Your Home Improvements

Robert,

We need to replace our windows prior to this next season of rains; we are not going to get soaked through the old stuff again!

We are debating between the retrofit windows which are much less expensive to have installed, or the regular kind where they need to break out the stucco around each in order to install.

Can you elaborate on the two options, noting which you’d go with any why?

I’m tempted to do the retrofit, but if we need to go with the other, how do we know that our house won’t look like a patchwork quilt with stucco repairs? I fear this the most, putting all of that money into the quality windows and then having the house look like it was put back together like Humpty Dumpty.

Please share your expertise and we will go with your choice, both my wife and I value your opinion very much. Thank you for your help, ahead of time. -Johnathan P.

Johnathan,

I would definitely do the nail-on rather than the retrofit, if the funds permit.

The retrofit will always need maintenance over the years, as they are installed over the stucco and the seal is something to be continuously checked and maintained in order to prevent leaks.

When they install the retrofit it requires the frame around the window to be sealed so as not to allow water from entering around the framework.

Typically, depending on the amount of sun the window receives, the window will need to have the frame removed and that area be re-sealed every four to five years. If you don’t re seal it you will find water in the house.

With the nail-on, this is a permanent repair with no maintenance needed. It’s more costly on the front end, but over the years with maintenance costs considered over many years, more cost efficient.

Hi Robert,

My name is Alana B. and we are getting ready to seek out concrete contractors for the install of concrete on the side of our home.

We would like your expertise first, please, on the placement of the drains in this new area. I put a couple of pictures here for you to see, and hope that you can tell us what we should look for in the bids that we get, as far as the thickness that they’ll use and how many drains for this size area.

Anything else that you can think of while seeing this area, please let us know because we’d like to raise all applicable questions with the contractors, and see who will lead us in the right direction.

We wish you did residential work as we’d hire you for sure! We love your articles and depend heavily on your wisdom. You’ve covered many topics that have helped us.

Thank you, I look forward to your reply.

Alana,

This is the perfect time to address the issue at hand.

If the funds permit, this is what I would do; rather than setting standard area drains with the less expensive PVC drain pipe, I would use ABS pipe (plumbing pipe) and would add clean out fittings to allow snaking with a cable machine.

With the conventional PVC area drain pipe, the fittings are true 90 degree fittings and when there is an obstruction you can’t run a cable machine, making the problem a nightmare.

Also, the standard PVC isn’t as tough as the ABS either, so a cable machine or jetter is likely to damage any PVC.

Another option: if you have the capability of gravity feeding the rain water off your property, then I would elect doing that rather than running it through the piping.

Of course having the new concrete sloped away from the structure and out to the street is of utmost importance first and foremost, but, if additional drainage is necessary/desired, then I would definitely go with the ABS.