On some smaller double hung windowsI ran into some [U]old[/U] 3 piece storm windows. The screen & bottom glass slide up & down in their track. It just seems there’s no way to take them out from the inside. I looked & looked. Has anyone else had to deal with these? Is there a way to take out the glass pieces & screen so I can get at the house windows? I’s stumped. Many thanks for any ideas you could lend.
All the old 3 piece storms I have come across in my lifetime, all come out the same way.
At the bottom is a latch on each side of the glass and screen frames. If the window/screen is at the bottom, you release the latch and move it up a few inches, as you pull the bottom (where the latches are) in toward you. It can be slid down some as you are pulling it toward you. Then you tilt the screen/window at a 45 degree angle to remove it from the track. Be cautious on some frames as they have a plastic frame piece in the corner that gets brittle and breaks.
To take the top glass out, you unlatch it, slide it down towards the bottom, and do the same as you did for the other two frames.
These type are removed from INSIDE the home. You can’t get them out from outside.
P.S. Good luck cleaning the glass, IF it has been YEARS since thy have been cleaned. I generally turn down these types of jobs because they usually have oxidization from the aluminum frames on the glass. It’s a REAL PIA to clean.
The only times I have seen storm windows that can not be removed from the inside is when a customer has replaced the inside window and left the storm windows on. The replacement window is not as wide as the original window. You have to clean the storm windows in place by moving them up and down to access all surfaces.
Unfortunately, these are the type of windows in my apartment, so I just don’t clean them lol
The the OP:
Sometimes storms have a little peg on them that connects with a notch in the frame. Not very often, but they do exist. You just have to find the right spot to pull them out.
Sometimes, they just don’t come out at all. I’ve seen this maybe 3 times since I’ve been doing this, and I politely decline the job.
If theses are the windows I’m think they are here is the removal process. You take all 3 the 2 storms and screen and push them all in the up position. Now you should be able to remove the tracks on both left snd right sides then you bring all 3 pieces down and remove and clean.
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Pompano Services LLC
George Pompano
There’s several different ways to clean the triple tracks. You can remove both storms and the screen and clean them outside the tracks. You can just take 1 storm out and shuffle the one storm up and down. Or you can keep both storms in and shuffle them.
I, personally, like to take both storms and the screen out of the tracks to clean the window. (you can use the window sill itself as an easel to clean the storms) That way, I can also clean out the tracks. Chris Cartwright has a nifty trick with the zero degree squeegee and a pipe cleaner to get the nooks and crannies nice and clean.
I never have a problem mixing up the order that the storms go back in. The smaller of the two goes all the way back and up. The lager one goes in the middle track and then down. The screen goes in last in the closest track to the room.
When taking out storms, I always keep them in sets. Selecting the order by size means that if I mix up the order when i set them down, it doesn’t matter because I can look at the set and tell them apart in 2 seconds.
Sometimes the screen will not come out but it is still possible to get the storms out. Put all 3 up, take the bottom of the screen out of the track but don’t lower it. This can you enough room to get the storms out.
Also, I have seen about 20 types of triple tracs over the years and some are tough to figure out. Had some last week I’ve never seen before and hope never again.
Although they tend to be the newer style some storms need to be lifted all the way up and then you pull it forward to get over a lip on the track. Then you can pull it down and remove it
I’m assuming you aren’t just overlooking any sort of clips… right?
Meaning, you know enough, to know that MOST storms [B]have them[/B].
I have seen storms like this… they are almost held in place by ‘tension’
I’ll be better to explain when I’m sober, if you want to PM me in the morning, but…
Get the outter most storm out from the outside, it’s usually hanging there by tension (it’s on top.)
The two inside rest on top of each other, and you need to look at the tracks/grooves and figure out how to pop them.
(they move outward when removing)
The top inner storm will drop down [B]behind[/B] (which would be in front of, if you were looking in from outside)
the bottom storm towards the outside of the house.
TAKE CARE DURING THIS PART!
Take the innermost storm (it’s a bottom) and remove it by lifting it up, pushing it forward and finding its release point… typically about half way up.
Drop it down in front of the one you previously dropped (which was on top of this one)
The other one, the one that dropped behind it will need to be removed by sliding it to one side and pulling it from the other.
I REALLY hope this makes sense.
