Retrofit insert or full frame removal for an older Riverside house

Nothing on the outside of an old frame tells a crew whether it can stay, and the reading of it (the notes at riverside window replacement in spiraling begin there) is done from the inside with a pry bar and a flashlight. A house in Riverside, CA built in the 1950s to 1970s usually has an aluminum window set in the stucco with a nailing fin, and the decision about the new window replacement follows from what that fin and the wall around it look like.

What a retrofit insert is

A retrofit insert is a new vinyl window or fiberglass window built without a fin. It slides into the existing frame, which stays in the wall and acts as the new rough opening. The stucco is never cut, the interior trim is left alone, and the job runs fast. The trade for that speed is glass area: the old frame stays, so the visible glass shrinks by the width of the old frame on every side.

When the old frame has to come out

Pull the frame when the sill is soft, when the aluminum has corroded at the corners, or when the opening has racked out of square by more than a quarter inch over the height. An insert cannot cure a bad opening. It only hides it. A wood window frame in a house near Fairmount Park that has been wet for twenty years will crumble under a screwdriver, and caulk will not make it a base for a new unit.

Frame material and the choice of unit

A double hung or single hung fits either method. A slider is the most common retrofit in older Riverside homes because the original openings were often wide and low. Insulated glass with a low e coating and argon fill is available in both, and a double pane unit with a warm edge spacer is the usual middle choice for this climate.

What the stucco says

Stucco from that era is often applied over paper and wire lath, and it cracks along the corners of every opening. A crew taps the stucco with a knuckle and a screwdriver handle to find where it has let go from the lath, because a hollow sound near the frame means the fin area will not hold a patch.

Sealing and flashing

Full frame removal allows a sill pan, flashing tape lapped shingle fashion over the fin, and fresh weatherstripping at the sash. An insert relies on the old frame being tight and on a continuous bead of sealant at the outside edge.

Choosing

If the frame is straight, dry and solid, the insert is a sound choice and keeps the wall intact. If any one of those three fails, the frame comes out and the opening is rebuilt. Riverside County weather is mild on the wall, but a single winter storm finds every unsealed gap.