Eagle · Garfield · Pitkin · Summit County, Colorado
Window Replacement & Installation
Leaking sills. Drafts you can feel from across the room. A frame that’s gone soft at the bottom.
You buy the window. I put it in right. I take the old unit out, set the new one square and sealed, and fix whatever the water already got to — the frame, the sill, the trim inside and out. I’m a carpenter, not a window dealer: I don’t sell the unit, so I’ve got no reason to push you toward a brand.
- 11 years in these mountains
- $0 for the estimate
- 1 carpenter — the one who shows up
Why windows fail up here
A window is a hole you cut on purpose
Everything depends on how well that hole was sealed and flashed when the window went in — and up here that joint gets tested harder than almost anywhere. Snow banks up against the sill and sits. It melts during the day, runs down into the gap between the frame and the wall, and freezes again overnight. Ice expands. The joint opens a little. The next day it takes on a little more.
Average last spring freeze
The freezing doesn’t stop in March. Source: National Weather Service, Grand Junction.
That’s the part people don’t expect: the freezing doesn’t stop in March. The National Weather Service puts the average last spring freeze at May 18 in Glenwood Springs, June 16 in Aspen and July 5 in Steamboat Springs — and in the high valleys the first fall freeze can come back by the first week of September. For most of the year, that joint is freezing and thawing.
You notice it in this order
First you feel it. A draft near the window on a windy day. A room that never quite warms up, no matter what the thermostat says.
Then you see the water. Condensation that doesn’t dry. A stain on the sill. Paint lifting at the bottom corner of the frame.
Then the wood gives. Press your thumb into the bottom of the frame or the outside trim. If it’s soft, if it’s dark, if the paint dents in — the rot is already inside the wood, and it’s gone further than what shows. Wood rots from the wet side first, and the wet side is the one you can’t see.
The bottom of the window is where it starts, almost every time. Water runs down and sits at the sill, so that’s the first wood to go — and it’s also the wood holding everything above it.
What I do
The window, and everything around it
Window installation, window repair, and the carpentry around the opening that most window companies leave for someone else.
- Window installationOld unit out, new one in — square, level, insulated and sealed. You pick and buy the window; I handle the window installation.
- Rotted window frame repairCut out what’s gone and replace it with new material. If the rot reached the framing behind the window, that gets dealt with before anything new goes in.
- Window sill replacementInside and out. The sill is where most of this starts.
- Exterior window trim & casingThe trim is what keeps water out of the joint. When it fails, the window is next.
- Interior trim & casingThe finish side — casing, stool, apron, and the baseboard where it meets.
- Siding repair around the windowWater that got past the window usually got into the siding too. I do that work as well, so it isn’t two contractors and two trips.
What I don’t do is cabinets and doors, and I’ll tell you that up front rather than take the job and figure it out later. Window and door trim, yes — hanging the door itself, no.
How it works
Four steps, no surprises
On site, in person, no charge. I check the sill and the bottom of the frame first, because that’s where the answer usually is.
Trim, sill, frame or the whole unit — I’ll tell you which. I’ve talked people out of jobs I could have taken.
Built from how many days the job takes and how many hands it needs. Not a number pulled out of the air.
I’m not a sales office that subcontracts your job down a chain. When you hire me, I’m the one at your window.
Who you’re calling
Esaú Bejarano Williams
Twins Wood Works is a family business. Eleven years of carpentry in these mountains — windows, interior and exterior trim, siding, decks and fences — most of it in Eagle and Garfield County. I don’t install cabinets or doors, and I’ll tell you that up front rather than take the job and figure it out later.
“I tell people what works for them and what doesn’t, and nothing else. If I can’t do the job right, I’ll say so and tell you to find someone who can.”
When you call this number you get Esaú — not a call center, not a dispatcher, and not a company that sends the job down a chain of subcontractors until whoever shows up is three people removed from the price you agreed to.
Request your free estimateWhat window replacement costs
The price isn’t really about the window
You buy the unit, so you already know what that part costs. What I quote is the labor — and that depends on what’s behind the window, which nobody can see over the phone.
Setup is the same for one or eight. Doing them together costs less per window than one at a time.
A clean swap is one job. Finding rot in the framing and rebuilding it is another.
A ground-floor window is straightforward. A second-story window over a slope is not.
Sometimes the siding and trim go back on clean. Sometimes they have to be replaced.
Where I work
Window replacement across Eagle, Garfield, Pitkin, Summit & Routt County
Most of my work has been in Edwards, Avon and Eagle. I run the I-70 corridor from Rifle and Glenwood Springs up through Vail, down the Roaring Fork Valley to Carbondale, Basalt, Snowmass and Aspen, and over to Summit County and Steamboat Springs.
Edwards, Avon, Beaver Creek, Vail, Eagle, Gypsum, Minturn, Wolcott
Glenwood Springs, New Castle, Silt, Rifle, Carbondale, Parachute
Aspen, Snowmass Village, Basalt, Woody Creek
Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, Steamboat Springs
Not sure if you’re in range? Call and ask. I’d rather tell you no on the phone than waste your time.
Common questions
What people ask before they call
Is it cheaper to buy the windows yourself and have someone install them?
That’s exactly how I work. You pick the window and buy it — from a showroom, a supplier, wherever you like — and I do the install. You see what the unit costs and what the labor costs as two separate numbers instead of one bundled price, and I have no reason to steer you toward a brand, because I don’t make anything on the window.
What is the average cost of replacing a window in Colorado?
It swings a lot, and anyone who gives you one number sight unseen is guessing. Since you’re buying the unit, what I quote is the labor — and that depends on how many windows, what shape the frame and sill are in, and what the outside needs when the new one is in. That’s why the estimate is free and done in person.
Is it worth replacing 20-year-old windows?
It depends less on the age than on what they’re doing. A twenty-year-old window that still seals, with a solid frame and sill, can stay. One with a broken seal, a soft sill or a draft you can feel is costing you every winter and getting worse on its own. Age by itself isn’t the reason — what the wood and the seal are doing is.
Can rotten window frames be repaired?
Often, yes. If the rot is in the trim, the sill, or part of the frame, that section gets cut out and replaced and the window stays. If it has gone into the framing behind the window, the window has to come out to fix it properly. I’ll tell you which one you have before you commit to anything.
How much does it cost to repair a rotted window frame?
It comes down to how far it went, and rot is always bigger than it looks from outside — wood rots from the wet side first, and that’s the side facing away from you. I’d rather open it up and show you what’s there than quote you blind and change the number halfway through.
Can you replace a window frame without removing the window?
Parts of it, yes. Exterior trim, the sill and the casing can usually be replaced with the window still in place. The structural frame the window sits in generally can’t, because you have to get behind the window to reach it.
What’s the cheapest time of year to buy windows?
Winter is quieter for most of this trade, so scheduling is easier and you’re not sitting behind a summer backlog. And a window that leaks is the one repair that doesn’t get easier by waiting for spring — it’s leaking right now, in the weather that’s causing it.
What’s the best window replacement company in Colorado?
Depends what you need. If you want a showroom, a brand name and a financing plan, the national companies do that well and you should call them. If you’ve got water coming in, a soft sill, or trim that’s failing, and you want a carpenter to look at the whole thing — the window, the frame, the trim and the siding around it — that’s the work I do. Window replacement contractors and window repair are two different jobs, and I do both.
Do I need a permit to replace a window in Colorado?
It depends on the county or town, and on whether the opening is changing size. Requirements are not the same in unincorporated Eagle County, in Garfield County, or inside town limits in Vail or Aspen. I’ll tell you what applies to your property before we start.
Get a free estimate on your windows
Call or text and I’ll come look. No charge, no obligation, and a straight answer about what it needs.
(970) 315-7766