Windows & Doors for Older Los Angeles Houses
Windows and doors for older Los Angeles houses, flashed so rain is turned back out of the wall, with the original casing and sills kept where the wood holds.
Rain that slips behind a window seldom shows up at the window itself. It travels down inside the wall, soaks the framing under the sill and surfaces as a stain or a soft patch of plaster somewhere lower. On an older Los Angeles house we set each new window and door so that water striking the opening meets layered flashing and is sent back out over the siding, and the original casing then goes back on top.
Layering the rough opening
With the old unit out, the framing at the bottom of the opening gets probed for rot, and any soft length is cut back and replaced with new lumber. A sloped sill pan goes down next. Self-adhered membrane laps up both jambs and across the head, each piece shingled over the one beneath it so gravity carries water outward. A drip cap over the head throws runoff clear of the trim. On a plastered wall, the building paper behind the stucco is tied into that membrane, the step a hurried retrofit tends to leave out.
Thresholds take the hardest hit
An entry door sits low, so it catches whatever drains off a step or a porch slab. We set a pan under the threshold, turn its ends up into the jamb flashing and check that the landing outside falls away from the house. Where an original wood door is staying, its bottom edge gets sealed and a new sweep is fitted so it closes snug against the sill. Gutters that empty right above a door head get a diverter or an extension, because the cleanest flashing still struggles under a steady pour.
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Press on the sill and the bottom rail. If both are firm, the sash can be reglazed, rehung on new cords and weatherstripped, and the old glass stays. If water has rotted the sill or the frame has racked out of square, a full-frame unit is the sounder repair. We make that call opening by opening.
We record the sash heights, where the meeting rail falls, the width of each frame and the spacing of the muntins. New units are ordered with simulated divided lites in a bar width close to the originals, and exterior casing that is still sound is reinstalled, so from the sidewalk the facade looks as it did before.
In the City of Los Angeles, permits come from LADBS. Replacing windows generally calls for one, and widening an opening or cutting in a patio door brings a review of the header above it. New glazing also has to meet the California energy code. We prepare the application and file it for you.
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