Wood Window Replacement

Clad-wood or solid wood: the choice that matters most

Almost every wood window decision in western Washington comes down to this one, and it is worth settling before you look at a single brochure.

Clad-wood is a wood window with an aluminum or fiberglass skin on the outside face. You get real wood inside, stainable and paintable to match the room, and a factory finish outside that does not need repainting. In a climate that delivers eight months of wet weather a year, this is what we fit most often, and it is what we will usually recommend.

Solid wood is wood on both faces. It is the right answer when the exterior profile has to match existing windows exactly, when a design review board requires it, or when the house deserves it. It is also a commitment: the exterior finish needs attention every few years, and the day that stops happening is the day the clock starts on rot.

What wood costs to own, not just to buy

Wood is the most expensive of the common materials up front — meaningfully more than vinyl for the same opening. That part is easy to find out. The part homeowners are rarely told is what happens afterward.

A solid wood exterior wants inspecting every spring and refinishing every three to six years, sooner on south and west elevations and anywhere with no eave over the window. Clad-wood removes nearly all of that: the exterior is finished at the factory and the interior wood is protected by the house.

We say this plainly because the failures we are called out to look at are almost never manufacturing faults. They are south-facing solid wood sills that went ten years without a coat of finish.

When wood is genuinely worth the money

Stained interior trim. This is the one no other material solves. Vinyl cannot be stained and fiberglass only approximates it. If the room is finished in wood and you want the windows to belong to it, wood is the answer.

Large openings and slim sightlines. Wood is strong enough to hold a big opening with a narrow frame, so you get more glass and less window. On a view elevation that difference is immediately visible.

Replacing some windows, not all. If half the house already has wood windows that are fine, matching them is usually worth more than saving money on the other half. Mismatched materials on one elevation are hard to unsee.

Associations and design review. Some neighborhoods specify wood or wood-clad outright. Find out before you order anything — it is a cheap phone call and an expensive assumption.

When we will steer you somewhere else

Rental and investment property. The maintenance assumption behind a wood window is an owner who is paying attention. If nobody will be, the material will not forgive it.

Painted interiors throughout. If every window in the house is going to be painted white inside anyway, you are paying for a grain you will then cover up.

Bathrooms and laundry rooms. Constant interior humidity is harder on wood than anything the weather does from outside. These are good rooms to break the rule in.

Sound frames with failed seals. If the wood frames are solid and only the glass has fogged, you do not need new windows at all — glass-only replacement keeps the frames you have for a fraction of the cost.

Replacing wood windows in an older house

Wood jobs go full-frame more often than vinyl ones do, for a straightforward reason: if the existing windows are old enough to be wood, the frames are old enough to need looking at. Taking the opening back to the framing lets us see the sill, correct the flashing and insulate the gap properly. It costs more and it is the right call often enough that we will tell you honestly which one your house needs rather than quoting the cheaper one by default.

One thing worth checking while the openings are open: bedrooms need a window that opens to a minimum clear size for escape and rescue, and a replacement frame inside an old one can shrink that opening. See egress windows if a bedroom in your house has a small window.

Questions homeowners ask us

How often does clad-wood need refinishing outside?

It does not. That is the entire point of cladding. The factory finish is warranted for decades and the only outdoor maintenance is washing it.

Can you match the windows already in my house?

Usually close, sometimes exactly. Profiles change over the years, so an exact match depends on the age and the maker. We will say which one you are getting before you order, not after it arrives.

Is wood warmer than vinyl?

Marginally, at the frame. In practice the glass package does far more for comfort than the frame material does, and both materials are fitted here with glass that meets the state energy code. Choose wood for how it looks and how it holds a large opening, not for the energy number.

What if we find rot once the window is out?

We stop and show you. Sill and framing repairs are quoted separately because nobody can see through trim, and we would rather have an awkward conversation on day one than bury it in the original number.

Wood and clad-wood units have to hit the same U-0.30 ceiling as everything else in Washington — the frame material does not change the requirement. The code, explained →

If you are still comparing, vinyl windows are the lower-cost route, and glass-only replacement is worth a look when the frames are still in good shape. The full picture is in our guide to window replacement in Issaquah, Bellevue and Sammamish.