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Basement Windows

3K views 27 replies 6 participants last post by  brockmiera 
#1 ·
I can see some light coming through around my basement windows. What should I use to seal them up? The previous owner thought a GALLON of caulk would do the trick but unfortunately it didn't. Foam? More Caulk?
 
#4 ·
A quick anecdotal story. I bought my house almost 2 years ago. It was about 10 years old at the time. My daughter was down in the basement watching TV and was complaining about all of the LARGE bugs like moths etc flying around the TV at night. Wondering where they were coming from, I looked but couldn't find any obvious entry.

I stumbled upon the issue a few days later. We were shopvac-ing the french drain of bugs/spiders as well as the ceiling joists in the basement. When I got to one of the windows, I saw one of those stink bugs crawling from the top of the one window. Turns out the builder left a 1 1/2" gap at the top of both windows! The siding actually came down far enough to where the issue was obfuscated. So for 10ish years, a nice large gap was above both windows. No wonder there were so many spiders and bugs in the house! How the previous owners didn't see that, I'll never guess.
Anyway, I fixed them with 10 bucks' worth of PT wood and caulk. I placed the PT on the outside, caulked, and done.

Why not add wood framing around the window. PT or otherwise to fill in the gaps either on the inside or out. Preferably keeping the elements from entering the house from the outside is preferable but it depends on the situation. A similar framing on the inside should be done as well to complete the seal and can help dress up the window to boot :)
 
#11 ·
I don't know how many windows like this you have, but it might be worth replacing them for $50/shot.

The window bucks are doing you any good. I would look to get a window which is 1/2" smaller than the opening. Then you fit the window in the opening on 1/4" spacers and put a screw or two in each side jamb. I've also done it without screws.

Then you loosely fill the perimeter with fiberglass and put the foam caulk backer rod on both the interior and exterior. You can caulk over this on the exterior and finish the interior to your taste.

If you don't want to replace the windows, take them out and build a window buck which will leave you with the 1/4" all around space.i
 
#28 ·
I'm not sure what a window buck is but if you look at that window frame it is all metal. There is the outer limits of where the frame meets the concrete wall and then there is a smaller opening in a metal sash. The windows that are in there fit pretty snug. No more than 1/4" gap in any direction. I think they are the right size but then again I'm not a window installer. Here is a little better picture of one of the windows.
 

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#18 ·
The answer to " . . . how they should have been installed and sealed" is that they should not have been installed at all. Those windows are too small for the opening. Read cleveman's earlier post about how it should be done.

"Nonconforming basement bedroom" sounds like a euphemism for "death trap." I can understand that an existing bedroom might be grandfathered, but to construct a new one that doesn't meet current code and have it be legal makes no sense to me at all.
 
#19 ·
The answer to " . . . how they should have been installed and sealed" is that they should not have been installed at all. Those windows are too small for the opening. Read cleveman's earlier post about how it should be done.

"Nonconforming basement bedroom" sounds like a euphemism for "death trap." I can understand that an existing bedroom might be grandfathered, but to construct a new one that doesn't meet current code and have it be legal makes no sense to me at all.
Ok so those windowa are too small. Good to know. Looks like Im going shopping for new ones.
 
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