Replacing & Installing Double-Pane Windows In Sacramento
Last week, we talked about how to decide if you need to replace the windows in your house and how many you should replace at once. Today, we’re moving onto the next step in the window replacement process: installation. Once you’re familiar with the benefits of replacing your windows and are ready to make the switch to energy efficiency and savings, you’ll want to call a qualified contractor. They’ll come to your house and take a look, then work with you to come up with a plan to tackle the job. They’ll ask you questions about your energy use and utility bill and generally see what you would like out of a window replacement job.
The Initial Meeting
If you work with Bell Brothers, this assessment will take place at the initial meeting (or meetings, depending on time and the scope of the project). We’ll work with you to come up with a plan that fits your needs and budget. That could mean every window in the house, the windows in just one room, or something in between. We may decide to tackle the project one stage (or room) at a time if that works better for your schedule and budget. We may talk financing or discuss any concerns you have with living in your home while work goes on.
Once we’ve signed the paperwork and are getting ready to start the project, we’ll purchase windows on your behalf. We’re proud to have a partnership with Amerimax Windows that provides our clients a great deal — fantastic double-pane quality at an unbelievable price. We stand by the quality of Amerimax, but we also accommodate special requests if you want another kind of window in your home. Once your windows arrive, your job will be scheduled so work can begin.
Working in Your Home
We know that many people find the prospect of hosting workmen in their house for more than a few days daunting. It’s hard to get peace and quiet when there’s a lot of work going on (even when the workers are as nice as ours). Unfortunately, we can’t tell you here how long we’ll be in your home. Each project is different, and time varies greatly from project to project. But while we can’t guess here as to a timeline for your individual home, you will have a clear idea before work starts. We work fast and efficiently, but ultimately, the quality of the work is the most important thing to us.
There are four basic phases to any window replacement project we undertake:
Preparation. The first step in any project is to protect your home from the construction process. We try to disturb as little as possible, but we also know this can be a messy project. Expect us to move stuff around, use painter’s plastic and tape for additional protection, and do whatever else makes sense to keep your home and possessions out of harm’s way.
Demolition. Demolition is the next phase. This means removing your old windows and prepping the space for the installation of your new ones. We’ll dispose of your old windows for you. This is a tricky step—it takes skilled workers to remove old windows without damaging the house or making a huge mess. We often tell folks that windows are not designed to come back out again, so this can be a really tricky phase of the job.
Installation. As soon as we’re done removing and prepping, we install your new double-pane windows. We install and seal the window, touch up the areas we need to, and move on to the next window. This process always seems to go fastest to us, probably because of the positive progress we can see as we work.
Cleanup. Once the project is complete, we start cleanup. Cleanup is the last step, but this step is just as important as all the others. It’s a golden rule of contracting: never leave a mess in the client’s home. We’ll do our best on a day-to-day basis to ensure your home is reasonably tidy (for a job site), but we’ll never leave you with a mess on your hands after the job is done.
At any point in the process, we want you to feel comfortable asking any questions you might have. Keeping clients in the dark is not how we do business and we want you informed and up-to-speed on what’s going on at all times.
Follow-Up
Whether we’re doing HVAC work or a window replacement, we like to keep in touch with our clients after the job is done. We keep the line of communication open during the project, but it’s also not unusual to have a meeting after the work is done to get feedback, address any concerns, and just see how the overall process was for the client. Often we’ll schedule this meeting a few weeks after the job has been completed; it gives you a chance to live with your new windows and see if there are any small issues you’d like to see addressed.
If you have questions or concerns or think window replacement might be right in your home, get in touch with our of certified technicians. And don’t forget to read next week, when we’ll discuss how energy-efficient windows work together with the HVAC system in your home.
This is the second of a three-part series on window replacement. In the first part, we talked about determining if you need to replace the windows in your home, and in the third, we discuss ways window replacement can increase energy efficiency in your home.