My 6 month old house has double pane Vinyl Windows. All the windows were opening and closing fine. Today, the two on one side of the house are very difficult to get open and closed. Why?
I’ve had LOTS of problems with this new house, a Pulte home, very sloppy construction, so it would be no surprise that the windows were not leveled or installed properly.
anderson windows
Comments
There is a chance that when the window was installed..the frame and sash wasn’t completely level. The frame could have twisted a bit. Then when it the weather changes the window will expand and contract.
Vinyl Windows are cheap and easy to twist. I always,a;ways try to talk my customers out of vinyl windows just for that reason.
You will need to pop the side plastic covers off in the jamb and try to adjust the screws. You wont be able to move it much at all..maybe just enough. I really wouldn’t play with it however. I know it’s a bummer. Sorry Look into “Crest line” windows from Menard’s..They are just as good as Pella or Anderson and half the cost. Good Luck
house is probably settling and frames are getting a little out of square I’m sure it is a settling problem should be able to do a little adjusting to the window to try and square them up little with the opening .and could be the wood is swelling little from the humidity and dampness in the air
I have been selling and installing Vinyl Windows for years. Typically when a newly installed vinyl window is not opening/closely properly they were not installed properly.
It is easy on a construction/builder grade vinyl window to ‘torque’ the frame during the install process. Because this grade/quality of window has a very thin frame and is is to distort during install. All vinyl products expand and contract during tempurature changes There is an art to setting the screw so that it is not to tight or not too loose to allow for the vinyl to expand and contract without effecting the operation of the window. . If you are experiencing problems on a particular side of your house more than other sides, best guess the installer didn’t set screw at proper depth and ‘torque’. Also it VERY important that the window be levelved in all planes during the install most installers are in too big of a hurry to do this in all planes and maybe didn’t take time to level at all.
If the windows originally opened and closed just fine, it might just be an operator error. Don’t get offended, because it’s pretty common. On a lot of these cheaper windows if an even amount of pressure isn’t applied to both sides when you open it, it will bind in the track. Check the window with your torpedo level, and square. Make sure it wasn’t set trapezoidal. Even a small variance can make a lot of different in the function.