Home Windows MA

  

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Living in the northeast in fall and winter means a lot of things: snow angels, leaf piles, you-pick apple orchards, and warm cups of cocoa by the fireplace. It also means lots and lots of home maintenance. One often neglected area of the average home: Windows. MA homeowners often forget that these integral, seemingly permanent parts of their homes do indeed need upkeep and occasional replacement. But, aside from incidents of obvious damage, how is a homeowner to know when to replace their home windows? MA residents are often so busy dealing with their homes’ more apparent upkeep requirements and winter prep tasks that they don’t think much about windows. Fortunately, there are a few simple things to remember and consider that will help New England residents determine whether their windows need service or replacement.

First, walk around your home. Windows, MA homeowners know all too well, are prime sources of chilly drafts as the temperatures drop. But drafts are not just an annoyance; they’re a significant challenge to your heating system. When drafts enter a home, they lower the temperature. This means your heating system has to work even harder to maintain a comfortable temperature in the house, and ultimately this increases your energy usage and costs. So it’s a good idea to walk around your home and check for drafts around your windows.

Fun Tip: Get a partner. Use a blow dryer on one side of a window and a candle or stick of incense on the other, and you’ll typically be able to tell if there’s a draft coming through the window frame, even if there’s no wind when you’re doing your testing.

By testing their home windows, MA homeowners can detect drafts and repair them with caulking and weather stripping. However, drafts aren’t the only challenge. Windows can also be warped and/or cracked at the frame, and this is much harder to fix. Wooden frames that have warped with time may also be hard to open, a major consideration due to the fire hazard a jammed windows poses. So, while inspecting your windows, take some time to open and close all of them and make sure they’re in working order.

Look at the condition of your window frames. Are they old? Wooden? Blistered, warped, or cracked? When frames are in poor condition, they allow for significant heat transfer, which also wastes energy just like drafts. In some instances, even without being able to actively detect cracks or drafts, your windows may simply be in need of replacement just because of their age. Modern framing and glass materials are so much more energy efficient than wood and dual-pane glass that the replacement costs can truly be offset by the energy savings over time.

For more information on maintaining, inspecting, and replacing your home windows, MA homeowners can contact us at 800-975-6666 or fill out the form on the right side of this page for a free in-home estimate.