Window Capping Question

For those self-installers
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petey9999
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:34 pm

Window Capping Question

#1 Post by petey9999 »

Hello all---I am replacing some windows with new vinyl ones and will be capping the wood trim with aluminum. A friend who was in the business about 10 years ago has offered to rent a brake and help me with it. My house is brick and he has suggested bending the capping at 45 degree angle against the brick to avoid seeing caulking between brickmould and brick. I have looked at several homes in my neighborhood that have had windows done and all of them have the aluminum cap caulked to the brick (in many cases it looks very poorly done!--guess its hard getting a good smooth bead against rough brick) My question--is his method ok to do or will it let in water etc?--thank you

Peter

jsmomo
Posts: 95
Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:55 pm
Location: Maryland , Washington dc , and Virginia

Re: Window Capping Question

#2 Post by jsmomo »

imo i would not put the extra bend against the brick and not caulk it. you should caulk all of your exposed edges run a bead of caulk from the capping to the brick.

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Delaware Mike
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Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:32 pm
Location: Delaware, New Jersey, Philadephia Area

Re: Window Capping Question

#3 Post by Delaware Mike »

If you are going to have the capping/wrapping flaired over the old caulking because of how hard it might be to remove or your guy just feels that the exposed caulking has an ugly appearance, I would make sure to be there and watch exactly how much and the method of back caulking. When done correctly it's no problem and does look very nice.

I've torn off way too many old aluminum window caps that have this method only to find that they had not been back caulked. Bugs love to get in behind the metal and make their homes, not to mention the potenial for water getting in there. A good back caulked job would have a lot of Novaflex or Quad against the edge of the brickmolding and would firmly contact the capping. Peeking into the mortar gaps you should see the back caulking.

When one runs a nice clean bead of Quad along the metal to the brick and mortar turns out just fine in the hands of skilled professional. I tend to like OSI Quad for this method as it doesn't turn black like silicone as fast or at all. When I back caulk and flair over, I make sure the homeowner understands why I'm doing this and at least sees one window being capping so they have confidence in what I'm doing and understand the reasoning.

If the old caulking is real bad and an installer is stark raving mad like myself, you can always spend $200 in Fein carbide attachments for the Multimaster and grid off 100% of the old white caulking and take 1/32" off of all the brick so you can start fresh with a clean brick reveal. Oh, and we cleaned the brick and mortar dust off with a shop vac so that no new caulking had red dust on it......

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