Determining Window Replacement Vs. Repair Needs, Part 1

At Peach Building Products, the quality of your windows, doors and other entryways and home hardware is our top priority. While we offer high-quality services in areas like window replacement when your windows have outworn their lifespan, we also recognize there are some situations where limited damage or other concerns don’t warrant a full-on replacement and might be easily handled with a repair.

One of the most common questions we get from our clients within this realm: How do I know whether a given issue or home need surrounding my windows dictates a window replacement or a repair? We’ll help answer this question for you in this two-part blog based on several issues you might be noticing with your windows – part one will dig into several areas of damage the windows may have undergone, while part two will look at some other upgrades or scenarios you might be faced with down similar lines.

Rotting Frame

For window frames made of real wood, years of inattention may lead to rotting risks over time. Paint may peel as a result, plus windows often begin to lose their alignment and fit loosely within their frames, which leads to air drafts that waste energy.

Whether to repair or replace here depends on the level of rot, but in many cases replacement is the most cost-effective option. Significant rot will involve removing the glass and rebuilding the frame, which often costs as much as or even more than simply installing new windows. Only if you catch the issue early can patching with epoxy be a reasonable solution, before the rot spreads.

Broken Seal

For double- or triple-pane windows, an airtight seal is present to insulate the glass and slow temperature transfer. If this seal breaks, condensation can get in and fog up the window.

These blown windows, as they’re called, are often tough to repair. De-fogging equipment shows mixed results here, and is a risk to purchase. We often recommend simple replacement here instead.

Broken Glass

Has your window’s glass itself been cracked or otherwise broken by any object or impact? If your frame is still in good condition, your best bet here is usually to replace the glass itself while keeping the frame. If the window frames are very old, however, you might consider a full-on replacement.

Difficulty Opening and Closing

Another common issue with older windows is a growing difficulty with their basic operation, whether due to dirt buildup over time, broken hardware or some other cause. The choice between repair and replacement here depends on the cause of the damage and how permanent it is – dirt buildups can be easily removed, for instance, but windows that are out of square or require unavailable replacement components might need to be replaced.

For more on choosing between repair and replacement for your windows, or to learn about any of our custom windows and related services, speak to the staff at Peach Building Products today.

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