EZ Windows
How To Measure Aluminium Windows Guide
Overview
Measuring windows accurately is very important because this will ultimately determine how well your windows fit in the opening. Getting the correct sizes will result in a much quicker and cleaner installation because less time and energy will be spent modifying an opening to accommodate a window to large to fit your opening or trimming large gaps between the window and the wall if a window is too small.
By following the instructions in this guide, you can eliminate many mistakes people make when measuring windows and get your sizes efficiently and accurately. Wrong sizes and miss calculations can be costly in time and resources, you’ll want to take all the necessary precautions to avoid them happening to you.
Tool requirements
- Tape measure
- Pen
- Paper
- Calculator (Optional depending on your IQ)
How to measure windows
To simplify things there are 3 sizes we need to consider when measuring windows. Wall Opening Sizes, Overall Finished Window Size & Aluminium Window Size.
- Wall Opening Sizes –is the tight or daylight measurement of the brick opening or stud opening (Stud to stud internally or brick to brick externally)
- Overall Finished Window Size – this is the finished overall window size you can confidently fit into your opening. (Normally 5mm smaller than wall opening sizes)
- Aluminium Window Size – this is the actual aluminium window size you enter into the EZ Windows Web Portal. (It’s the Finished aluminium size of the window)
So, you are ready and equipped with a pad a pen and a tape measure well you have all the necessary tools but how do you accurately measure your window openings?
Firstly, measure your opening in the wall to get your Wall Opening Sizes, then you can make your allowances (normally 5mm) for packing a squaring and subtract them from your wall Opening Sizes to get your Overall Finished Window Size.
What clearance to allow
Depending on how square your brick or stud opening is it is recommended to leave a clearance of 5mm to 10mm on the height and the width to ensure that the window or door will fit and that you have ample room for packing and squaring.
We will enter aluminium window sizes into the system… for more information regarding installation please see the EZ Windows Aluminium Window Installation Guide.
What is a Reveal
The timber reveal is the internal timber lining that surrounds the aluminium frame. You fix your windows to the stud through the reveal. Timber reveals come pre primed, are 20mm thick and come in various depths to accommodate all Constructions. 100mm (pine weatherboard) 110mm (Hardwood weatherboard) 135mm (Brick veneer) 160mm (Solid brick)
What is a Closer Trim
If you need an inline reveal setup then you can select a closer trim. This trim closes the external 20mm rebate around the outside of the aluminium frame making your whole window the same height and width overall outside aluminium as inside over the reveal. Commonly used in solid brick and brick veneer constructions, the closer trim makes it easy to install into brick constructions where the internal studwork and brickwork are basically the same size.
Types of constructions
Brick Construction
If you are in a brick veneer construction or a solid brick construction, you need to measure your brick opening, (that is brick to brick externally.)
If you are enlarging, redoing, or modifying the brick opening, your window opening sizes can be whatever size your new brick opening.
This will be the overall finished window size that you will require for the windows to fit in their opening. To avoid having large gaps between the windows and the walls to fill you will want to get the tightest possible with a small allowance for packing and squaring.
When you have measured your brick opening you can make your small allowance for your clearance to get the overall size of the window to fit your opening.
Weatherboard Construction
If you’re in a weatherboard construction, you need to measure your stud opening. (that is stud to stud internally.) Your studs are inside your wall and can easily be accessed by removing the internal architrave that surrounds your current windows.
When you have measured your stud opening you can make your small allowance for your clearance to get the overall size of the window to fit your opening.
Allow for clearance
Depending on how square your brick or stud opening is, it is recommended to leave a clearance of 5mm to 10mm on the height and the width to ensure that the window or door will fit so that you have ample room for packing and squaring.
For more information regarding measuring and installation please see the EZ Windows Aluminium Window Installation Guide.
You will need to enter aluminium window sizes into the EZ Windows web portal…
Tip
How to calculate aluminium window size
Now that you have the overall window size that you are confident fitting into your wall opening you can make the necessary deductions to calculate your Aluminium Window Size.
- If you don’t require a timber reveal, then your overall finished window size is your Aluminium Window Size (Note: the aluminium fin can be snapped off)
- If you only require timber reveals around your window you will need to subtract 40mm off the height and 40mm off the width of your overall finished window size to get your Aluminium Window Size.
- If you require timber reveals and closer trim around your window you will need to subtract 43mm off the height and 43mm off the width of your overall finished window size to get your Aluminium Window Size.
You will need to enter aluminium window sizes into the EZ Windows web portal…
So you are ready and equipped with a pad a pen and a tape measure well you have all the necessary tools but how do you accurately measure your window openings?
Brick Construction
If you are in a brick veneer construction or a solid brick construction, you need to measure your brick opening, (that is brick to brick externally.)
If you are enlarging, redoing, or modifying the brick opening, your window opening sizes can be whatever size your new brick opening.
This will be the overall finished window size that you will require for the windows to fit in their opening. To avoid having large gaps between the windows and the walls to fill you will want to get the tightest possible with a small allowance for packing and squaring.
Weatherboard Construction
If you’re in a weatherboard construction, you need to measure your stud opening. (that is stud to stud internally.) Your studs are inside your wall and can easily be accessed by removing the internal architrave that surrounds your current windows.
When you have measured your stud opening you can make your small allowance for your clearance to find the overall size of the window to fit your opening.
Allow for clearance
Depending on how square your brick or stud opening is it is recommended to leave a clearance of 5 to 10 mil on the height and the width to ensure that the window or door will fit and that you have ample room for packing and squaring.
We will enter aluminium window sizes into the system… for more information regarding measuring and installation please see the EZ Windows Aluminium Window Installation Guide.
The timber reveal is the internal timber lining that surrounds the aluminium frame. You fix your windows to the stud through the reveal. Timber reveals come pre primed, are 20mm thick and come in various depths to accommodate all Constructions. 100mm (pine weatherboard) 110mm (Hardwood weatherboard) 135mm (Brick veneer) 160mm (Solid brick)
Note: An aluminium windows overall size will increase by 20mm on every side a reveal is attached. This means a window will finish 40mm higher and 40mm wider overall reveal size
If you need an inline reveal setup then you can select a closer trim. This trim closes the external 20mm rebate around the outside of the aluminium frame making your whole window the same size outside aluminium as inside over the reveal.
Note: An aluminium windows overall size will increase by 21.5mm on every side a reveal and closer trim is attached. This means a window will finish 43mm higher and 43mm wider overall reveal & closer trim size.
Working example…
If you have measured your opening and you’re opening size is 2100 high x 1800 wide (opening size)
You decided that you need 5mm clearance for packing and squaring.
So the finished overall size that you want your window to finish to fit your opening will be…
2095 high x 1795 wide (overall size)
Now that we have our overall finished window size we can now make our deductions to calculate our aluminium window size.
If you only require reveals around your window…
We Subtract 40mm for reveals
2055 high x 1755 wide (aluminium size to enter into EZ Window portal)
If you require a reveal and a closer trim around your window…
We subtract 43mm for reveals and closer trim
To understand more about closer trim click here
2052 high x 1752 (aluminium size to enter into EZ Window portal)
Now you know how to capably measure a window where to measure and how to calculate your aluminium window sizes you can very quickly and easily order custom windows and doors online using the easy window web portal.
