Cold glass, a rattle when the wind gets up, and one window in the house nobody bothers opening anymore.
Storm windows are what I reach for when the original sash is worth saving and the draft sneaking past it is not. Plenty of houses off Grafton Street still have wavy old glass in them, and the last thing you need is somebody selling you a full tear-out because the putty is tired.
We measure every opening individually, since a hundred-year-old frame is never square, and a panel cut to a lazy number rattles all winter and leaks air at the meeting rail. One thing I do not do is screw a panel over rotted casing and call it finished. That traps water behind it and the sill goes soft inside two seasons.
Below you will find how the work actually goes, what moves the price, the styles people ask about most, and the questions that come up before anyone books. Call (508) 406-9528 and I will come take a look.
Black Storm Door
A black storm door is the one folks ask for by color these days, and it does look sharp against white clapboard or a brick front. Two things matter more than the shade. First, the finish: a factory-baked coating on the aluminum keeps its color, while a sprayed-on black chalks and drifts toward a dusty gray-purple after a few summers of full sun. Second, heat.
Dark metal on a south-facing entry runs hot and grows a little, so the hinge-side gap and the closer tension get set with that in mind, or the door binds in the afternoon and clatters once things cool off.
Most of the dark units our window replacement company hangs are stock sizes. What pushes the number up is an out-of-square opening, matching black hardware, and whether you want the storm windows above it done in the same finish.
Exterior Storm Windows
Storm windows on the exterior of the house do two jobs at once: they cut the draft, and they take the weather so your original wood sash stops rotting from the outside in. We measure every opening at three points, top, middle and bottom, because a house that's been settling since the trolleys ran isn't square anywhere.
Cut a panel to the widest reading and it binds; cut to the narrowest and you've got a gap whistling at you all winter.
The part that gets botched is the caulking. Bead the sides and the head, leave the sill open, keep the weep holes clear. Seal all four edges and the rain that sneaks past the primary window has nowhere to go but into your sill.
Size, the number of openings, a custom color instead of white or bronze, and whether we're working off a ladder at the third floor are what shift the price.
Storm Door Replacement
Storm door replacement is more carpentry than door hanging, and that's the part people don't expect. Once the old unit comes off, I look hard at the casing behind the hinge rail. On a triple decker that's had water running off a tired gutter for a few years, the bottom several inches of that wood is punky.
Screw a new door into it and the top corner drops within a season, the latch stops catching, and the first real gust rips the closer out along with a chunk of trim.
So bad casing gets rebuilt first, the Z-bar gets cut to your actual opening instead of shimmed to fit, and the closer and wind chain land in solid framing. Opening size, casing condition and the glass setup are what shift the number. Most swaps are a morning, often the same visit as your storm windows.
Storm Door Glass Replacement
Storm door glass replacement is a job where the pane itself is the easy part. Most of these doors hold their glass in a vinyl glazing bead behind a screwed retainer strip, and after a decade of sun that bead goes hard as a cracker. Reuse it and the new glass rattles in the frame, then it lets water in.
So the gasket gets replaced, the corner keys get checked for play, and the opening gets measured twice before anybody cuts, because tempered glass can't be trimmed once it's made. If your front glass storm door took a hit from a ball or a gust, we set safety glass in it, not window glass. Pane size, tempered versus laminated, and whether that insert is still in production all show up in the quote. Odd sizes we source separately.
Front Glass Storm Door
A front glass storm door is the one I get asked about most: a single full pane top to bottom, so your entry door still shows and you get a real barrier against wind and driving rain. Same as with storm windows, the fit is the whole job.
Porch openings on the older two-families here are rarely square, so I check the casing at the head and both jambs, cut the hinge rail to the opening, and set the bottom expander so the sweep just kisses the sill. Skipped, and the door binds in the heat, gaps when it turns cold, and the closer eventually pulls its screws right out of soft casing.
Opening size, rotted trim that needs new wood before anything hangs, and whether you want a lift-out panel or glass that slides behind a screen: those move what it comes to.
Mobile Home Storm Doors
Mobile home storm doors are mostly a measuring problem, because those openings almost never match what sits on a shelf at Lowe's. Plenty of them come in at 32 by 76 or 34 by 76, and the frame they hang on is thin aluminum fastened to a wall with very little behind it.
Screw a heavy door straight into that skin and the hinge side works loose by the second season, usually right after a stretch of gusty weather off the west side of the city.
So we set wood blocking behind the mounting rail first, then shim the strike side until a locking storm door catches on its own instead of needing a hip. Size, the hardware you choose, and how much rebuilding that old frame needs are what shift the price.
Aluminum Storm Windows
Aluminum storm windows are the workhorse of this trade, and most of what I hang here are triple-track units: two glass panels and a screen riding in the same frame, so you can switch to screens in May without dragging anything up a ladder.
Frames come in mill finish, white or bronze baked enamel. I measure to the blind stop and use an expander at the sill, because almost no triple-decker opening in this city has stayed square.
The one thing that ruins them is caulk run across the bottom. Those little weep slots at the sill exist to let water back out. Seal them up and a nor'easter parks water against your sill until the wood turns to sponge. I caulk the head and the jambs and leave the sill breathing.
Openings, sizes, custom color and how far off the ground you are all move the price.
ENERGY Efficient Storm Windows
ENERGY efficient storm windows earn their keep by holding a still layer of air against your old sash, and the ones I hang carry low-e coated glass so the heat you already paid for stays on your side of it. Most of the savings comes from the fitting, not the panel.
I measure every opening on its own, since the wood sash in a Worcester triple-decker is almost never square, then bed the frame in sealant across the top and both sides and leave the weep holes at the bottom open. Seal those shut and the moisture that gets past your primary window has nowhere to drain. The sill paint blisters by the second season and the wood under it turns spongy.
Glass upgrades, custom sizes, second-floor openings and the condition of the existing frames all change what a set of storm windows runs.
Security Storm Doors
Security storm doors are the heavier cousin of the standard aluminum unit: thicker extruded frame, welded corners, a keyed mortise lock instead of a plastic thumb latch, and laminated glass that won't come out of the opening in one clean sheet. What matters most is how the thing gets hung.
A locking storm door is only as strong as whatever the strike plate bites into, so we run long screws through the casing into the framing behind it and shim the hinge side dead solid. Bolted into half an inch of soft trim, the best hardware made will pop with a flat bar in about four seconds, and I've pulled a few off that had done exactly that.
Price follows the opening: door size, the glass and screen setup you want, and whether a century-old triple-decker jamb needs rebuilding before anything hangs on it.
Storm Room Door
A storm room door is the one hanging on an enclosed porch or a three-season room, and it's the fussiest door I hang. Those openings were framed a long time ago and most of them have racked. So I measure the width at the top, the middle and the bottom before anything gets ordered, because an opening that sits a quarter inch out of square will bind on the latch side within a week or two of hanging.
The other issue is backing. Plenty of triple-decker porches around here give you a three-quarter inch casing and hollow air behind it, so the closer bracket rips out the first time somebody lets the door go. I block that out solid first.
Size, how far the opening has moved, and whether you want a locking storm door with real hardware all show up in the quote.
What the job involves
Storm windows go on the outside of what you already have, so most of the job happens before a single screw turns. I measure every opening in three places, top, middle and bottom, because a triple-decker built back when this was a mill city hasn't had a square window in it since the day it was framed, and I order to the tightest of the three. Then I look at the wood.
Soft blind stop or a chewed-up sill gets cut out and primed first, since fastening a frame to punky pine is just hanging weight on nothing.
The panel gets bedded in sealant up both sides and across the head, and the bottom stays open so water can leave. Seal all four and you've built a bathtub.
Count of openings, the sizes, the shape that wood is in, and whether we're on ladders at a third floor: those move what the job comes to.
What it costs
What it costs on a storm window job comes down to how many openings you're covering and how odd they are. A row of same-size double hungs on a three-decker prices out cheap per opening. Two arched fronts and a picture window mean custom sizes, and custom always costs more than stock. Low-e coated glass pushes it up too, though ENERGY efficient storm windows earn that back fastest on the north face of the house.
A painted or bronze finish runs above plain mill. And if the blind stop is soft with rot, that gets rebuilt first, which is carpentry, not glazing.
A storm door replacement is priced separately, and glass upgrades, security storm doors and units sized for mobile home storm doors all land in different places again.
Call me at (508) 406-9528 with a rough count of openings and I can get close over the phone. What nobody gets to skip is the measure. A guessed size comes back wrong from the shop and costs you two weeks waiting on the reorder.
When storm windows are the wrong fix
Storm windows are the wrong fix when the window behind them has already given up. If I can sink a screwdriver into the bottom rail of your sash, a panel bolted over the top just hides the problem while the wood keeps going soft.
A storm panel is a windbreak, not a repair.
Casement windows are another no, since they swing out into the exact space the panel wants to sit in. Same story with most big picture windows, where the glass area is past what a light frame will hold flat and square. Basement windows set below grade against a damp foundation need water moved away from the house, sometimes new gutters and a regrade, not a second layer of glass sealing moisture against the frame.
And if the real trouble is a snapped balance or a track full of grit, plain window repair puts the sash back to work for less than any panel would.
Why choose us for this
You already know what you want out of storm windows: buy them once, get the cold side of the house to behave, and never think about that opening again.
Two things sink these jobs. A price given over the phone by someone who never measured, which grows the day the crew finds a soft sill. And a crew that hangs your exterior storm windows, then starts somebody else's job before the caulk lines and the interior stops are finished.
I measure every opening at the top, middle and bottom, because triple-decker sashes are rarely square, and aluminum storm windows ordered to the nearest stock size rattle for years. I'm not going to shim a panel out of plumb to cover a bad measurement.
I'm rarely the low number, because I price the sill repair I can see rather than discovering it later. The measure itself is free and obligates you to nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Will storm windows really cut my heating bill?
Yes, on single pane sash they make a genuine difference, because you end up with a still layer of air trapped between the old glass and the new panel. ENERGY efficient storm windows with a low-e coating do more again, especially on the exposed side of a triple-decker where the wind hits flat.
Do exterior storm windows damage the old wood underneath?
Not if the weep holes along the bottom of the frame are left open. That's the step that gets skipped, and a panel caulked tight all the way around traps condensation against the sill and rots it out. We seal the sides and the head, never the sill.
Is a storm window as good as a new window?
No. Aluminum storm windows over sound original sash buy you most of the comfort with none of the trim disruption. If the sash itself is soft, a storm just hides it.
Contact Worcester Window Replacement now
Ready to get this on the calendar? Call about window replacement in Worcester and we start with a measure, because storm windows only do their job when the frame matches the opening they're covering. Have a few things ready: how many openings, whether you've got tired triple-track aluminum storm windows already hanging there or bare sash, and whether the sill gives a little when you press your thumb into it.
Soft sill changes the plan more than anything else you'll tell me.
If a storm door replacement is part of it, or a front glass storm door that's been banging in every nor'easter since fall, say so when we talk and I'll price the whole entry in one visit.
Weekdays, nine to five, is when I'm reachable. Call (508) 406-9528 and leave the details if I'm up a ladder. Every message gets returned.