Window repair
Window Repair
Sash that will not stay up, windows painted shut, locks that no longer meet, and the draught that shows up every January. One part failed. The window did not.
At a glance
- Service
- Window repair — our main service
- Typical visit
- One to three hours
- Parts carried
- Balances, cords, operators, locks, seals
- Return visit
- Only if glass is involved
- Estimates
- Free, with a firm price first
First question
Is this urgent, or can it wait?
Not every window fault needs a technician this week. Here is how we triage the calls we get, so you can place yours before you spend anything.
Fix now
Security, safety or water
- A ground-floor window that will not lock
- A sash that falls when you let go of it
- Water getting in past the frame
- Broken glass, however small the piece
- A window that will not close at all
Fix soon
Costing you money or getting worse
- A draught you can feel from across the room
- A sash that needs both hands to lift
- Rattling in wind — the lock is not pulling tight
- A crank that is getting stiffer each month
- Rot or soft timber anywhere on the sill
Can wait
Annoying but stable
- A window painted shut in a room you rarely use
- Haze between the panes with no other symptom
- A stiff but working lock
- Cosmetic damage to the frame or trim
- A screen that needs rescreening before summer
Second question
What has actually gone wrong?
A window is not one object. It is six systems: a frame fixed into the wall, a sash carrying the glass, a glazing system holding that glass into the sash, a mechanism that makes the sash move and stay put, a lock, and a weatherseal that closes the gap when it is shut.
Any one of those can fail while the other five are perfectly sound — and almost always, exactly one has. A replacement window swaps all six to solve a fault in one of them, which is why the numbers are so far apart.
In Indiana the mechanism is usually what goes first. Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and the older river towns are full of American Foursquares and bungalows running wood double-hung sash on cords, weights and pulleys. The post-war and later housing across the state runs balances instead. Both are serviceable, replaceable parts, and both are routinely written off.
What the technician will call it
- Sash
- The moving part of the window that carries the glass. Upper sash and lower sash on a double-hung.
- Balance
- The spring mechanism in a modern window that counterweights the sash so it stays where you put it.
- Sash cord and weight
- The older version of the same idea: a rope over a pulley to an iron weight hidden in the frame.
- Operator
- The crank gearbox on a casement or awning window.
- Keeper
- The metal plate the lock closes against. When a window rattles, this is usually what has moved.
- Parting bead
- The thin strip separating upper and lower sash in a double-hung. It has to come out to service the sash.
Third question
Can it actually be repaired?
Five things Indiana homeowners tell us they were told by somebody else.
In practice
Three calls from last season
Composite examples drawn from the kind of work we do weekly, to show how the diagnosis usually runs.
Case 01
- The call
- “All our upstairs windows need replacing — none of them stay open.”
- What we found
- Four double-hung sash in a 1920s Foursquare, all with parted cords. The weights were still hanging in the frames, untouched.
- What it took
- Cords replaced, pulleys cleaned and freed, sash rebalanced and rehung. One visit, no new windows.
Case 02
- The call
- “The window rattles in the wind and the room is freezing.”
- What we found
- A cam lock closing without drawing the sashes together. The keeper had been shimmed outward at some point and never reset.
- What it took
- Keeper repositioned, weatherstrip renewed. Under an hour, and the rattle and the draught went together.
Case 03
- The call
- “The crank spins and nothing happens.”
- What we found
- A casement operator with stripped gears. The sash, the hinges and the glass were all sound.
- What it took
- Operator replaced as a unit, arm and shoe cleaned and lubricated. Same visit, one part.
Fourth question
Why does this keep happening in Indiana?
Indiana asks four quite different things of a window, and they do not all happen in the same season.
Humidity swells it shut
Indiana summers are genuinely humid, and wooden sash takes on moisture through them. Add decades of paint build-up in an older home and a window that worked in April simply will not move in August. It is the most common call we get in the first warm week of the year.
Clay soil moves the opening
Much of the state sits on clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry. Houses move with it season by season, and openings rack slightly out of square. A sash that fitted perfectly for years starts binding on one side, and the fix is adjustment rather than replacement.
Harvest dust gets into everything
Indiana is a serious agricultural state, and late summer through autumn puts a great deal of fine dust in the air. It settles into sash channels, balance tracks and weep holes, where it binds mechanisms and blocks drainage.
Freeze-thaw, repeatedly
Indiana winters cycle above and below freezing constantly rather than staying cold. Moisture in a channel freezes, expands and thaws again dozens of times a season, which is harder on hardware and seals than a steady deep freeze would be.
Fifth question
What is involved, and how long does it take?
No two windows are identical, but the work falls into a small number of shapes.
Doing several windows in one visit costs substantially less per window than doing them one at a time, because most of the cost is the visit rather than the part. If the same fault repeats around the house, say so when you call.
Coverage
Window repair across Indiana
A mobile service covering the whole state. Pick your town below, or call and we will come to you.
Window Repair Across Indiana
Anything else
What else should I know?
Do you sell replacement windows?
No, deliberately. It is the whole reason our recommendation about repairing yours carries any weight.
My windows are original to a 1920s house. Should I keep them?
In most cases, yes. Original sash in sound condition, repaired and weatherstripped, lasts longer than the replacement unit sold against it and fits an opening that a new unit has to be shimmed into.
Can painted-shut windows be freed without damage?
Nearly always. Scoring the paint line carefully releases the sash without damaging the glazing or the trim, and they usually work normally afterwards.
What if you open it up and find rot?
We tell you before we go any further, with a price for the additional work. We never carry on and present it afterwards.
Do you work on casements and awnings as well as double-hungs?
Yes, along with sliders, hoppers and most other residential types. Operators and hinge arms are stocked on the van.
How quickly can you come out?
It depends on where you are and how urgent it is. A window that will not lock gets prioritised over one that is painted shut.
Everything else we do
Other repairs we handle
Windows and doors are the whole business, so whatever has failed, it is on this list.
Tell us what the window is doing
Free estimates across Indiana, with a firm price before anything is touched.