By
eHow Home & Garden Editor
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Get Into the Well
Step1
Purchase a package of 1/4-inch cotton or nylon rope from your local lumberyard or hardware store (cotton is better because it stretches less).
Step2
Remove the window channel molding on both edges of the window with a hammer and small flat pry bar. This will allow you to get the window sash out of the way while you open up the window weight wells. The wells are located inside an opening behind the casing (trim) on each side of the window. (If both of the sash cords are broken, set the sash on the floor for now. If one cord is still in operation, you'll just have to prop the sash out of the way as best you can.)
Step3
Open the well in one of two ways: Some windows have doors on the inside face of the side jamb. You will be able to see the outline of a long oval or rectangular cover held closed with one or two screws. With this door open you can look into and reach into the well.
Step4
Get into the well by removing the front piece of casing if there is no door. You remove this in the same way as the channel trim. Work slowly and carefully to avoid damage to the trim or surrounding walls.
Replace the Sash Cords
Step1
Once you have the well open you can remove the sash weights. Remove any rope that's still attached to the weights. This would also be a good time to clean out the wells - they're a favorite nesting place for wasps and hornets. Remove any nests you find and give the well a good spray of an environmentally safe residual insecticide.
Step2
Set the sash weights back into the bottom of the well. Place them on a block of wood about 3 or 4 inches thick. (Once everything is back together this space will keep the weights from "bottoming out" when you open the window all the way; it will also compensate for rope stretch.)
Step3
Thread the new rope through the pulley opening near the top of the window jamb and down to the weights.
Step4
Tie the weights onto the end of the rope. The window sash end of the rope should extend about 2 or 3 inches past the pulley hole. It usually gets a single knot and is attached into a fitted groove in the side of the window sash. Sometimes there is an "eye" or metal bar that the rope must be threaded behind before it is knotted.
Step5
Repeat the process for the other side of the window if necessary. Depending on the size of the window, it may be a good idea to have a friend help you hold the window while you work on re-stringing the sash weights.
Step6
Replace all casing and trim with finish nails.
Step7
Fill all nail holes with wood putty, and paint or stain to suit the decor.
Comments
saratogan said
on 6/27/2007 On older homes the double sash windows (lower and upper) are divided by a small channel strip approximately 1/2x3/4 and it sits into the wide frame members. This strip keeps the two windows from running into each other. How do you remove this piece without cutting it out and then reinstall it. Access from the outside is prevented as my friend had new storm windows screwed and siliconed into place on the outside prior to fixing the weathered windows. I have removed the stop and the lower sash but the flared part of the bottom of the upper window rides on narrow protruding end of this channel, or window divider, strip. Help? Thanks!!
Anonymous said
on 9/4/2006 You need to make sure the window is up before you attach the sash cords to it. Otherwise, you'll end up with too much rope!
Anonymous said
on 6/30/2006 I have access doors on the inside face of the jamb. I took minimal expanding insulating foam and filled the bottom of the weight pockets to close any gaps that allow air into the pocket in winter (or heat in the summer). You could probably cut out a piece of regular insulation as well to fill the bottom of the pocket. The access doors also have gaps around them that allow for drafts in winter. I figure that if all of my access doors on all of my windows have 1/2-1/4" gap around the access doors, that is probably the equivalent of having a window open all winter. Therefore, I filled this gap with removable rope caulk. I suppose that you could also use foil tape, but I am not sure how removable that is after any amount of time. You may be able to trim the door in some other insulating material or weatherstripping as well.
If you take the trim face off of the front, you could fill both the top and bottom of the pocket with minimal expanding insulating foam, and then cut a rectangular piece of insulating foam board to run the length of the pocket, right behind the trim piece. Tape the gap between the jamb and the insulating board around the edge with foil tape and you should have a much more efficient window.
Anonymous said
on 6/30/2006 If you run into the problem of stuck spacers, even after reading the above tips, an easy way to remove it is to use a drill with a wood screw bit on it (it helps if it is magnetized) and simply run the screw a bit into the spacer, then you can lift it right out using the screw as a handle.
Anonymous said
on 1/30/2006 I had a hard time getting the sash cord to thread through the pulley and all the way down to the (opened) well. I ended up doing the following:
1. Remove screws from pulley unit.
2. Remove pulley unit from window frame.
3. Tie some kind of small heavy doohickey to end of the new cord, something that will fit through the hole that the pulley unit came out of. I used a 2" length piece of 3/4" diameter pipe, feeding the cord through the pipe and knotting it at end loosely. I found this nubbin of pipe randomly in my basement; other ideas would be to tape on a heavy bolt, a crayon, or a thin small block of wood, anything that will give a little more weight to the rope as it comes down through the well and will fit through the pulley hole.
5. Feed end of cord through hole that pulley unit came out of until the end with the doohickey is visible through the well hole at bottom of frame
6. Remove doohickey, and tie end of cord onto weight. Hoist weight back into window well carefully.
7. Cut the length of cord desired up at the pulley end.
8. Feed the pulley unit back onto the rope, and snug it/screw it back into its hole at the top of the frame
9. Knot the pulley end immediately, loosely, so it does not slip back into well and you have to repeat above. You can un-knot it when you go to adjust the cord to fit the sash properly.
If you can get the rope over the pulley and into the well without the above, more power to you, but mine kept getting stuck on the other cords in the well, or even just bunching up and looping in the top of the well. Sometimes if you pull up on the other sash weights, the cord threads better, with or without a doohickey.