Broken cords and loose weights
Older wood sash windows hang on cords running over a pulley to hidden weights. A snapped cord drops the sash, and replacing it means opening parts of the frame.
Window Repair in Austin That Keeps the Frames Worth Keeping
Austin Quality Windows takes on window repair in Austin, TX as planned projects, and is Travis County's trusted specialist for houses with many openings to put right, specializing in insulated glass unit replacement, sash balance rebuilding and rotted sill repair. We offer whole-house hardware and weatherstripping packages and storm-damaged opening repair.
- Free in-home measure
- Elevations you approve
- Installed to manufacturer instructions
- One written price
About our window repair
Our team provides a written survey of every window in the house, delivering frames that open, lock and seal again for both residential and commercial projects. Our own crew measures each failed glass unit on site, records every sash and sill it opens up, and water-tests the repaired opening before the trim goes back on.
From a single fogged pane sitting in a sound frame to an entire elevation of sticking sashes, soft sills and tired seals, our team handles every detail. Serving Austin, Tarrytown, Rollingwood and Sunset Valley, we scope the repair as one job so the house is worked through once rather than one complaint at a time.
Why Austin Quality Windows
How We Work
No handoffs between a salesperson, a measurer and a subcontracted crew. The crew that measures your openings installs the windows.
Measured on siteEvery opening measured in the wall it sits in, by the crew that will install it
Elevations firstYou approve the drawings, sizes, glass and finish before anything is ordered
Flashed to specSill pans, flashing and sealant to the manufacturer's written instructions
Water testedOpenings checked for leaks before the interior trim goes back on
Repair or Replace: An Honest Call on Each Opening
Repair is the right answer for an Austin window when the frame is sound and only the glass, the balances, the hardware or the seals have failed. Replacement is the right answer when the frame itself has rotted through, warped out of square or no longer holds the glass safely. Most houses we survey have some of each, and the written survey says which is which, opening by opening.
We would rather tell you a frame is worth keeping than sell you a window you did not need. A well-built wood or metal frame with a failed glass unit is a repair. A sill that crumbles under a screwdriver, with rot running up into the jambs, is usually not.
On a City of Austin historic property the decision carries extra weight. The Historic Design Standards ask for repair before replacement and a match to the existing profile and finish, so a repair-first scope is often the one a reviewer expects to see. We write the survey so it can go to that review if your house needs it.
Fogged Glass: New Insulated Units in the Existing Frames
Fog or mineral haze between the two panes of an insulated window means the perimeter seal has failed and the desiccant inside the spacer is saturated. Once that happens, the condensation can generally only be cleared by replacing the insulated glass unit, which is the sealed sandwich of glass, spacer and seal, not the whole window.
Some services drill vents into a fogged unit to dry it out. That can hide the visible moisture for a while, but it cannot remove the staining on the inner faces, and the gas fill escapes, so the unit insulates worse than it did. We do not offer it.
The repair we do is a new unit, built to the measured size of each opening. Our crew removes the glazing stops, lifts out the failed unit, sets the new one on its setting blocks and reseals it. Because the unit is new, you choose its glass again: a low-E coating for the west wall, argon fill, or laminated glass where street noise is the complaint. When a house has a dozen or more fogged units, they are measured and ordered together so the glass matches from room to room.
Sashes That Stick, Drop or Rattle
A sash that will not stay where you put it, or will not move at all, is usually a balance, cord or paint problem rather than a failed window. These are the repairs we see most in a whole-house survey.
Worn spring balances
Newer single-hung and double-hung units use spring balances in the jambs instead of weights. A tired balance lets the sash creep down; new balances are matched to the sash weight.
Sashes painted shut
Repeated repainting glues a sash to its stops. We cut the paint line, free the sash, clean the channels and refit it so it slides and locks again.
Rattling in the wind
Wood shrinks, and a loose sash rattles in a gust. Adjusted stops and new draught strip tighten it without trapping the sash.
Rotted Sills, Frames and the Water Behind Them
Wood rot in a window sill means water has been getting in and staying. Wood-decay fungi need moisture above the fibre saturation point to take hold, so a rotted sill is a symptom, and repairing the wood without stopping the water only buys time.
Brown rot is the kind most often found in sills and the bottom rails of sashes. The wood darkens, shrinks and splits into rough cubes, and it can look solid on the surface while the inside has gone soft. We probe every sill and the lower jamb on both sides during the survey and mark how far the damage reaches.
The repair cuts the decay back to sound wood and replaces it with new material shaped to the original profile, primed and sealed. Then we deal with the cause: failed caulk at the head, missing or torn flashing above the opening, a sill with no slope to shed water, or sprinklers aimed at the wall. Flashing is the thin impervious material that turns water away from a joint, and where it is missing a new sill will rot the same way the old one did. Where rot has spread into the framing around the window, we tell you plainly that the opening needs a replacement unit rather than another patch.
Hardware and Weatherstrip Packages for the Whole House
Worn locks, stripped operators and flattened weatherstripping are rarely one window's problem. They wear out together, so we replace them together, which keeps every opening in the house closing and locking the same way.
Weatherstripping seals the gap between sash and frame against rain and drafts and helps keep cooled air inside through an Austin summer, when highs reach 90 degrees on about 123 days a year. Felt, vinyl, foam, EPDM rubber and metal strips each have their place, and the right one depends on how the sash moves and what it seals against. A double-hung sash, a crank-out casement and a horizontal slider each take a different profile.
A hardware package covers sash locks, lift handles, casement operators, hinges, slider rollers and keepers. We record the make-up of each opening during the survey so replacement parts fit the sash they go on, and where a part is no longer made we tell you before the work is priced.
Storm-Damaged Openings After a Central Texas Storm
Austin gets severe thunderstorms several times a year, with damaging winds and heavy rain, and a storm can crack glass, bend a frame or drive water past a seal. Storm damage is planned repair work for us, not a dispatch: once the opening is safe, we survey the damage, measure the glass and write up a scope.
A storm-damaged opening is checked for more than broken glass. We look at whether the frame is still square, whether the sill pan and flashing were breached, and whether water reached the wall cavity or the floor below. Glass in a door or a large low pane is replaced with tempered glass where the code requires safety glazing. If a frame has been pushed out of square, we say whether it can be reset or needs a new unit, and our written survey can go to your insurer with the photographs we take.
What Drives the Cost of Window Repair
We publish no repair price, because a repair is priced from what the survey finds in each opening. These are the things that move it.
- The glass units. The number of failed units and their sizes, whether each new unit is built with two panes or three, its low-E coating and gas fill, laminated glass for a noisy room, and tempered glass wherever a repaired opening sits in a safety glazing location.
- The frame material. Wood, vinyl, aluminum, fiberglass or steel frames each come apart and go back together differently.
- Sash and balance work. Cord and weight systems that open the frame cost more to rebuild than spring balances that clip in.
- Rot repair. How far the decay runs into the sill, jambs and framing, and whether flashing or a sill pan must be replaced to stop the water.
- Count and access. How many openings are in the scope, upper-storey windows that need a lift, and a hillside lot or tight side yard.
- Historic and HOA review. A City of Austin landmark or historic district house, or a neighborhood committee that reviews exterior changes.
- Trim and finish. Removing and resetting interior casing and exterior trim, and paint, stucco or siding touch-up around the opening.
Every one of those is settled at the free in-home measure, where we survey each window and hand you a written scope and price.
The process
From First Measure to Finished Openings
Four steps, and nothing is ordered until you have signed off on the drawings and the price.
Free in-home measure
We measure every opening, check the framing and the header, and talk through glass, frame material and how each window should operate.
Elevations and a written price
You get drawings of every unit for your approval and for any HOA or historic review, with one written price.
Ordered to your sizes
Units are ordered to the approved sizes and glass package, and checked against the drawings when they arrive.
Installed and water tested
Old units out, openings flashed, new units set, sealed and water tested, then trim and cleanup.
More of What We Install
Service area
Where We Install
Questions
Window Repair: Common Questions
Can you replace just the fogged glass and keep my window frames?
Yes, when the frame is sound. We remove the failed insulated glass unit and set a new one built to the measured size, which keeps the sash, the frame and the trim in place.
Is it worth repairing windows instead of replacing them?
It is when the frames are solid and the failures are in the glass units, balances, hardware or seals. If rot has reached the jambs and framing, or the frame is out of square, replacement is usually the better spend, and the survey says which applies to each opening.
Do you take small single-window repairs?
We plan repair as a project across the house, such as several failed glass units, a full set of balances or a weatherstrip and hardware package. A survey of the whole house is how we start.
How long does window repair take once it is ordered?
It depends on how many glass units are being built and on the hardware involved. We give you the schedule in writing with the quote, and each opening is closed up the same day it is worked on.
Will a repair on my historic house need City approval?
Repair work that matches the existing profile and finish is what the City of Austin Historic Design Standards ask for first. We check the current rule for your address at quote time and prepare the description a reviewer asks for.
What causes the rot in my window sills?
Water that gets in and does not dry out, usually through failed caulk, missing flashing above the window, a flat sill or irrigation hitting the wall. We repair the wood and fix the water path in the same job.
Can you repair windows after hail or wind damage?
Yes. We survey the damaged openings, measure the glass, check the frames and flashing, and write a scope you can share with your insurer.
Do repairs come with a warranty?
Yes, the repair work carries a written warranty, which we go through with you along with the quote.
Free in-home measure
Talk to us about window repair
Free in-home measure across Austin and the west side. We call you back to set a time.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.