Window Replacement

Windows before replacement

We recently had to deal with the windows and balcony doors being replaced in our apartment unit. There are some really nice improvements with windows and I am going to say that I do like these new windows as they keep a lot of the sounds from outside out. The windows that were in the unit were put in when the building was built and that was almost 50 years ago so there were not windows that would keep the cold out.

The window replacement was part of another renovation that has been going on at the same time and that is adding insulation on the outside of the entire building. As you can guess this isn’t a quick project when you think of every unit needing new windows and all the outside of the building needing bits of brick work and then the insulation being added. The windows were replaced in the building in stages and there were actually four stages and we were in the last stage. I can’t complain because this also gave us some time to do a lot of sorting out of stuff in our unit.

One of the biggest issues with replacing windows is you need to ensure that the weather is going to cooperate as well. Some people had their window replacement delayed because it was too cold out so that means a day or more of waiting for the windows. Other people were delayed because it was either too windy or it was raining out again delays. When it came to our area I was hoping that the weather was going to cooperate because it is a huge impact to have our home/office offline for a day.

Well the time came to actually replace the windows in our unit so here is a bit about that actual experience.

New windows

The work that is involved to prepare your apartment for getting the windows is a lot of work.  A lot of the instructions you get (4 days) before they replace your windows are common sense.  We have been working on getting ready for this window replacement for a while as the overall project has been going on in the entire building for over a year now.  So we finally heard that our windows were going to be replaced on a date (weather permitting).   Over the last couple of weeks we have moved a lot of the furniture around in the unit as we needed to ensure that everything was between 3 - 4 feet from all the windows and balcony doors.  The day before the window replacement involved putting drop sheets over everything to help prevent the dust from going everywhere.  Another reason for the drop sheets was to prevent things from blowing around as they take all the windows out at once and then put all the new windows in. 

We returned to the unit after being out for the entire day (you are not allowed to stay in the unit during the window replacement) and found that the people doing the work left the unit fairly clean. Sure there is dust that we are dealing with but the drop sheets really helped contain the dust. Also the people doing the work did an amazing job cleaning up after they were finished and we didn’t find too many pieces of glass or concrete so were happy.

After the windows were done the following work day you have the painter come in and do some of the touch up of the paint. That was something that wasn’t bad because he pained the ceiling and the window sill and the walls right beside the windows for about six inches. This was done and finally the work on getting the unit back to how you want it could start.

The end result is some really nice windows but of course now we need to put all the furniture back where it was.  We are going to be taking our time doing that because we are also going to continue to clean up and organize things. The actual returning of furniture is taking some time because we are also looking to see if the rooms can be better arranged now.