What a good window installation looks like when it is done

Contemporary A-frame house with large glass windows on a sunny day, surrounded by greenery.

Eighteen inches is the length of a level that tells most of the truth about a finished window, and a strip of paper tells the rest. Every finished job logged at window installation riverside donny most was judged the same way: plumb, level, square, tight and dry. A new window in a Riverside, CA house should pass each of those checks on the day it is handed over.

Plumb, level and square

Bright apartment room with a white window and windowsill

Set a level on the sill and then on each jamb. The bubble should sit between the lines. Measure the gap between the frame and the sash at the top and bottom of a double hung, and the two numbers should match. An uneven reveal means the frame was set out of square, and that gets worse every time the vinyl window warms and cools.

Operation of the sashes

Unrecognizable professional male worker assembling white window with cordless screwdriver with drill near windowsill with reflection on glass during repair works in apartment

A single hung should lift with one hand and stay where it is put. A casement should crank without grinding and pull tight to the frame when the handle closes. A slider should roll the full width with no rubbing on the track. Any binding on the first day will be worse by the second summer, because heat swells the frame.

Weatherstripping and the lock

Close the sash on a strip of paper. If the paper pulls out freely at any point along the frame, the weatherstripping is not compressing there. Lock the sash and look for light at the meeting rail. The locks should pull the sash against the seal, not just hold it shut. A faint whistle on a windy evening usually comes from an uneven seal.

The interior and the stucco return

Inside, the gap between frame and drywall should be filled with low expansion foam or insulation and covered with trim, with sealant at the joint rather than foam showing. Outside, the stucco return around a fin window should sit flush with the surrounding wall, in the same texture, and not crack at the corners within the first season. A sealant bead around an insert should be smooth and unbroken.

The glass and the labels

Stickers on the glass come off with a razor blade and show the rated numbers, such as u factor and shgc. Check the glass for scratches by looking across it in raking light. A window that passes every one of these checks should stay quiet and dry for decades.