House Window Sizes - Made To Measure

For maximum insulation performance and benefits the replacement windows you have installed in your home will have to fit snugly. It's obvious that the house window sizes will have to be correctly measured.

Luckily for the homeowner, most window supplier companies will deal with handling this question of getting the proper measurement information as an essential part of the ordering and purchasing process.

However for those who have decided to install their new window types themselves once they have been purchased and shipped this may be a problem.

Of course, you could just get a contractor to come round and measure them up for you and then when hearing the estimate say: "No thanks, that costs too much I'm afraid. But would you please let me copy down those window measurements before you leave!"

This rather unfair way is one response to the problem of determining the right sizes and dimensions but another is to get out the tape measure and do it yourself.

Size Does Matter

The first point is to take all window size measurements from the inside of your home.

How wide a size your windows are can be determined by measuring from the inside of the window jamb (not the stops, the jamb) on one side to the inside of the window jamb on the other side. Measure this three times: across at the top, the middle and the bottom. And choose the narrowest measurement.

Now to decide the window's height: measure again three times right up from the window sill to the head jamb's bottom; once up on the right, then the center and the left. Again you will probably have three slightly differing measurements, and again choose the smallest; the shortest, in this case.

Hopefully the difference between these three sizes in each case will not be more than a single inch, or the rough opening will have to be altered to bring them closer.

The point of using the smallest dimensions is to ensure an easy (or easier anyways) installation. Now experts advise for you to order your window with its outer measurements a � inch shorter than the smallest height measurement and � inch narrower than the smallest width measurement to fit like a hand into a glove. Or else you will have to re-order that replacement window or reframe the opening.

Author Notes:

Anthony Lee contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.replacement-windows-n-shutters.com.  Find everything you need to know about replacement windows, shutters, tinting, basement, fiberglass windows and more.