Waterproof Window Installation with Rick Arnold

hi my name is Rick Arnold I've been a builder for over 30 years I'm also a contributing editor to find home building magazine I also do presentations for JFC live and I do presentations for the cats Road shows across the country today I'm going to show you how to install and flash a flanged window now the first thing we want to do is to make sure to integrate the house wrap with a window flashing system that's critical the first thing what a nice straight level cut across the top and then we want to cut those sides at 45 and slide them up out of the way this is the most critical part of the window installation is lifting this house wrap flap up out of the way it's going to be the last thing coming down on top of the flashing the sealants and the flanges if you don't do it this way typically what I see is people wrapping it inside what happens there is the flange goes on top of the house wrap the flashing tape goes on top of the flange and on top of the house wrap and if there any leaks occur above behind the house wrap you have a nice area that circumvents all the flashings and flange and the sealant and lets it go right in into the house the next cut going to do just a level seat cut and then I'm going to cut it right down the middle here now there are a couple of different ways to do the sides you just get this out of the way for a minute here I'm going to show you two ways to do the sides one on this side one on that side pick one or the other don't do both like I'm doing here I'm just illustrating so that you can see two different ways on this side I'm gonna cut about two and a half inches away from the inside of the rough opening so what you're gonna see later when I put the window in and the flashing tape on is that the window seals to the substrate underneath here and then the flashing tape is going to seal to the house wrap to the substrate and to the flange that's called a fully adhered system the other way to do it is also very popular is to fold this in its like this staple it and then cut it flush a lot of people cut this flush on the inside here if you're using the house wrap as an air barrier you really don't want to do that what happens is if air gets behind the house wrap here and you have this house wrap going all the way to the inside of the stud and it's not sealed up the air can travel right around through all your flashings and tapes so what I'm going to do here just fold it inside cut it right down the middle of the jamb and then use the tape to seal that right to the jam make sure that we stop any air leaks from coming in around behind the house wrap and into the house now that the house wrap has been pre-cut it's time to address the sill pad before I put any tape on the bottom though I'm gonna put a piece of half by six clapboard or beveled siding down here first with the fat side in the idea of this is to have it pitched out so that any water that works its way inside here comes down and is pitched directly outside rather than the inside of course if you're going to use this you have to make sure to extend the rough opening height by the thickness of the beveled siding the next step is to form a sill pan using the pea elastic membrane this case I'm gonna peel it off I've cut it so it extends up the sides all three or four inches I'm gonna have it come back in so it's behind the backside of the window and it'll overhang about two inches in the corners here I want to make sure to push it harden to the corners I don't want to have a radius corner because there's a there's a chance that the window could catch it gouge it and maybe tear it up a little bit so on both corners I want to make sure I push it into the corner nice and hard and then typically at this point I take a knife out slice the tape fold it over and then maybe put another piece there but with this type of tape it's a flex type of tape all I have to do is just push it nice and gently right around the corner just like that and the forms around the corner without having to have that cut there I'm gonna do both sides and then work my way back towards the middle now that the rough opening is prepped I'm going to prep the window all I'm gonna do here just put some sealant along the flange an important thing read the directions of the window manufacturer some require sealant behind the flange some don't just check with them make sure it's okay make sure you get a sealant that's compatible with all the materials that you're using and make sure it's a sealant not just a generic silicone or a caulking those things they're not made for window installation a good quality sealant is what you need to put the window in or a door and have it be leak free for a long long time so I'm gonna do here start the bottom and put a nice thick bead of sealant right along the outside edge and I'm covering the nail holes I'm gonna bring that all the way up I'm going to go across the top down the other side but I'm not going to do the bottom we want the bottom open be right over the nail holes now that I've got the sealant on the sides on the top the back of the flange simply gonna put this in the rough opening and then have the guy on the inside move it left and right until it's in the exact center of the rough opening so I get an equal gap on both sides between the window frame and the framing once that's done I put a level up in the top that's good the other thing I'm going to check is the side here make sure that's plumb if this is level this it should be plumb which it is and I also want to use a nice long level as a straight edge because I want to make sure there's no bow here either going in or coming out this is a short window so it's not a big deal on some of these very long windows you might get a bowl in the side gym and you want to make sure to straighten that out and use a nice long level for a straight edge get that nice and straight okay so that's good in both directions so what I'm gonna do just put a tack in it right now right on both sides just to hold it in place and then for the final check on the outside here I'm just gonna measure the diagonals from opposite corner to opposite corner and the measurement measurement should be exactly the same which it is so that means this is square level and plumb we're ready to nail this whole thing off there's one more check that I want to do on the inside I'm going to open up the bottom sash just a little bit and make sure that that gap between the sash and the sill is dead even now that it's all fashion this time to put on the rest of the flashing tape so the sides lets you do the sides first you start with the bottom do the sides finish up with the top besides cut so they extend up past the top flange and past the bottom flange a good few inches and also we're going to be doing because I want to protect the transition the corner on the inside where the flange fits into the jam that's the weak spot of the whole system on the window right there I want to make sure and curl the slashing tape up onto the jam and protect protect that seam all the way down just about a quarter-inch it takes a little bit of patience you want to have it come up too far once it got it really protects that sink some manufacturers will ask that you put sealant in that corner that's fine too I like to use the tape now that the tape is up one side we want to make sure too that it's fully adhered you use a j-roller here this is a pressure-sensitive adhesive on these flashing tapes which is what most of them are so you really want to make sure you get a good bond by using a roller all the way down all the way around your whole window to make sure there's a really good bond and if you notice here this is where we have a bond right here we have three different bonds we have the tape to the house wrap the tape to the substrate and the tape to the flange that's one way of doing it over on this side on the other side I'm just going to put the tape right on top of the house wrap in the flange and again fold that flange up a little bit to protect that seam right down there okay now let that sides done I'm gonna put it across the top and I'm gonna do the same thing on the top that I did on the sides I want to protect the seam where the flange goes into the jam so when I put this on I'm gonna fold it down on top of the window jamb it takes a little extra time but it gives you that extra confidence that that inside corner is protected if water it ever does find its way down in yeah and again now that that's done I'm gonna roll all the way around make sure that that tape is sticking firmly now the last step just putting the drip cap over the top here before I do that I'm gonna put a bead of sealant along the top of the window here go all the way across the reason I'm doing that is to prevent any water windblown water from blowing up underneath my drip cap and causing problems in there squish this down on top fasten it fastened a few times don't need too many it's going to stay in place a seal it's going to hold it in place down at the bottom and at the top I'm going to put one more piece of peeling stick flashing that will hold it in place and ensure any water that comes down that has found its way behind the house wrap from above it's going to hit this flashing tape go on top of the drip cap and be directed to the outside that's the whole idea with water management you want to direct any water that gets behind your systems you want to direct it to the outside as quickly as possible now that that's done the last thing we do is fold down this flap like I said earlier this is the most important part we're not tucking this behind our flashing system we're putting it over so that any water gets behind the siding follows the house rot down again it's being directed to the outside as quickly as possible and we're gonna we're just going to put the tape right across here but we're not gonna tape across the whole bottom here we want to leave couple the gaps for any water it does find its way behind the house rap and hits our flashing to come out if we take the whole bottom that the water would build up behind there so I'm doing what's called skip taping and leaving little gaps at the bottom and the final thing to 45s to ends and then this side and we're done now the units installed according to manufacturer's instructions which is very important for maintaining the warranty it's level plumb square fastened and we have our flashing system completely all around here that's going to keep water out for years to come [Music]

Channel: THISisCarpentry

Views: 1,784,856

Keywords: Rick, Arnold, Window, waterproof window

Id: ycdgjUZf0H0

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 25 2013