French windows, WIP photos

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Chataigner

Established Member
Joined
27 Nov 2010
Messages
84
Reaction score
0
Location
Dordogne, France
Please note, french windows here refers to windows in france! :lol: :lol:

I need to replace several very old windows in my house (17th C, though I think the windows are a bit more recent!). They are in oak, and clearly hand made, so not soooo recent. I've never done this before, so the plan is to copy the old ones which have stood the test of time rather well, but make them deeper to allow for double glazed panels.

I expect most people know that windows in France normally open inwards so the weather proofing arrangements are more like a UK door. This has several advantages as far as I'm concerned, not least that you can repaint or whatever (and clean) first and second floor windows from inside. Other benefits include kids not hitting their heads on open ground-floor windows when running around the outside and finally, uncluttered window sills, so you can actually see out! External window boxes provide planting space for those who must have half the window blocked! :roll:

The windows are all hinged double casements. The first, which is also the smallest, has overall size of 1m30 high by 1m10 wide. My local saw mill provided some very nice 54mm thick oak around 60cm wide, just band sawn from the log, then air dried. I was able to select mainly ¼ sawn boards.

First job was to cut out some rough blanks, I did this using a BIG portable circular saw as my band saw is not really up to supporting 60kg+ boards, these were then left for a few days to allow for possible movement, then planed and thicknessed.

The profiles were cut on the table saw, and left me a bunch of nice little laths that will be turned into trellis panels for climbing plants in the summer! Bit of burning, must change the blade. :oops:

profiles.jpg


The lower horizontal member has a gutter leading to a central drain hole to the outside. This was cut using a half round router cutter and boards clamped to either side of the section to guide the router, but at a slope to give the fall on the groove.

gutter.jpg


Tenons are also cut on the table saw, using the parallel fence as a depth stop. I cut a gnat's c**k oversize and clean them up with a shoulder plane when fitting to the mortices.

tenons.jpg


The mortices were cut using a half inch hollow chisel moticer, good fun setting out with everything in metric except the cutter!

morts1.jpg


morts3.jpg


I have set up the chop/miter saw and the morticer side by side and level to share the same bed extension, so a simple stop block arrangement first ensures sides of the same length, then that the mortices are exactly the same distance apart on both sides.

stop.jpg


To be able to clamp up the frames, I had to buy some clamp heads and fit them to 120mm by 25mm beams to have something long enough. I made these nearly 2m long as the next window I have to tackle is over 1m60 wide.

The bench is not free, the floor is not adequately level, where to clamp up? SWMBO suggested the island unit in the kitchen, it's level and big enough, so here it is!

clamps.jpg


A spot of tuning with the shoulder plane, a squirt of polyurethane glue (for the waterproof properties) and tighten the clamps. Check for square – moment of truth! Well, I must have done something right, it's bang on. :D :D

While that lot was drying (today), I cut the tenons on the horizontal members of the casements. That's as far as I've gone, more in a day or two...

tenon2.jpg
 
How deep is the rebate? If your'e planning on double glazed panels I believe you need to account for at least 16mm to hide the edge-seals?

Russ
 
Others have said the same elsewhere, fortunately there is still time to recut the rebates on the glass side.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
Great work, and you put me to shame by making them yourself as I have just splashed out a small fortune on a tilt and turn window for the workshop.

I totally agree about the advantages listed for inward opening windows, especially cleaning and painting, but the fact that there is no provision for a stay to hold them open is a major drawback ( I have those things ziggedy things that hold them ajar but max opening is only about 4") and also they offer no protection what so ever in even the slightest rain when left ajar. We also have them in the kitchen one of them was so close to the tap you could not open the window more than 2", we have now moved the sink. So the jury is still out in this house.

Andy
 
dedee":xr9dmovo said:
Great work, and you put me to shame by making them yourself as I have just splashed out a small fortune on a tilt and turn window for the workshop.

I totally agree about the advantages listed for inward opening windows, especially cleaning and painting, but the fact that there is no provision for a stay to hold them open is a major drawback ( I have those things ziggedy things that hold them ajar but max opening is only about 4") and also they offer no protection what so ever in even the slightest rain when left ajar. We also have them in the kitchen one of them was so close to the tap you could not open the window more than 2", we have now moved the sink. So the jury is still out in this house.

Andy

On this house at least, the walls are nearly 1m thick, so even with the windows set well past the middle, they are still 20-30cm from the weather. For the same reason, there is no problem to have a stay, because almost all of the window is in the thickness of the wall even when fully open. I'll post some pics when they are finally installed.
 
I decided to compromise on the depth of the rebate, that is, on the horizontal members, I could increase it without upsetting the overall dimensions, so I increased those to 15mm. On the vertical, I've left it alone.

The casements are now assembled, very pleased with the squareness and straightness etc. these was no need to tweak anything at all. :D :D :D

win1.jpg


win2.jpg


It was about then while being pleased with myself for the accuracy bit, that I realised I'd painted myself into a corner by forgetting to cut the grooves for the weather strip before assembly. I've chosen a soft compression seal that needs to be on the inside face of the frame, or on the mating face of the casement rebate, so either way, the groove needs to be at the" bottom" of a 30mm rebate. Handling the big casements on the table saw is not an option for me, I've no bed extension or anything accurate to support the opposite edge. With 30mm deep rebates the router cant reach far enough. B****r! :oops:

Since this window is in a location where it will not be opened much, I guess I could put the seal on the inside face of the frame or the outside face of the casements just this once and learn for the future. Will work perfectly well as a draught seal there, but not be very pretty when the window is open.
 
The wood comes from a local saw mill, Entr. Merle et Fils in La Coquille, Dordogne. I buy a trunk at a time, band sawn, bark still on and either air or kiln dried depending on planned use. I'm paying around 900€/m3 for this oak. Thinner sawn obviously is more.

As for the saw, it's a Kity 26cm combination machine. A bit of a lightweight, but with a nice sliding table with smooth action, fine for the parts, but quite unsuitable for handling heavy work 1.2m wide.
 
Better solution found, it's too difficult to describe, but the diagram says it I think.

The seal should be compressed, it is not designed for a wiping action, so I assumed it had to be fitted as per the black image and that the groove had to be on the face of the light or the opposing face of the frame. Both quite impossible once everything was assembled.

window.gif


However..................

If you put the seal in same place, but facing the other way... see red version, then the result is essentially the same, but the groove can now be on the outside of the light and can be cut on the TS with the light vertical. That we can do!

Phew!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top