Where to Look for Sash Lock Replacement

[On the Road]

I am renovating a house which has three metal replacement double-hung windows which are perfectly functional, but on which the handle has broken off the sash lock.

I bought replacements at Home Depot, but all the types were too wide front to back. In other words, the upper window pane is only recessed about half an inch, and anything thicker than that will not allow the window to open.

This is going to be a Section 8 rental, and I will probably be forced to get a functional lock. Just trying to find a way to avoid replacing the entire window.

Would appreciate any thoughts.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Look for a sash lock for an Anderson Window

They're skinny, like I think I understand you need. They're not cheap, however. Maybe twice the price of a generic sash lock.

The problem may be how they mount. The lock (as opposed to the keeper) section is set in a mortise in an Anderson. You may have to make a mortise.

or ........

Maybe you could use the keeper from the Anderson and a standard surface mount sash lock. But then you're stuck with buying two locks for the window.

Lastly, maybe try a specialty catalog or an online source ..... or even the replacement window manufacturer. We have a rental and it has replacement windows in which one of the mechanisms that keeps the window up when it is open is busted (the open window just won't stay open on its own). The manufacturer is a local company - sorta no-name and sells to remodelers for resale and installation. We got to the them through a remodeler. They have the part, but won't sell it to us directly. Fortunately, the remodeler will do it for us - order and sell to us at his cost.

[On the Road]

2. Thanks for the Info

I'm actually not even sure what the manufacturer is. There are a ton of providers, and the windows tend not to be marked.

One thing I've considered is substituting a different typre of lock. There are some which just mount on the top of the lower piece and fasten into the sides of the windows. Maybe that would work, and it would avoid the whole question of trying to get a narrow enough piece.

[Jersey Devil]

4. If the windows are double pained you can find the manufacturer

etched in the metal between the windows, usually in the bottom near the corner of the window. Then find them and get them from them.

[Digit]

3. If you have a salvage store in your city

They might have the part you need.

[Jersey Devil]

5. or any good mom & pop hardware store

Heck, the local hardware store around here has just about anything you can think of.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. "The Local Hardware Store"

Around here, all the big box guys have stores. But the local guy. who is the third generation to have the store, and is now an Ace Hardware franchise, always has exactly what we need if it is a repalcement for some odd or esoteric part for some part of the house. Our house was built in 1972, and he carries every faucet replacement stem for any faucet ever used in these places. There are way older neigborhoods nearby, too, and he carries the **really** hard to find stuff they need too.

He stays in business even in the face of the big box guys because he *serves* the neighborhood rather than just selling stuff to the neighborhood. He's also been a source of jobs for at least one of the high school kids of just about every family in town!

He's as important as the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker.

And the blacksmith.

Love your local hardware guy!

[Jersey Devil]

7. Yes, together with lots of helpful advice

I had an electrical problem last week when one of the outlets on a line would not work even after I replaced it. "Bill" at the hardware store, who by the way does not use a cash register or even an adding machine and adds everything up in pencil on the bag, rounding it down (of course) to the nearest 50 cents, suggested that I check to see if any outlets "upstream" on that line were "quickwired", using the wire stuck into the hole in the back rather than screwed onto the outlets.

Sure enough, that was the problem, causing an open neutral, since the neutral wire on one of the outlets was not making a good contact. I replaced all the outlets, wired them all with screws and voila, problem solved. Try getting advice like that at Home Depot.