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Preparing the Exterior Wall and Installing Energy Efficient Windows

Homeowner and contractor Nick Beasley walks Bob through the progress to date in the master and kids bath, including leveling the floors, building partition walls, and installing cementitious board for the wall and floor tiles. Beasley explains how they discovered inadequate framing for the windows when they removed the wallboard on the exterior wall. They reframed the wall with a header, making it structurally sound, and prepared to install matching windows. Beasley shows how to open up the building wrap and prepare a watertight window installation. He begins by cutting the building wrap down the middle, to the two bottom corners, then across the top. He staples the paper back and trims the excess away. He then uses Pella's waterproof self-adhesive tape along the bottom sill and up six inches on each side. He doubles up the bottom pieces and lets the exterior section extend 1/2 inch so that water will flow to the exterior and away from the house. He explains that it's important to work from the bottom up when waterproofing a window so that any water that gets in will run down and away, not getting caught behind any flap as it runs. Beasley opens up the nailing flange and roughs in the window before checking it for level and plumb. They shim the window at the bottom, middle, and top before checking again for level and plumb, and nailing it into place. They finish the installation with low-expansion insulation foam to fill the voids around the window. Beasley stresses that it's important to use low-expansion foam so that it won't expand too much and push te window out of plumb or cause difficulty for window operation. Cordell Burton is then back with Bob to review the Pella Architect Series windows the Beasleys selected for their 1895 home. These two-over-one wood interior and aluminum-clad exterior windows are Energy Star rated for high efficiency and feature replica-style hardware. They are constructed of double-pane low-e glass and are argon-filled for maximum energy efficiency. More information