I think you answered your own question.

So toddinmn, nail flanges started being used on windows in the late 80’s early 90’s ?

Not sure exactly when but I’d say you are on target. What is the real question or are just a curious mind?

Andersen started with nailing flanges when they foorst started with the Permashield which was in the 70's. Flanges definitely became more popoular as the market got more into aluminum and vinyl clad, which precitpitated less brickmould obviously.

Toddinmn, i guess when using brickmould as a flange in the 70’s and early 80’s, they didnt use flashing tape? I guess there was no where to use it if there was no flange?

I have not seen it used with brickmold, but it could be taped about 3/4 into the brick mold.

Flashing tape was well after the nailing fin. Kraft paper was one of the earliest. We used to include several rolls as a courtesy to every aluminum window order. It wasn't uncommon to go to a job site after and see that it wasn't even used. Time frame = late 70's.

In addition, I'd say that it's only been within the last 10 years or so that it's common place to get these things lapped and sealed properly. Most stuff in the 90's and early 2000's had the housewrap/wrb wrapped into the RO on all 4 sides and the nail fin sat on top. I still see some guys doing this unfortunately, but most seem to use best practices these days with the wrb lapped over the fin/flashing tape.

When a nail flange is used with a home with house wrap, the flange gets placed OVER the house wrap or is does the flange go directly over the plywood?

Depends on the side. The top goes under. Sides and bottom go over.... Are you planning to install windows, or just educating yourself to perform some quality control on your installers? ... If the former, I'd definitely spend some time familiarizing yourself with building practices and concepts. There are a lot of how-to videos etc out there. You may also want to consider hiring professionals if you don't have a baseline of knowledge and experience of building methods. It can be expensive, but paying someone to come back and fix mistakes is often much more $$$ in the end.

Thank you homesealed

i am hiring a pro but want knowledge.

the sides and bottom flanges go OVER the housewrap but the top flange goes directly onto plywood?

flashing tape goes directly over top, side, and bottom flange?

I like putting the sides under as well. I think the wrap inside the home is counter intuitive .

I don't have any issue going under on the sides as well, its the top that is truly crucial. Most pros these days subscribe to taping under the fin as opposed to over on the bottom to allow any moisture that could penetrate to be evacuated.

I prefer placing the flange directly on the sheathing and then flashing the flanges. The bottom is usually pan flashed.

It is "assumed" that a window will experience water intrusion at some time. Today's Best Practices are a sill pan . Flashing tape (or 4" flashing) overlapping the fin on three sides but leave the bottom open. You want to allow any water/moisture in the opening to drain to the wrapped/flashed area below the window.

You also want the sill tapered or tilted otherwise all that fancy flashing might just direct the water inward.

My contractor didn't pan the sill and taped over the bottom flange. I wish I would have known this prior as all of the windows were installed this way. It is staying that way as I figured removing the windows and correcting would probably cause more damage. It is good to know the preferred method and set that expectation prior to their install.

No offense, but who’s responsibility do you think it is to find that out? You are researching after instead of before?

I will say this, many contractors still use those procedures. It’s not uncommon to tape over the bottom as not doing so is more of a CYA measure should it ever leak. The sill pan, sloped or not is probably still less common than it is popular. Again, CYA. Best practices yes, but I’m not sure that we are in a place yet where that would be considered an industry standard. The head flashing on the other hand is a must to get that right. If it’s right, the bottom stuff becomes less important. I’m sure the “by the book” guys will jump all over me for saying these things, but it’s the real world truth. The other truth of course is that most consumers don’t want to pay the extra money for that sill pan. When they hear that it will add a day or two to the project and hundreds or thousands of doll hairs, they opt out

fridge2020, I am not sure if your question was intended for me. I expect my contractor to follow the specified installation instructions for Marvin windows which directly call out to doing a sill pan. My current house built 12 years ago from a high volume production builder has pans on all windows.

It does give me some comfort that you are saying many installations are done the way mine were. I just wished I would have asked the question. You can't ask the question about every single building technique when building a home and need to have some trust in the contractor you choose.

Yes , it would be the responsibility of the contractor to follow manufactures instructions at a minimum. Unfortunately the guys who are taping up the bottoms are not doing the heads correctly either. Using duponts flex tape can cut the time/cost of doing A sill pan. The sill detail is the last defense and is second in importance after the head detail. Modern techniques are much more important with new houses and water damage can do significant damage to modern building materials. On the other hand a lot of doors do not have nail fins and retrofits can not use these techniques. Marvin, Pella, Andersen all have YouTube videos as well as written instructions .

Right on queue Toddinmn. Ha. I’m just shooting straight my friend. If you want to scare people into thinking that a sill pan is a must be my guest. Sill pans are a total overcompensation for the terrible backwards installs done for so many years in my opinion, but you know what they say about opinions. I would disagree that all guys that use either proper head flashing or sill pans automatically do the other as well, but hey, maybe that’s your experience.

Filly, yes I was talking to you. If the head flashing was done properly you have very little to worry about. I wouldn’t tell someone not to do a sill pan if they want the best procedure, but it won’t be used if the other stuff is done right. It’s insurance

Like safety chains on a trailer, everything’s done right you don’t need them. Unfortunately there are many things that can wrong even outside of the exterior nstallers control and once you do need it s to late. Like chains on trailers, sill detail is cheap insurance.

Fridge2020

i agree with you. The head flashing is the most important step by far. The sill, not nearly as important.

Dary you should start a new thread to get good feedback on your problem. In it include more information about what is going on, and some more pictures

As long as the head flashing is done right , you should be good to go