Double Hung Repair

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Jeff Greef Woodworking

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Double hung windows are the type that slide up and down, and are very common in older and newer homes because of their convenience. But few things are more frustrating than a double hung sash that won't stay up because the ropes that hold it are broken, and with careless painting the sashes can easily be painted solidly shut in the jambs. Luckily repairing the windows is easy and requires a minimum of tools. Get ready for some serious paint repair though, because disassembling the jamb parts necessarily chips the paint and exposes nail holes both old and new.

Resources for doing Doublehung Repair

Pry bars
Hammers

First a little terminology. Sashes are the actual windows, the frames that hold the glass and slide up and down. The jambs are the fixed frame parts that surround the sashes and give them slots in which to move. Most double hung windows suspend the sashes with ropes, pulleys and iron weights that reside inside the wall behind the jambs and trim. Other spring type mechanisms are used instead for suspending sashes on some double hungs. These are easier to repair than rope-and-pulley types because they simply unscrew from the sash. With broken ropes you must disassemble the jambs far enough to put new ropes onto the weights.

15" Pry Bar

Photo 1- Pry off the inside stop that holds in the inside sash.

For pry bars, click here.

Begin by prying off the thin wooden stops that hold the inside sash in its slots on either side of the jamb (photo 1). A small flat prybar does this with the least damage to the stop. Use a utility knife to cut ropes that are still attached, and let the weights fall in the wall cavity (photo 2). Next pry out the parting bead, which is a thin piece of wood that separates the inner and outer sash (photo 3). It fits in a groove in the jamb. Try not to break it as you remove it, but if you do replacement parting bead should be available at building supplies that stock moldings. Bring a piece with you to match thickness and width. Remove the outer sash after the parting bead, it may need a little prying if painted shut.

Photo 2- Cut the old ropes to free the sash from the jamb.

15" Pry Bar

Photo 3- Pry out the parting bead which holds the two sash apart.

Photo 4- Most double hungs have a little access door at the jamb bottom to get at the weights.

Most double hung jambs have an access door in the jamb which allows you to easily pull out the weights without removing interior or exterior trim. Such access doors are usually about a foot high, located on the inside face of the jamb at the bottom, and are held shut with a screw (photo 4). The access doors on my 100 year old windows, though, were too small to remove the weights, leading me to conclude that the builders were laughing at me from their graves. To reach the weights I was forced to remove the inside trim, which easily pryed off the jamb (photo 5).

Photo 5- You can also get to the weights by pulling off the inside molding.

Free the pulleys if they are painted solid by scraping them with a screwdriver, then feed in new ropes (photo 6). Use 1/4" nylon rope, which won't rot like the old cotton ropes. Tie the rope ends to the weights and replace the weights in the wall cavity.

Photo 6- Feed new ropes into the pulleys.

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