Can anyone help me open this window?
I have a window that's troubling me:
You see, I'd like to get this window open so that I can put an air conditioner in it. There's a handy outlet very nearby, and it's right over the desk with my fire-breathing computer equipment, currently the most sweltering spot in the apartment. The trouble is that the window wants to stay where it is. I am 99% certain that this window once held an air conditioner belonging to previous tenants, individuals who I now aspire to emulate. Can anybody help? Read on for more details.
Inside the apartment the bottom of the window is about six feet off the floor. Outside the building the bottom of the window is maybe eight feet above a walkway so taking those outside pictures was interesting. From the outside there is no good way to grip the window. from the inside there are handy grips at the top and bottom. The window will happily slide up about half an inch (1cm) but that's it. I've tried prying it with long-handled screwdrivers to no avail. I thought perhaps the window would pivot outward from a well-hidden hinge but it doesn't seem to, and indeed a vinyl strip at the bottom out side impedes its progress.
On the inside of the window frame is a sticker (not shown above) bearing the company name "All Metal Industries". The only online reference I've found for this one is a fabrication company in Bangalore, which doesn't surprise me much.
The inner dimensions of the wooden part of the frame are roughly 17 inches (43cm) in height and 36 inches (91cm) in width. The window itself appears to be built of vinyl, although exterior parts are most definitely aluminum.
I've never seen another window quite like this, or at least I've never tried to open one. I'm at a loss. A hot, sweaty loss. Please help!
Comments
Any progress?
Posted by: language hat | June 15, 2005 08:08 AM
take the window apart, silly. W
Posted by: a | July 13, 2005 08:04 AM
well, windows have to go somewhere to open up. Many (maybe most) single windows like yours don't open at all, or if they do they only open partially and at an angle on a hinge. another popular style for windows similar to yours would be horizontal louvers of smaller individual glass sections which yours obviously isn't and which don't allow for AC's anyway, but at least you can wind the louvers open for a breeze.
Another way for yours to open would be to slide into the wall above or beside it, which would be odd. They builders would have had to frame this hidden window recess into the wall and if they were going to that trouble why wouldn't they have just installed a double window (ie one with either and upper or side by side twin) that would have given you more light and a place for your window to open (ie slid over its twin). Very curious that it moves half an inch. A truly stationary window won't move at all, it's one with the frame so yours has some sort of track that allows it to move within itself. maybe they just used a moveable window but framed it in, turning it into a stationary window.
So if the window opens at all I'm guessing it comes out in its entirety somehow like and old fashioned storm window. It may also be some previous window that filled the same space came out that way and now they have installed a permanent unmovable one. The caulk in the pictures looks pretty new so it's possible this is a recent installation. And it is a fairly new looking thermo-paned window as you can see clearly from the shots you took outside.
The interior cosmetic framing of the window is a little strange, don't know what all the woodwork above it and beside it are all about. Might be hiding some carpentry abortion.
Not sure how the commenter above expects you to take the window apart short of deconstructing the whole thing. a brick would serve the same purpose.
Posted by: tom b | July 16, 2005 02:59 AM