I just finished swapping out two old windows in my living room. Took me a whole weekend, but honestly, wasn't as complicated as I thought. Saved around $400 compared to the quotes I got. Anyone else done this differently or got tips to make it easier next time?
Nice work tackling that yourself—I did mine a couple years back and found the hardest part was getting the old frames out without damaging the siding. Did you run into that issue too, or was your setup different?
Yeah, getting those old frames out without messing up the siding was definitely tricky for me too. Did you have wood or vinyl siding? Mine's vinyl, and honestly, it felt like every time I pried a little too hard, I was risking cracking something. I ended up using a wide putty knife and a small pry bar combo—slow going, but it worked without causing any real damage.
I'm curious though, did you have trouble with sizing at all? Even though I measured twice (okay, maybe three times...), one of my replacement windows still ended up being just slightly off. Had to do some creative shimming to get it sitting right. Not sure if that's common or if I just got unlucky with that particular window.
Also, did you run into any surprises once the old frames were out? When I pulled mine, I found some water damage underneath one of them—nothing major, thankfully, but enough to make me glad I'd decided to tackle the project myself so I could address it properly. Makes me wonder how many contractors would've just slapped the new window in and called it good.
Overall though, even with the hiccups and headaches, I'm still on the fence about whether DIY window replacement is worth the hassle for everyone. Sure, you save money and can be thorough about fixing underlying issues...but it's definitely not a quick weekend job unless you've done it before.
Yeah, vinyl siding here too, and I totally get that anxiety about cracking it. I ended up using a similar method—putty knife first to loosen things up, then gently prying with a flat bar. Definitely slow going, but worth it to avoid damage. And sizing...man, I swear windows have their own weird math. Even after triple-checking measurements, I still had one window that needed extra shims and adjustments. Glad I'm not alone there. Didn't find water damage, thankfully, but did uncover some sketchy insulation work that needed fixing—another unexpected detour.
Glad I'm not alone there. Didn't find water damage, thankfully, but did uncover some sketchy insulation work that needed fixing—another unexpected detour.
Vinyl siding anxiety is real, lol. I did four windows last summer and spent half the time just whispering "please don't crack" under my breath. Also, totally relate on the weird sizing math—it's like window manufacturers have their own secret code or something. I ended up with one window slightly off too, had to shim it like crazy. But hey, at least no water damage surprises here either...just a few spiders who weren't thrilled about eviction.