Old Window Will Not Stay Open

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
SpartanEpoxies
House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I

ihaveanoldhouse

New Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
There is a hole on the top of the window on both ends that connect to the wall.Only on one side of the window, in the wall where the pane slides there are these crude holes that go all the way up.My particular window in question does not have this lock on it, but my other one does an it looks identical! The other one cannot close either, though. It does not appear to have any ropes that were in there because there aren't any other holes besides the ones i posted in the pictures. Please help, all of the windows in my house are like this and none can close. Thanks!
20170302_161104.jpg
20170302_161153.jpg
There is a hole on the top of the window on both ends that connect to the wall.
20170302_161219.jpg
Only on one side of the window, in the wall where the pane slides there are these crude holes that go all the way up.
20170302_161806.jpg
My particular window in question does not have this lock on it, but my other one does an it looks identical! The other one cannot close either, though.
 
Most of the better ones back in the day had sash cords and sash weights inside the wall to counterbalance the weight of the window sash and hold it open/ up. Most of them the cords rotted off and the weights fell unless they were replaced every 10 years or so. Some didn’t have the weight system and people made props to stick in and hold them open. One of my favorites was to use a long handled wooden spoon. Other people drilled the holes you see and stuck a wooden dowel pin in the hole to adjust the opening.

The swing locks you can still buy and add to your windows if they don’t have them.
 
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yviFClpnJwg[/ame]

This will help you understand the construction of old windows, and may help you repair them.
 
Sometimes they didn't have room in the framing and some times they were just saving money.
 
Lots of farm houses had the fancy sash cords with pulleys and weights in the parlor for showing off. Sometimes the whole first floor and then upstairs they had the tree branch cut to length for a prop.

In the city they all had weights and cords and fancy hard wood trim. Those were the 1% houses.
 
Each individual pane of glass contained in its wood frame, is called a sash. Usually, your window would be referred to as a double hung, if both sashes moved or single hung, if only one sash moved.

Paint is often the cause of part of the problem you have encountered, "won't close." So, when you say won't close are you saying the lower sash will not close to the bottom of the frame, or does close to it's bottom and there is a space between the lower and upper sash?

All of the parts of these wood sash windows are easily removable, repairable and replaceable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top