Pacoima Windows & Doors, Step by Step
Window and door work for older Pacoima houses in a set order: each opening probed and squared up first, then the order, removal, flashing and the patch.
On an older Pacoima house the order of work starts at the openings themselves: each sill and jamb is probed, and each frame is checked for square, before a single unit is ordered. New windows are built to size, so a rotten sill or a leaning frame has to be found while the order can still change. Nothing old comes out until the replacements have been delivered, and rooms are taken in turn, so only the room being worked on is disturbed.
Taking the old unit out
Once the new unit is on site, the old one comes out. A retrofit keeps the existing frame, so only the stops and sashes are removed, and the frame is scraped and primed where the new unit will cover it. A full-frame removal cuts the stucco or siding back in a neat band around the opening, and the old frame is pried free, in one piece where it allows. Any sill or jamb rot found during the probe is repaired now with new wood glued and fastened in, and the opening is shimmed back to plumb before flashing starts.
Flashing, then the finish
Flashing goes on from the bottom up, so every layer laps over the one beneath it. A sill pan with turned-up ends comes first, then the unit, set in a bead of sealant at the head and jambs and left unsealed across the sill so water can find its way out. Tape covers the jamb flanges, and the head piece goes last, tucked under the building paper above. Only then does the stucco patch go on, coat by coat, with paint at the very end. Inside, the original casing is nailed back on its old lines.
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A wood sash with tight joints in a frame that is still square can be repaired with fresh glazing putty, cord and weatherstrip. A steel frame with rust eating through it, an aluminum frame whose corners have corroded open, or a wood sill gone soft calls for a full-frame unit. A retrofit insert covers the cases in between, where the old frame is sound.
We measure an original that has stayed intact: the width of its frame, where its meeting rail falls and how its grille divides the glass. Those measurements set the order for every unit on that wall. Outside, where stucco was cut for a full-frame unit, the patch is floated to the texture beside it, so it disappears once painted.
The permit comes from LADBS, since Pacoima lies within Los Angeles city limits. Work that changes the size of an opening is inspected with the framing still exposed, and every job gets a final visit, where the inspector reads the energy labels and looks for safety glass near doors. The labels stay on the glass until that final is signed.
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