Frame-Out vs Frame-In Replacement The PHILOSOPHY "It won't work right if it's not installed right" is more than a phrase, it is the guiding philosophy of AWDI and its operations. This has always meant that in order for the window to perform at a high level as tested, it needed to be installed in the wall to as close as possble establish a weather barrier with the wall that properly manages water that comes to the wall or is in the wall. DIVERT-DRAIN-DRY Water in the form of liquid that falls on the installed window needs to be diverted from entering the home around the window. Water that makes its way into the wall from the installed window, or other places such as the roof joint with the wall, needs to be drained out of the wall, away from the interior of the house. Any water that remains in the wall must be allowed to dry to avoid formation of mold, mildew or rot. DIVERT-DRAIN-DRY. This is most easily accomplished with new constrcution application - a finned or flanged window properly installed to a flashed opening and finished with drip cap and drainage techniques. Replacement application is a different story. For whatever reason, the old window failed. The interface of that old window within the wall conceivably has also failed, compromising the water management system of the entire wall. Leaving the old frame in and mounting the new window (most likely a box-frame window) to the old frame can leave the entire window and frame vulnerable to leakage, moisture damage and underperformance of the new window because sealing to the old frame still leaves any weaknesses of the old window frame exposed to the weather. Prying out the old frame, often done when replacing aluminum windows, damages the underlying flashing and water management system around the opening - hidden behind the siding. Covering this "wound" with a boxed framed replacement window may aesthetically look complete, but this type of replacement covers the damage and invites failure of the opening and eventual water damage to the wall and home. Unless the existing frame can be proven with some assurance to be able to sufficiently manage the water, moisture, air and vapor management in the wall, no box framed replacement window should be used for frame-in replacement application if maximum effectiveness and performance of the job is to be expected. While AWDI has shown, and will continue to show instructions for this type of Frame-In, box frame window replacement application, we reccommend that in order to be perfectly sure that the water management system has been preserved or recreated, that the full frame of the old window be removed, the rough opening be properly flashed and a finned replacement window be installed so that the fin overlaps the cavity allowing flashing of the fin to create proper barrier and drainage functions — and have added new instructions, techniques and materials reccommendations to our manual and certification program. With a full-frame replacement, the opening can then be better finished with new molding, along with a drip cap, creating an entire finished installation that has been more properly re-sealed to the exterior siding and interior finish. The newest version of the AWDI manual, version 5.0, available January 1, 2008 will provide the details of the various new methods.

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