Question: Hello Mr. Lamoureux, I saw you speak at the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center a couple of years ago. I was hoping I could get your insight into our situation. Our home was built in 1982. We were thinking of redoing our windows and have received the following quotes:
• Marvin fiberglass windows, $85,000.
• Simonton retrofit vinyl windows, $22,000.
• Pelle retrofit vinyl windows, $24,500.
The first price is not in our budget. We could manage the retrofit windows, but, I have not read good things about them and I am concerned. Some of our windows do leak. The salesman (for the third quote), felt their retrofit windows would solve our window issues, but there is no guarantee. My question is, are the retrofit windows a good option or what would you recommend?
— Wendy L.
Answer: Wendy, thank you for writing in. Your dilemma is affordability, if you can’t afford the nail-on windows (this means that you demo the surrounding area of the window, install the new nail-on windows and then waterproof around the area and restore the surrounding siding).
The issue with retrofit windows is that they need to be resealed every three years. This means that the trim needs to come off, scrape off the old sealant and then reseal and rehang the trim.
Has anyone done an isolation test to the windows (the interior wall needs to be opened for this test) and the surrounding area of the existing windows? What this means is that you mask off the window with plastic and stucco tape, and water test the surrounding material to be sure it’s not the window itself.
If the surrounding area does not leak, then remove the plastic and test the windows. If the surrounding area is also leaking, then the retro windows won’t fix the issue. I’d hate for you to spend money and discover that the surrounding areas are also leaking. I would start with water testing first and then make your decisions.
Best of luck. Feel free to reach out again.
Robert Lamoureux has more than 40 years of experience as a general contractor, with separate licenses in electrical and plumbing contracting. He owns IMS Construction Inc. in Valencia. His opinions are his own, not necessarily those of The Signal. Opinions expressed in this column are not meant to replace the recommendations of a qualified contractor after that contractor has made a thorough visual inspection. Email questions to Robert at [email protected].
