Winnetka Windows & Doors, Probed Before Pricing
An awl and a moisture meter go into every sill and threshold of an older Winnetka house first, so rot is found and priced before new units are ordered.
An awl and a moisture meter come out before a tape measure at an older Winnetka house. We press the point into each exterior sill, the foot of every jamb and the wood under each door threshold, the spots where paint can hide soft fiber. A wet reading, or a point that sinks in, changes what that opening needs, so it is found before a price is written.
What the awl tells us
Firm wood that resists the point and reads dry can carry a restored sash or a retrofit unit set inside the old frame. A sill that is soft only near its surface can be cut back and filled with a wood epoxy, which keeps the original piece. When the point sinks through, the sill is replaced, and if decay has spread into the framing beneath, the opening is rebuilt from the studs out. Each of these is listed on its own line of the quote, so the price of a window stays separate from the price of repairing the wall around it.
Thresholds and the floor behind them
An exterior door can look sound while its threshold hides a soft subfloor. We check from inside too, pressing on the floor just past the door and looking for stains or cupped boards. If the floor gives, a section of subfloor, and sometimes the rim joist beneath it, is replaced before a new door goes in, with a sloped pan set under the threshold so the repair stays dry. An original oak or marble saddle is lifted with care and reset over the pan when it comes up whole.
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The probe settles most of it. Dry, firm wood in the sill and the lower sash rail means the window can be restored with new putty, paint and weatherstrip. Soft wood that runs deep, or a frame pulling apart at its corners, points to a replacement fitted into a rebuilt opening.
Plaster walls in an older house are often thicker than drywall, so the depth of each jamb is measured along with the glass size and bar layout. New units get jamb extensions where needed, which lets the original casing, stool and apron return to the same plane they sat in before.
A Winnetka permit is an LADBS permit, because the community is part of the City of Los Angeles. Each same-size replacement carries an energy label, and a bedroom window must still offer a way out in an emergency. Framing repairs that the probe turns up are added to the permit before work begins, so the inspector sees them.
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