DIY Window Installation - The Instructive Power of Youtube

Getting new windows was on the project list for 5 years. It probably should have been a much higher priority, but between budget (or the lack of available budget to be more precise) for such a large undertaking and the fact that the only times the windows really became a priority was January and February and that is not the best time to change windows in our cold snowy northern climate location, the project was kept on the back burner far too long
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While I am pleased to have it done now, it was not without considerable headache and frustration, particularly early in the process. I had always figured it would be on the higher end of the difficulty scale – and that is one of the reasons it was pushed off so long. That is, until I read some of the brochures and watched a few YouTube videos how to replace my windows myself. That made me overly confident and that was far worse it turns out than the anxiety I had originally felt.

When I decided it was time to do it, I did so with the same passion I apply to all big projects. Over Saturday morning breakfast I announced to my wife that since the local Home Depot was having a sale for Father’s Day on Windows it would be a good weekend so for Father’s Day I was going to put in new windows in the house.
My wife did her best to temper my enthusiasm mentioning things like ordering them and spending time to figure out which ones, but I had read several brochures and watched the videos and figured that since I was not an “expert” it would take more than 60-90 minutes per window so graciously allowed myself 2 hours per window. Getting the entire house done in a single weekend would not happen but the bedrooms certainly would and since they were of very typical and manageable size would be good practice before the larger and more obvious bay type windows in the dining room and the living room.

That first trip to look at the actual windows was an eye opening experience. I am fairly certain the sales person thought me deranged. But I did learn a lot. E glass has nothing to do with email, as an example. Apparently that was not a clever online marketing tagline of the online, custom order, windows outlet. The film they ask about on the windows also has nothing to do with the frequency that I wash the outside of my windows (though I did suspect that was just a guilty conscience on my part for neglecting that earlier in the spring as clearly the sales person had never seen how dirty the windows were on the back side of the house).

I did however learn a very important thing in that 2 hour trip- which was how to actually measure the windows properly to determine what to order. As I have an older home, it was very quickly deduced that custom ordered windows was the only way to go about replacing them. While this did completely ruin my plan of having half the windows done on the same weekend, it freed up time for a nice Father’s Day BBQ.

After several hours spent actually measuring all of the windows very carefully and precisely, and taking the time to read the details in the brochures and do some more realistic and practical time on google learning about windows, I was able to compare the many different places from which to order the windows using real numbers and an determine an actual cost.

Sadly, the local big box store did not get my business, which I felt some guilt about after having used a couple hours of their time to get educated on the things I really needed to know, but in my case it was just too far from the costs of another place and after researching them thoroughly on consumer reports I went with the better rating and lower cost of a different source. The difference in rating and costs from one place to another was astounding, and the best ratings did not come on the most expensive, in fact far from it so the time spent that weekend was worthwhile.

I did in fact install 2/3rds of the windows myself, and have all the large windows installed by the contractor. That was both to save costs and despite my jokes I am competent at most home projects and take a lot of pride and enjoyment in doing them myself. I would not say replacing windows is “easy” but with properly sized windows it can be done by any relatively competent DIY’er if you take your time. Observing the “professional” do a couple was also very helpful, and no kidding, the YouTube how-to videos are very good.