How to Prepare Your Home for New Window Installation

Thirty-six inches of open floor in front of each window is what an installer needs to set down a toolbag and lift out an old sash. The jobs logged by new windows san bernardino comedy club williamsburg show that most lost time on install day comes from prep, not from the glass. Every new window is built to the measurements taken at its opening, so the site measurement happens first and the install follows weeks later. Homes in San Bernardino, CA, from Muscoy to Loma Linda, run the same sequence.

Clear the floor at each opening

Move furniture back about three feet from every window being replaced. Nothing else needs to leave the room. A double hung sash has to tilt or lift out toward the inside, and the crew needs room to stand it up, carry it, and set the new unit on the sill. Beds, sofas and desks can stay if the path to the window is open. Take pictures and small items off nearby shelves.

Take down anything mounted to the frame

Blinds, shades, curtain rods and hardware screwed into the frame or trim come off before the crew arrives, because those surfaces get pried, cut or scraped. Alarm contacts need special attention. A contact stuck to an old frame has to be disconnected, then reinstalled or replaced on the new window. Tell the crew which windows are wired so none gets pulled loose by accident.

Dust, debris and old paint

Pulling out old windows shakes loose dust, glazing putty, paint chips and insulation. Cover furniture and flooring near each opening with sheeting, and tape down a runner for the carry path. Painted sashes and trim in older houses may carry lead paint. Ask how the crew seals off the area, controls dust while cutting, and cleans the floor and sill afterward before any work begins.

Outside, and the stucco question

Trim shrubs back from the wall and clear a path to each opening. Ladders and old sashes need somewhere to land. Stucco changes the work. Full frame removal means cutting the stucco around the opening and patching it later. A retrofit style leaves the existing frame in place and avoids most of that, which matters on stucco houses around Redlands and across San Bernardino County. A vinyl window or an aluminum window can be ordered in either form, so settle the method at measurement, not on install day.

Keep kids and pets away

For a short stretch each opening is simply a hole in the wall. Keep children and pets in a closed room away from the work, and shut gates or doors the crew will use. A single insulated glass unit in a large slider or casement can weigh well over a hundred pounds, and a double pane unit is no lighter than it looks. Crews carry those through hallways, so clear floors and a quiet house keep everybody safe.