I recently moved into a 3rd floor condo with aging aluminum windows that were leaking water and air. After some coaxing, my dad (the landlord) agreed to upgrade to new vinyl windows. We hired a handyman, but when I came home from work, I found the installation was a disaster. The old windows were shattered, the new ones weren't sealed, and huge gaps were left exposed. They even used construction adhesive, which made it impossible to level the windows and ruined the ability to install my cellular shades. My dad isn't willing to hire anyone else for repairs, and I'm unsure where to start fixing this mess myself. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
4 Answers
Given the construction adhesive situation, it’s tough, but I’d recommend using that foam first to seal up any gaps to prevent more damage. Also, your dad's idea of using vinyl strips is ridiculous; definitely don’t go for that! If you do have to DIY the drywall repair, watch some tutorials online. They can help a lot, trust me!
I get that feeling of panic! If you can, maybe start getting estimates from other repair people, even if your dad doesn't want to go that route. It might help convince him if you have some numbers at hand. Just be careful with how you approach it so it doesn't escalate things between you two.
Yikes, this is bad timing with monsoon season coming up! Since you don’t want to fork out cash for repairs on a place you don’t own, my suggestion would be to try DIY but only as a last resort. You could use the expanding foam to seal the gaps temporarily—it should help keep the water and bugs out. Just avoid calling those handymen back; I wouldn't trust them either!
It sounds like a nightmare! Honestly, I think your best bet is to keep bugging your dad to come fix this. I know it’s tricky, especially since it involves your housing situation, but he really needs to see how bad this is. Maybe present it as a safety issue with the bad sealing and potential water damage?
Totally get why you’d hesitate to involve the HOA, but you might need to consider everything at this point. If things go south with the repairs, they could help enforce something. Just make sure you weigh the risks with your dad!