Busted Big Window, Suppliers? Installation Pit Falls?

[Guest]

d2reid
Hi Dallas,

Have you tried a local window manufacturing/replacement company? I would think that this type of closed cell foam strip would be fairly standard.

Rob

X2. And have them install the window. They would assume responsibility in breaking it during the install and any leakage after the install.

Jim

[d2reid]

I too reached out to GD and got the part number for 1/2 inch foam sealant. No other information available. Double or single, no answer, thickness, don't know. I consulted a few more RV repair places. There was no definitive answer, some said double sided, some said 5/16", another said foam sealant needed to be 80% compressed to make a tight waterproof seal. So 1/2 inch for sure. That's the measurement on the rim of the new window. Closed cell for sure. The one thing everyone could agree on. I didn't order the foam seal from GD, I had an opportunity to get the window installed when a husky buddy blew into town so I bought the first available 1/2 foam window sealant. Only the first good rain will tell if I made the right decisions. If I didn't, then I can caulk it, if that doesn't work, then I can order the correct foam sealant and redo the installation. In the mean time I have a window installed.

A 70 x 46 double pane window weighs about 120 pounds. I can't lift that by myself. I watched lots of you tube videos and they hall have one guy picking the window up, hahahah, that would not happen for my window. The other big thing about the videos was most were framed window, I only found one for a frameless window. Big difference. I bought some mar-proof scrapers, they came in handy. I pulled the valance. In my Momentum the screws for that are about 8 inches up inside of the valance. I happened to have an 18 inch drive extension for my drill that I bought for a bumper repair, it came in handy. Pulled the valance, in mine the blind came with it. It was heavy enough I liked having another person helping. I started removing screws around the frame, There is a whole passel of them. Down to 4 I went around the outside of the window and used the mar-proof scrapers to break the seal. I removed the rest of the frame screws. I had my buddy gently tap and press the inside of the window while I held the bottom of the window in and our wives kept the top of the window from opening/falling to quickly. The seal let loose, fortunately a little at a time as we were being gentle, but I can see where too much applied force would result in the old window falling out, not good with only on person trying to hold it. On smaller windows it would not be a problem.

This is something no RV owner wants to see.



Clean up time. HD was sold out of mineral spirits, well except for a 1 gallon can. I bought some good off and then hit the drugstore for Isopryl Alcohol. Bought more than i needed but didn't want to have to run to the store in the middle of the job. I bought some goof off also. Then I very meticulously cleaned the edge of the RV window getting all of the old sealant, glue, yuck and other stuff off. I very carefully laid the new seal along the edge of the new window leaving about 1/32" inch edge, basically placing the seal in the middle of the track. The research I did said I needed to compress the type of seal 80% to make a waterproof seal. I am not sure I got that done. But my friend was only available for a day and a months of frustration trying to schedule a dealer or mobile tech to come do the installation left me feeling that I just needed to get this done.

Ok, old window out, seal on new window, edges cleaned. Time to install the new window. It comes with plastic guides on the bottom and sides. I found that these are necessary, particularly on the bottom to fix the window in a position that the inner frame will align with track where the screws go into. This was probably the hardest part. The guides fell off while trying to put the window in the hole. It went in ok, but when I tried to put the inner frame on the window opening mechanism was in the way, I had to get the window to raise a tad. Pulled it out and put the spaces back on being careful the second time not to knock them off. That raised the position of the window enough that the lower frame screws would align with the track. This is not a good picture depicting where the screws go, sorry, I was in the middle of it and taking pictures was not on my mind.


It was a PITA to get the inner frame and channel/track for the screws to line up. We had the window in and out about 4 times to make that happen, resetting the spacers each time. Using a screwdriver to very gently move the window a little bit left right and up. Once I got 4 corner screws in 2/3 of the way I let the wives free of window holding duty. I had placed a picnic table up against the slide, it made a good solid platform from which to work and 3 people could stand side by side to hole the window in place while i tacked it in. For some reason it was more difficult to get the top screws started. The fit was not perfect, inner frame to window track/channel. There are a few angular screws. But by taking my time and putting the screws in altering top/bottom/left/right I was able to get them all started, I did not tighten any of them. During this phase the window and inner frame need to be able to move slightly. It's not going to fall out with the screws started, but it is not totally secure either. After I got all the screws started I started tightening them in a non-repetitive pattern. The idea being to cinch the window in evenly and not create any stress points on the frame nor the window. That took a lot of patience. While the dealership book rate says it will take an hour to replace the window it took me 5 hours. Lots of looking and relooking. I finally got all the screws in and tightened. I don't think I got the 80% compression I wanted. It's all tight and squished, hopefully enough. If not, I see there there is room for me to caulk the edges, just have to make sure the caulking is compatible with the foam sealant.

I put the valance back up. LOL, I only had two screws left over. I replaced the window opening knobs and tried the new window, it was stiff. Outside inspection revealed one of the opening windows stuck out just a bit. I opened and closed it several time and eventually found a small amount of sealant on the edge preventing one corner of the bottom window from closing completely. I trimmed that with a razor knife and it was better, still not perfect, very few would ever notice.

Below is a picture of the foam sealant on the old window, I am not impressed. There are better options out there.


I would really have preferred an experienced person to do this job. None where available for months and months. All the retaining screws ended up in alignment, there are no side stressed on the inner frame and none on the window frame. They could cause window fracture if the window does not sit fairly relaxed in the window opening. Sweep up clean up put the tools away .The new window is in. While here we will leave the awning out. I would like to see a couple of days sun on the new window to get the new seal to stick. I think I have a good even seal all the way around. Only time will tell for sure.

[Country Campers]

Great job Dallas. You could always take the garden hose and spray around the edge to check for leaks. Being as you are experienced now I will keep you in mind if I need a window replaced .

Brian

[d2reid]

You could always take the garden hose and spray around the edge to check for leaks.
Brian

I am a chicken. I didn't take the water hose to check for leaks, what was I going to do if it leaked? I had no other type of sealant and all of my help was really getting tired of working on the window. We really don't spend a lot of time in rainy places, typically when we do the awning is out.

My other thought was that if I could bake that window in the sun for a few days that seal would soften up and "set". I don't know if that actually works or not but it was part of my thought process.

I will eventually get around to testing the window. My first option is to just run a thick bead of caulking around it. Second option is to get more appropriate seal and hopefully find some help to put it on.