How long a window installation takes from first cut to final trim

Ninety minutes a window for a retrofit insert and half a day for a full frame replacement is the span a crew budgets, and every teardown riverside window replacement in spiraling has logged shows the same thing: the time moves with the wall, not the window. A window install in Riverside, CA starts early in summer for the sake of the heat.

Protection and removal

The first thirty minutes are spent laying drop cloths, moving furniture back from the wall and taking off the interior trim. The old sash comes out, then the frame if it is leaving. An aluminum window comes out in pieces, since cutting it is quicker than prying it from the stucco. A wood window with old paint takes longer.

Opening prep

The opening is cleaned, measured and checked for square. Rot is cut out, the sill is leveled, and the sill pan is set. This is the stage that stretches the day: a clean opening takes twenty minutes, a damaged one can take two hours.

Setting and shimming

A vinyl window or fiberglass window is set into the opening, leveled with shims at the sill and checked with a four foot level. A double hung or single hung is run up and down to confirm it moves freely, and a casement or awning is opened and closed to test the latch. A slider is checked on its track. Only after all of that is the unit fastened.

Flashing and sealing

Tape goes on the sill, sides and head in that order. The outside gap is backed with foam rod and sealed. A bead of sealant that goes on too thick or too early is a common reason for a leak that shows up in the first winter storm.

Insulate and trim

Low expansion foam fills the gap inside, then the interior trim goes back and any drywall edge is patched. Insulated glass units with a low e coating are left with the protective labels on until the crew has finished, so that the coating is not scratched.

What changes the length

A stucco wall that needs cutting adds a half day for the return to be made and cured. A second story window adds ladder or scaffold time. Weather matters too: a house near Fairmount Park in a Santa Ana wind has its work held up for dust, and rain stops exterior sealing altogether.