the sash.
pm me if u want specific details

 

[depreciator]

Gee, I like those 60s steel windows. Got any photos?
I reckon timber ones need more maintenance. Though if you live close to the sea, steel will be a problem.
Tizzy is right. If you get the glass out, you might be able to remove the windows without damaging the brickwork. An angle grinder will come in handy.
Scott

 

[Cartoon]

from memory the tie "clips" into the frame and is then fixed to the wall so pulling the glass out will not expose the tie. u can angle grind willy nilly and hope u hit the right spot.
take some close up photos of where the frame meets the internal and external walls n ill give u some more tips

 

[Palabu]

If your house is one of those triple fronted brick veneer homes then replacing the steel corner windows is a bit of a pain. There is a steel post between the window frames which supports the roof load above. We replaced two corner windows a few months ago with timber windows. We cut the windows frames out with an angle grinder and left the steel post in place. We used narrower timber windows and got a brickie to build a brick pier between the windows. The house looks really good now and you would never know it ever had the old style corner windows. We filled the gaps inside with expanding foam and put new architrave around the windows, now you would never know the windows have been replaced.