Retrofit insert or nailing fin window for a Riverside house

Three quarters of an inch is the usual loss of glass height when a retrofit insert goes into an old frame, and on a small bathroom slider that is noticeable. Work booked through window installation riverside donny most is measured that way, opening by opening, because the choice between an insert and a nailing fin window comes down to what the existing frame and the stucco around it are doing. Both methods are used on houses in Riverside, CA.

What a retrofit insert actually is

A retrofit insert is a vinyl window with a flat or no flange, sized to drop inside the old frame after the old sashes are removed. The old frame stays in the wall and becomes the new window's jamb liner. Nothing is cut out of the stucco, so there is no patch, no new color coat and no wait for plaster to cure. A good insert is squared, shimmed, screwed through the frame and sealed with a continuous bead of sealant.

What a nailing fin window needs

A new construction window carries a fin around the perimeter that nails to the sheathing. That fin is the water barrier, and it is flashed with tape in a set order, sill first, then jambs, then head. To get the fin against the sheathing, the stucco around the opening has to come off. That means a saw cut, a patch, and a matching texture that never quite disappears on a stucco wall that has weathered for decades.

When the old frame rules out an insert

If the old aluminum window frame has corroded, if the wood frame has rot, or if the opening is racked out of square, an insert has nothing sound to attach to. The same goes for a frame that has been painted shut in the stucco for years with loose, crumbling material around it. In those cases the fin window is the only honest answer, because covering a bad frame hides a leak instead of stopping it.

Glass size, light and operation

An insert gives up a little glass. On a large picture window that loss is hardly visible, but on a double hung or a casement it narrows the sash, and ventilation drops with it. A fin window is built to the full rough opening, so the glass area is larger and the frame can be a slimmer composite frame or fiberglass window profile.

Matching the method to the wall

Newer Riverside tract homes with stucco over foam trim often want the fin, because the trim detail around the window is part of the wall's drainage. Older block and plaster houses near the center of town often take an insert well, since the thick walls and deep reveals hide the frame depth.