Fixing a broken window crank can be daunting, especially if you have no idea what you’re doing! This do it yourself guide will help you learn to fix a window crank, for beginners! My 5 year old helped me with this so I bet if he can do it, then so can you!
It’s spring time, the weather is finally warming up, the birds are chirping, or are they? I couldn’t tell since I couldn’t open the window to hear, or feel the warm breeze! Since we had just moved into this house at the very tail end of last year it was frustrating when I realized that one of the two windows in our master bedroom was non-operational.
Now let me tell you my background on fixing windows. None, zilch, nada! In all of my years of being a homeowner I had never had a window break, much less a window with a crank.
First things first. I knew that I needed to get into the crank mechanism so I could see if it needed to be replaced or what was going on with it. The problem that I had was that I couldn’t intuitively figure out how to get to the mechanism. This is where my trouble shooting began, and some mistakes were made but that’s why I’m here to help you so that you can learn from my mistakes!
See my youtube video below….
See how I dinged up my window frame? Well next time I should problem use a crow bar and a cushion. I have plans to paint these window frames so I’m not too concerned about my mistake.
Once I was able to get access to the crank mechanism I separated it from the window to allow better access to the window crank mechanics to see if I could spot a problem. To be perfectly honest I have no idea what was wrong in the first place, once I took it off I turned it a few times and lo and behold it started working!
If I were unable to get the window crank to start working I would have bough a replacement. Prior to knowing whether I would need a new crank or not I did some research and was all set to the buy the below crank.
The Prime-Line window crank has the best reviews on amazon and is exactly what I needed had mine not started working. If you need a new handle there are quite a few options. The main difference that you will find with window cranks and handles are that there are different lengths of arms and which direction the window opens. Make sure you measure and look at the orientation of your window before you press buy.
This project proved easier than I though it would be, but I have plenty more that I have planned that I am sure will make up for that!
Next up will be putting together a new play-set for my boys! I had ordered one to come with a assembly but they wanted to push assembly off by 2.5 months and I figured I could do it in that amount of time! I plan on incorporating my dad and husband but they don’t know it yet!
Let me know if you fixed your window crank and what roadblocks you found along the way. I am sure this won’t be the last one I fixed but at least I can learn from my mistakes and maybe I won’t procrastinate on the next one…well at least for not quite as long!
I love learning how to fix new things and do new things. With little experience it’s always a learning curve but it’s a fun one at that, and I don’t know about you but I get extreme satisfaction knowing that I did it myself!
Yes, even with Amazon’s quick shipping of these specific parts, it is so important to measure carefully first so that you can fix the crank the first time. That would be a dad mistake for sure. My wife just finished a bathroom repair project today with our six year old, so that is so great you were able to have your 5 year old help you with your window project.