Drafts, Rot and Sticking Sashes: When Windows Are Done

By the time the lower sash will not budge in its track and the paint has cracked along the meeting rail, the decision has usually been made by the window itself. The checks described at austin replacement windows heather fortner come from replacement windows in Austin, TX, and they are shorter and blunter than the intervals a manufacturer lists for a repair.

Drafts on a still day

Hold a thin strip of paper or a lit incense stick against the edge of a closed sash on a calm day. If it moves, the weatherstripping is gone or the sash no longer meets the frame. On an aluminum window with a failed seal, a draft is often paired with a cold frame in winter and a hot frame in summer. Weatherstripping can be replaced once. Past that, the track or the frame is the problem.

Rot at the sill and soft jambs

Press an awl or a screwdriver into the sill and the lower jamb. If wood crumbles, rot has moved past paint. Houses near Lady Bird Lake and the humid creek bottoms by Bouldin Creek see more of this than hilltop homes. A wood window with local rot can be spliced, but rot in more than one place means the frame itself is done. Soft wood hides insect damage and mold as well.

Sticking sash and failed balances

A double hung that will not stay up, or that slams down, has a failed balance. Spiral balances and cords can be replaced, and the repair is cheap on a sound frame. If the frame is also racked, the sash binds even with new balances. A casement with a loose operator arm is similar. The hardware is repairable, but a casement whose frame has twisted will keep rubbing.

Fog, condensation and hot glass

Moisture between the panes of a double pane unit is seal failure, and no cleaning removes it. Condensation on the inside face in winter is a separate warning that the glass is cold and the u factor is poor. Glass that is hot to the touch by late afternoon, particularly in Tarrytown and other west-facing streets, has no meaningful low e coating or shgc control. Faded floors near a single pane window tell the same story, since heavy solar heat gain bleeds color from wood.

When repair is worth it

One failed balance, one cracked pane or one stuck sash on an otherwise sound wood window is worth repairing. A house where most windows show two or three of these signs together is ready for replacement as a set. Clad windows with fiberglass or aluminum outside last longest, and doing the whole house in one pass keeps the look consistent from the street on Clarksville blocks and elsewhere.