Install Heavy Sash With Spiral Balance

Question

Hi,

I am confused about a particular detail step that is crucial for my windows, which are very large and heavy. I want to install the top sash, which is about 60 pounds heavy and requires 2 people to work with.

With the pivot lock shoe in locked position, attached to the balance, a quarter of the way up the window jamb, one slightly higher than the other... How do you pop the window into the actual hole in the pivot lock shoe? Do I need to be precise about moving the window sash into hole on each side, or is there some kind of popping mechanism?

I see in the video at 1:39 mark, that the person puts the window sash pin above the pivot lock shoe, then pushes down somehow and it appears that the pin pops into the pivot lock shoe hole easily. How does that work? Is that accurate?

Tom · Accepted Answer

There's no real trick to it, I'm afraid. Like you saw in the video, my pal Mike just twists the sash out and then twists it back in. One pivot shoe has to be higher than the other so you can get the right angle, which requires you to kind of force the pivot shoes into this position. You can see in the video that Mike doesn't do anything special or precise for this, he just kind of plops it in.

Hopefully this helps. I'm sorry there isn't an easier answer. I wish it was simpler, but that's just how the window manufacturers designed these windows.