How Long Do Vinyl Windows Last? | Lifespan, Maintenance & When to Replace | SilverLine Exteriors

August 28, 2026/in Uncategorized/by Aimee

We weld vinyl window frames in our Port Coquitlam shop, and we have been doing it since 2007. Some of the first windows we built under our old Super Windows name are still in service around the Tri-Cities. They are closing in on two decades without a seal failure. Others we get called out to replace after 12 years. Same material, very different outcomes.

So here is the honest answer to how long vinyl windows last: a well-made vinyl window, installed properly, lasts 25 to 35 years in Metro Vancouver. A budget window with a thin extrusion and a cheap glass unit is often done in 15 to 20. Natural Resources Canada pegs the expected lifespan of a properly installed vinyl window at about 25 years, and that matches what we see in the field.

This guide covers what decides which end of that range your windows land on, what our coastal climate does to vinyl, and how to tell when a window is at the end of its life rather than just due for a tune-up.

The quick answer, by the numbers

Vinyl window lifespan in Metro Vancouver breaks down like this:

Quality vinyl windows, professionally installed: 25 to 35 years
Mid-range vinyl windows: 20 to 25 years
Builder-grade or bargain vinyl windows: 15 to 20 years

Those numbers describe the window as a system. The vinyl frame itself can outlast all of them. PVC does not rot or absorb water, and the frames we pull out of 1990s homes are usually still structurally sound. What fails is almost never the vinyl. It is the sealed glass unit, the hardware, or the installation around the frame.

That distinction matters, because it changes what you should look for when buying and what you should watch for as your windows age.

What Metro Vancouver’s climate does to vinyl windows

Most Canadian lifespan guides are written for Ontario or the Prairies, where the enemy is a 60 degree annual temperature swing and brutal freeze-thaw cycling. Our climate is easier on vinyl in that respect. A window in Coquitlam might see minus 8 in a cold snap and 30 in a heat wave. The same window in Winnipeg deals with minus 35 to plus 35.

What we have instead is water. Vancouver averages around 1,600 millimetres of rain a year, and some North Shore neighbourhoods get considerably more. That constant moisture does not hurt the vinyl, but it punishes everything around it. Sloppy flashing and missing caulking turn into rot in the wall framing long before the window itself gives out. There is a reason BC building practice moved to rain screen wall assemblies after the leaky condo era.

The second local factor is sun exposure on south and west elevations. UV slowly hardens the rubber gaskets that hold the glass weathertight. On homes in White Rock and Tsawwassen with big southwest exposures, we see gaskets go brittle years before the same windows on the north side of the house show any wear.

Salt air matters too if you are within a few blocks of the water. It corrodes hardware, not vinyl, so locks and hinges near the beach need cleaning and lubrication more often.

Lifespan by component: what wears out first

A vinyl window is four systems in one frame, and they age at different speeds. This is the breakdown we give homeowners at quote appointments:

Component	Typical lifespan	How it fails
Vinyl frame	35+ years	Rarely fails. Fading or chalking on sun-baked elevations is cosmetic.
Sealed glass unit (IGU)	15 to 25 years	Perimeter seal lets go, argon escapes, fog appears between the panes.
Hardware (locks, cranks, balances)	15 to 20 years	Mechanical wear. Stiff cranks and sagging sashes, sooner near salt air.
Weatherstripping and gaskets	10 to 20 years	Compresses and hardens, so drafts get through. UV speeds this up.

The sealed glass unit is the part that usually decides when a window gets replaced. Once that perimeter seal fails, the insulating gas is gone and moisture fogs the cavity. The window still keeps rain out, but its insulating performance drops and the fog never leaves. When fog shows up in several windows within a couple of years of each other, the rest of the batch is usually close behind, since they were all built and installed at the same time.

How vinyl compares with other frame materials

Lifespan is one of the main reasons vinyl took over the replacement market in BC. Here is how the materials stack up in our climate:

Frame material	Typical lifespan	Maintenance	Notes for coastal BC
Vinyl	25 to 35 years	Low	Immune to rot and moisture. The default choice here.
Wood	15 to 25 years	High	Needs regular painting or it rots fast in our rain.
Aluminum	15 to 20 years	Low	Durable but conducts cold. Old single-pane aluminum drips with condensation all winter.
Fiberglass	25 to 40 years	Low	Long-lived but costs 20 to 40 percent more than comparable vinyl.

A large share of our replacement work is pulling out original 1980s aluminum sliders. Those frames technically survived 40 years, but the homes were cold and expensive to heat the whole time, with condensation running down the glass every winter. Surviving is not the same as performing.

The five things that shorten a vinyl window’s life

When a vinyl window dies young, one of these is almost always the reason.

1. Poor installation

This is the big one. A window that is out of square binds and wears its hardware. A window with no flashing or bad caulking channels water into the wall. We have removed 10-year-old windows that were fine as products but had to come out because water damage around them forced a full frame replacement. Installation is why two identical windows can have service lives a decade apart.

2. Thin, unreinforced extrusions

Not all vinyl is the same thickness. Builder-grade frames use thinner walls with fewer internal chambers, and they flex more with every temperature swing. That movement works on the welded corners and the glazing seal year after year. Because we manufacture our own frames, we control wall thickness and chamber design instead of taking whatever a supplier ships.

3. Cheap glass units

An IGU built with a basic aluminum spacer and a single seal fails sooner than one with a warm-edge spacer and dual seals. You cannot see the difference on installation day. You see it in year 14 when one window fogs and the other does not.

4. Blocked weep holes

Every vinyl window has small drainage slots at the bottom of the frame so rainwater can escape. In our climate they earn their keep. When they clog with dirt or get caulked over by a well-meaning painter, water sits inside the frame track. Clearing them takes 30 seconds with a toothpick.

5. Sun-baked gaskets on south walls

UV exposure hardens rubber. On strong southern exposures, plan on weatherstripping and gaskets aging faster than the rest of the window. Replacing worn weatherstripping is cheap and buys real years of comfort.

How to get 30+ years out of your vinyl windows

Vinyl earned its low-maintenance reputation honestly, but low maintenance is not zero. A short routine twice a year makes a measurable difference:

Wash frames with mild soap and water each spring and fall. Skip abrasive cleaners, which scratch the UV-protective surface.
Check that weep holes are clear, especially after autumn leaf drop.
Lubricate locks, hinges, and crank mechanisms once a year with silicone spray. Never oil-based products, which attract grit.
Inspect exterior caulking every couple of years and re-seal gaps before the October rains arrive.
Look at weatherstripping. If it stays compressed after you close the window, it is done and worth replacing.

None of this requires a contractor. It is an hour of work twice a year, and it mostly protects the parts that fail first.

Repair or replace? The honest math

Not every problem means new windows. We walk homeowners through it like this.

Worth repairing: a single fogged glass unit in an otherwise good window, worn weatherstripping, a stiff crank, or a broken lock. Glass units and hardware can be swapped without touching the frame, and on a window under 15 years old that is usually money well spent.

Worth replacing: multiple fogged units, drafts you can feel in more than one room, sashes that no longer close square, or any water staining on the drywall around the frame. At that stage you are patching a failing batch one symptom at a time, and the repair bills start chasing the replacement cost.

On cost: our double glazed vinyl windows run $800 to $1,000 per window installed, and triple glazed runs $1,000 to $1,400. If your quotes are coming in around those numbers for a 25-plus year service life, replacement works out to roughly $30 to $40 per window per year. A full breakdown by window type is in our window replacement cost guide for Vancouver. If you are weighing double against triple glazing for your next set, our triple pane windows guide covers the payback math.

Not sure whether your windows are at that point? We put together a separate guide on the 10 signs it is time to replace your windows that goes deeper on each symptom.

What the warranty tells you about lifespan

A window warranty is the manufacturer betting money on how long the product lasts. That makes it one of the most useful lifespan signals you can get before buying.

A 10-year limited warranty on a vinyl window tells you the maker expects trouble in the teens. A 25-year warranty tells you the frame and glass unit were built for the long haul. We back our own windows with a 25-year warranty, which we can offer because we build the frames ourselves and know exactly what goes into them.

Read the fine print on any warranty, though. Some cover the sealed unit for far fewer years than the frame, and some evaporate if the original company changes hands. A warranty from a manufacturer with a local shop and 19 years of history is worth more than a longer number from a company that opened last spring.

Why the manufacturer matters more than the brochure

Every window company promises longevity. The useful question is who stands behind the promise, and for how long.

SilverLine is one of the few companies in the Lower Mainland that manufactures its own vinyl windows. Our frames are welded in Port Coquitlam, about 30 minutes from most of the homes we install them in. When we say a window will last, we are talking about a product we built, not a product we resell. If a glass unit ever fails under warranty, the replacement comes from our own shop instead of a factory back east.

The install side is covered too. We have been putting windows into Lower Mainland homes for nearly 20 years, and the work has earned 9 HomeStars awards, a BBB A+ rating, and 107 Google reviews averaging 4.5 stars. New to vinyl windows entirely? Start with our Vinyl Windows 101 guide, or see what a full project involves on our window replacement page.

Frequently asked questions

How long do vinyl windows last in Canada?

Between 20 and 35 years depending on product quality, installation, and region. Natural Resources Canada uses 25 years as the expected lifespan for a properly installed vinyl window. Coastal BC is gentler on vinyl than the Prairies because our temperature swings are smaller, but our rain makes installation quality count for more.

How often should vinyl windows be replaced?

Plan around the 25-year mark for quality windows, sooner if you see fogging between panes in several windows, feel drafts through closed sashes, or find moisture damage around the frames. Age alone is not a reason to replace a window that still performs.

What is the downside of vinyl windows?

Vinyl expands and contracts more with temperature than fiberglass or wood, which is why frame engineering and reinforcement matter. Dark colours can fade slowly on hot southern exposures, and vinyl cannot be repainted the way wood can. For most BC homes those trade-offs are minor next to the price and zero-rot durability.

Is it cheaper to replace all windows at once?

Per window, yes. One crew visit and volume pricing on the windows themselves usually bring the per-unit cost down 10 to 15 percent compared with doing a few at a time. Windows installed together also age together, which simplifies the next replacement cycle decades from now. That said, plenty of our customers phase the work: the worst elevation first, the rest a year or two later.

Do dark or black vinyl windows wear out faster?

Modern dark vinyl uses heat-reflective pigments and UV stabilizers, so the lifespan gap has mostly closed. Dark frames on a full-sun south wall do run hotter and expand more, so quality of extrusion matters even more when you go black. Buy dark frames from a manufacturer who warranties the colour.

Can you replace just the glass instead of the whole window?

Often, yes. If the frame is sound and the only problem is a fogged sealed unit, we can replace the glass unit alone for a fraction of the cost of a new window. It stops making sense when the frame is out of square, the hardware is failing, or several units have gone at once.

The bottom line

Expect 25 to 35 years from a quality vinyl window in Metro Vancouver, and expect the glass unit, not the frame, to be what eventually retires it. Buy a properly reinforced frame, insist on careful flashing and installation, keep the weep holes clear, and the window will outlast the roof above it.

If your windows are fogging or just past the 20-year mark, we are happy to take a look and tell you honestly whether they need replacement or a $200 repair. Call us at 604-942-0488 or request a free quote. The windows come from our own Port Coquitlam shop, and the advice comes from nearly 20 years of installing them.

Full Frame vs Insert Window Replacement | Which Is Right for Your BC Home | SilverLine Exteriors

August 24, 2026/in Uncategorized/by Aimee

Pull the trim off a window on a 1988 Coquitlam split level and you find out fast which method that house needs. About one in four of the older stucco homes we open up in the Lower Mainland has soft wood at the sill, usually at the bottom corners where thirty years of Metro Vancouver rain has run down the glass and found a gap in the old caulking. On those houses the insert method is off the table before we finish the first window. On the house next door, built the same year with a wider overhang and better flashing, the frames are bone dry and an insert is the smarter, cheaper call.

That is the whole decision in one paragraph. Full frame vs insert window replacement is not a question of which method is better. It is a question of what condition the wall behind your window is in, and what your exterior cladding will let us do without wrecking it.

We manufacture our own vinyl windows in Port Coquitlam, which means we build both retrofit flange units and nail fin units in the same shop. We do not have a product preference pushing the answer one way, which is why we can be blunt about when the cheaper method is the right one.

Quick answer: which one do you need?

Choose insert replacement if your existing frame is square and dry, you are happy with the current window size, and your exterior is stucco or brick that you would rather not cut into.

Choose full frame replacement if there is any rot or water staining at the sill, the opening has racked out of square, you want to change the window size or style, your existing frames are vinyl, or the wall is being re-clad anyway.

Most Lower Mainland houses built before 1995 end up somewhere in between, with a mix of both methods across the same job. That is normal and we quote it that way.

A note on terminology in BC

American manufacturers call the first method an insert or a pocket window. In BC the trade word is retrofit, and it means the same thing. If a Vancouver contractor quotes you “retrofit windows” and another quotes “insert replacement,” they are describing the same install. We wrote a longer breakdown of the method in our comprehensive guide to retrofit windows.

The confusion matters because it changes what you are comparing on two quotes. Ask each contractor which method they priced. We have seen homeowners take a bid that looked $6,000 cheaper without realizing one company quoted retrofit and the other quoted full tear-out.

What insert (retrofit) window replacement is

The old sash, glass, and hardware come out. The original frame stays in the wall. A new window, built slightly smaller with a flange that laps over the existing frame, slides into the pocket, gets screwed to the old frame, then gets insulated and sealed.

Nothing outside the window opening gets touched. Your stucco stays intact. Your interior casing usually stays intact too, though we often replace the interior stops for a cleaner finish.

The trade-off is glass area. The new frame sits inside the old one, so you lose roughly one inch to one and a half inches per side on a typical 1980s aluminum window. On a small bathroom window that is barely noticeable. On a large living room slider facing a view you will notice it, and we tell people so before they sign.

When insert replacement is the right call

The existing frame is wood or aluminum, still square, and dry at all four corners
Your exterior is stucco, brick, or stone that would be expensive or impossible to patch invisibly
You want the job done fast with minimal mess inside the house
You are keeping the same size and operating style
The building is a strata and the depreciation report calls for like-for-like replacement

What full frame window replacement is

Everything comes out. Sash, glass, frame, interior casing, and exterior trim, right back to the rough opening in the framing. We inspect the sheathing and the sill, repair anything that has gone soft, install new flashing and a sill pan, then set a new window and rebuild the trim and any siding we had to remove.

This is the method that lets us actually fix a problem instead of covering it. If water has been getting past your window for a decade, an insert traps that damage behind a brand new unit. Full frame is the only way to see it.

It also gives you the full original opening back. If your 1990s aluminum window was already smaller than the framed opening, a full frame replacement can gain you glass instead of losing it.

When full frame is the right call

Any soft wood, dark staining, or mould smell at the sill or jambs
Existing frames are vinyl, which will not carry an insert properly
The opening has settled and is more than about a quarter inch out of square
You want a different size, a different style, or a window turned into a door
The siding is coming off anyway for a re-clad or a rainscreen upgrade
The house is from the leaky condo era and has a documented envelope history

Side by side comparison

Factor	Insert / retrofit	Full frame
What gets removed	Sash, glass, hardware	Everything to the rough opening
Installed cost per window	$800 to $1,000 double glazed	$1,100 to $1,800 double glazed
Time per window	2 to 3 hours	Half a day to a full day
Typical house timeline	1 to 2 days for 10 to 12 windows	3 to 5 days for the same count
Glass area	Loses about 1 to 1.5 inches per side	Keeps or gains the full opening
Exterior disruption	None	Trim off, sometimes siding or stucco cut
Can we inspect for rot	No	Yes
New flashing and sill pan	No, existing stays	Yes
Change size or style	No	Yes

Real numbers for the Lower Mainland

Our average installed price for a double glazed vinyl window in Metro Vancouver runs $800 to $1,000 with the retrofit method. Triple glazed lands between $1,000 and $1,400. Those are supply and install, taxes out.

Full frame on the same window typically adds $300 to $800 depending on the cladding. A wood-sided rancher in Port Moody is at the low end because the siding comes off and goes back on in an hour. A stucco house in Vancouver’s Dunbar area is at the high end because we are cutting stucco, installing new flashing, and then coordinating a stucco patch that will never colour match perfectly on a wall that has been weathering since 1991.

Rot repair is separate and we cannot quote it before we open the wall. Budget $200 to $600 per affected window for sill and sheathing repair. On the rare bad one, where water has run down inside the wall and taken out the framing below, it goes higher. We show you the damage and price the repair before we proceed. Nobody likes that phone call, but finding it now is cheaper than finding it in five years.

Full pricing across every window type is broken down on our Vancouver window replacement cost page.

Why this decision is different in Metro Vancouver

Two regional factors change the math here, and the first is rain. We get somewhere around 1,200 to 1,600 mm a year depending on where you are between Richmond and Coquitlam, and most of it falls sideways between October and March. Wind-driven rain is what kills window sills. A house in Calgary with the same window from the same year is usually dry at the sill because the water never sat there. Ours are not.

The second is the building stock. Between roughly 1985 and 2000 the Lower Mainland built an enormous number of face-sealed stucco homes with no drainage cavity behind the cladding. When those walls leak, the water has nowhere to go. That period produced the leaky condo crisis, and the same construction went into thousands of single family houses that never made the news. If your home is from that window and still has original cladding, we go in expecting to find moisture, and we quote full frame on the elevations that face the weather. Our explainer on what a rain screen is covers why the drainage cavity matters.

Newer homes are a different story. Anything built in Metro Vancouver after the 1998 rainscreen requirements came in has a drainage cavity, a properly lapped weather barrier, and usually a sill pan. Those windows come out clean and an insert is often perfectly appropriate.

Your cladding decides more than you think

Stucco is the big one. Cutting stucco to do a full frame replacement means a patch, and a patch on a 30-year-old wall is visible no matter how good the stucco guy is. Colour and texture both drift with age. This is why so many Vancouver homes get retrofit windows even when full frame would be technically better: the homeowner does not want a ring of fresh stucco around every window. That is a legitimate reason to choose insert, as long as the frames test dry.

Vinyl siding is the easy one. Panels unclip, the J-trim comes off, we do the work, and it all goes back. Full frame on a vinyl-clad house adds very little to the labour.

Hardie and other fibre cement sits in the middle. It comes off cleanly if it was installed with a proper reveal, but individual planks crack when they are pried and matching an older colour can be a hunt. Brick is the hardest. Full frame in a brick opening means working around a structural lintel and we look at each one individually.

The vinyl frame problem

If your existing windows are vinyl, you are almost certainly getting full frame, and homeowners are often surprised by this.

Vinyl frames are hollow chambered extrusions. They were designed to hold glass, not to carry a second window fastened into them. There is not enough solid material to anchor an insert securely, and the fastener locations you would need are usually the same chambers that carry the drainage weep path. Block those and you have built a water trap.

Older vinyl also gets brittle. A twenty-year-old white vinyl frame on a south-facing wall in Surrey has taken a lot of UV, and it will crack when you try to fasten into it. We manufacture vinyl windows and we still tell people the same thing: vinyl frames come out, they do not get filled.

Strata buildings

Strata window projects follow their own logic. Windows are almost always common property in BC, so the decision is the strata council’s, not the individual owner’s, and it flows from the depreciation report and the engineer’s scope.

Occupied buildings usually favour retrofit because units stay livable, there is no interior demolition, and the schedule is predictable across dozens of suites. Where a building is doing a full envelope remediation with the cladding already off, full frame is the obvious choice and costs very little extra because the wall is already open.

If your report flags windows and you are trying to work out scope and sequencing, call us before the AGM rather than after. Scope written without a contractor in the room tends to need rewriting.

Permits in the Lower Mainland

Like-for-like retrofit replacement generally does not need a building permit anywhere in Metro Vancouver. Changing the size of an opening, adding a new opening, or converting a window to a door does, because you are altering structure and possibly egress.

Requirements vary by municipality and they do change. Coquitlam, Burnaby, and the City of Vancouver each handle it a little differently, and Vancouver in particular is stricter about anything touching the building envelope. We pull permits as part of the job when the scope requires one, and we tell you at quote stage if yours will.

Bedroom windows carry a separate obligation. BC Building Code egress minimums apply any time you replace a bedroom window, and a retrofit that shrinks the opening can push a window that used to comply below the threshold. That is one of the few situations where the insert method creates a code problem, and it is why we measure bedroom openings carefully on every quote.

How we decide on your house

Our sales rep does a rough measure and gives you a quote. If you order, we come back for a final measure before anything gets built. That second visit is where the method gets locked in.

At final measure we check each opening for square across both diagonals, probe the sill for soft wood, look for staining on the interior casing and at the drywall corners below the sill, and check whether the existing frame has enough depth to take an insert without crowding the glass. We measure bedroom openings against egress. Then we confirm the method window by window and write it on the production sheet.

Doing it in two passes costs us an extra site visit. It is the reason our orders come out of the shop at the right size and the reason we are not renegotiating scope on install day. Our crews work out of Port Coquitlam, so nothing between Langley and West Vancouver is more than about 45 minutes away and coming back a second time is not a problem.

What to ask before you sign

Ask which method the quote is priced on, window by window. A quote that does not say is not a quote you can compare.

Find out what happens if they open a wall and find rot. There should be a written process and an hourly or unit rate for repair, not a shrug.

On full frame windows, confirm that new flashing and a sill pan are included. Skipping the sill pan is the single most common shortcut we find when we take out somebody else’s ten-year-old install, and we listed the rest in our guide to common window installation mistakes.

Then ask who does the stucco or siding patch. If the window company subs it out and the sub is not scheduled, your house sits open for however long that takes.

FAQ

Is full frame window replacement worth the extra cost in Vancouver?

On a pre-1998 stucco home with any sign of moisture, yes. You are paying a few hundred dollars per window to find and fix damage that otherwise sits behind a new window for the next 25 years. On a dry, square frame in a newer home, no. The insert performs nearly as well and the money is better spent on better glass.

How much glass do I lose with insert window replacement?

Roughly one inch to one and a half inches per side on a typical 1980s aluminum frame, so about two to three inches off both the width and the height. On a 60 by 48 inch living room window that is around a 9 percent reduction in visible glass.

Can I mix both methods on the same house?

Yes, and most of our jobs do. South and west elevations take the weather in Metro Vancouver and often need full frame, while sheltered north-facing windows test dry and get retrofit. We price it that way rather than forcing one method across the whole house.

Does insert replacement still improve energy efficiency?

It does, substantially, if you are coming off single pane or old aluminum. The new sealed unit does the heavy lifting. What it will not fix is air leakage through the original frame or the gap between that frame and the framing, so a house with drafty window surrounds will still be drafty at the edges. Our page on window U-values explains what the performance numbers mean.

Do I need a permit to replace windows in Coquitlam or Vancouver?

Not for like-for-like replacement in the same opening. You do if you change the opening size, add a window, or convert a window to a door. Requirements differ by municipality and we confirm yours at quote stage.

Why do vinyl windows always need full frame replacement?

Hollow vinyl extrusions cannot securely hold fasteners for a second window, and the chambers you would fasten into are usually the drainage weep channels. Blocking those traps water inside the frame. Aged vinyl also cracks under fastening.

How long does each method take?

Retrofit runs 2 to 3 hours per window, so a typical 10 to 12 window house is done in one or two days. Full frame runs half a day to a full day per window depending on cladding and any repairs, so the same house is 3 to 5 days.

Get a straight answer on your house

We have been doing this in the Lower Mainland since 2007, we have 9 HomeStars awards, an A+ BBB rating, and 107 Google reviews averaging 4.5 stars. We manufacture the windows we install, so the recommendation you get is about your wall, not about moving a product.

Book a free quote and we will walk your house, check the frames, and tell you which windows need full frame and which do not. Call 604-942-0488 or request a quote online. You can also see the full range on our window replacement page or read about how we work in Vancouver.

Window Trim Styles | Interior & Exterior Casing Guide for BC Homes | SilverLine Exteriors

August 24, 2026/in Uncategorized/by Aimee

Every window that leaves our Port Coquitlam shop gets finished on site with trim, and after nearly 20 years of installs across Metro Vancouver we can tell you the local pattern: most homes built before 1990 have narrow colonial casing inside and rotting wood brick mould outside, and almost everyone replacing their windows upgrades both. This guide covers the window trim styles we see and install every week, what each one costs to get right, and which materials survive our wet coastal climate.

If you are choosing trim as part of a window replacement, the good news is that new trim is normally built into the install quote. A new double glazed vinyl window runs $800 to $1,000 installed, and triple glazed runs $1,000 to $1,400. Trim decisions rarely change that number by much, so pick the style you want rather than the one you think you can afford.

What window trim is (and what each piece is called)

Window trim is the finish material that covers the gap between the window frame and the wall. Without it you would see shims, spray foam, and rough framing around every opening. Trim closes that joint, sheds water on the exterior, and gives the window its finished look inside.

A full interior trim package has four parts:

Head casing, the horizontal piece across the top of the window
Side casings, the vertical pieces on the left and right
Stool, the flat “shelf” at the bottom that most people call the sill
Apron, the short piece of trim mounted under the stool

On the exterior, the sill is the sloped piece at the bottom that directs rain away from the wall, and brick mould is the traditional thick casing profile you see on older homes. Standard casing runs 2.5 to 3.5 inches wide. Wider than that and you are into craftsman or colonial territory, which we will get to below.

Interior window trim styles

Inside the house, trim is mostly a design decision. These are the interior window trim styles that come up in our quotes, roughly in order of how often Metro Vancouver homeowners pick them.

Modern flat casing

Flat, smooth boards with square edges, usually 2.5 to 3 inches wide, mitred at the corners. No profile, no ornament. This is the default in new construction across the Lower Mainland and the most common choice when we replace windows in townhomes and condos. It suits the clean lines of vinyl windows and it is the cheapest style to install because there are no layered pieces.

Craftsman trim

Craftsman window trim uses thicker flat stock, typically 3.5 inches or wider on the sides with a heavier head casing across the top, butt-jointed rather than mitred. Vancouver has entire neighbourhoods of original craftsman homes, and in areas like New Westminster’s Queens Park or East Vancouver’s older blocks this style is the natural match. It costs more than flat casing because the header is built up from two or four separate pieces.

Colonial casing

The curved, stepped profile you will find in most Metro Vancouver homes built from the 1960s through the 1990s. It is 2.25 to 3.5 inches wide with a moulded face. If you own a Vancouver Special or an 80s rancher, this is almost certainly what is around your windows right now. Plenty of homeowners keep it for consistency with their doors and baseboards. Just as many use a window replacement as the excuse to switch to flat casing.

Shaker and farmhouse trim

Simple flat boards like modern casing but wider, with a stool and apron at the bottom and sometimes a slightly proud head casing. Painted white, it reads as farmhouse. The difference from craftsman is weight: shaker trim skips the built-up header.

Drywall return (no trim)

Some contemporary builds skip casing entirely and wrap the drywall into the window opening with a metal corner bead. It looks minimal and saves material, but the joint tends to crack as the house moves, and there is no wood to absorb the knocks a windowsill takes. We install windows into drywall-return openings regularly and they perform fine. Just know that repairs mean a drywaller, not a five minute caulk touch-up.

Exterior window trim styles

Outside is where trim stops being decoration and starts being weather protection. Metro Vancouver gets roughly 1,200 mm of rain a year on the coast and more as you move up the North Shore, so exterior trim here has one job before any styling: keep water out of the wall.

Flat stock trim

Flat boards, usually 3.5 inches wide, surrounding the window on all four sides over the siding or integrated with it. This is the standard on Hardie-clad homes and the style we install most. In fiber cement it will not rot, and painted a contrasting colour it frames the window sharply against the siding.

Brick mould

The traditional rounded casing profile, about 2 inches wide, that surrounds windows on most homes built before the 1990s. Original brick mould in this region is wood, and wood brick mould in a Vancouver winter is a maintenance item: it needs paint every few years and it rots from the bottom corners up. When we replace windows on older homes we usually replace wood brick mould with PVC or aluminum-capped versions that keep the traditional look without the upkeep.

Craftsman surround

Wide side boards, a thick header with a drip cap, and a sloped sill below. On heritage-style homes with cedar or Hardie siding this is the style that looks correct, and it pairs naturally with board and batten or lap siding gables.

Aluminum-capped trim

Existing wood trim wrapped in custom-bent aluminum flashing. Capping is common on window replacements because it seals old wood brick mould without the cost of tearing it off, and it never needs paint. The bends are made on site with a brake, so the profile follows whatever trim is already there. We cap trim on a large share of our retrofit window installs across Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Surrey.

Contrast trim

Less a profile than a colour strategy: white windows with dark trim, or black windows with white trim. Black window frames have been the strongest trend we have seen in our own order book over the last five years, and crisp white flat stock around them is the pairing most customers choose.

Trim materials: what survives BC weather

Style gets the attention, but material is the decision that determines whether your trim looks good in ten years. Here is how the common options compare for our climate.

Material	Where it works	Watch out for
MDF	Interior only. Smooth, cheap, takes paint well	Swells with any moisture. Never outside, avoid in bathrooms
Pine / finger-jointed wood	Interior casing, stained or painted	Dents easily; exterior use needs constant paint
Cedar	Exterior on heritage homes	Costly, and still needs regular finishing to last here
PVC	Exterior brick mould and flat trim	Expands in heat; needs correct fastening
Fiber cement (Hardie Trim)	Exterior flat stock and craftsman surrounds	Heavy; installs with siding, not as a quick retrofit
Aluminum capping	Sealing existing exterior wood trim	Quality depends entirely on the installer’s brake work

For a deeper look at fiber cement trim boards specifically, our Hardie Trim guide covers board sizes, colour options, and how the boards tie into siding.

What trim work costs in Metro Vancouver

Trim pricing depends on how the work is packaged, and this is where homeowners get surprised by quotes.

Bundled with window replacement, interior casing and exterior capping or brick mould replacement are typically part of the installed price. That $800 to $1,000 per double glazed window includes finishing the opening properly on both sides. This is the cheapest way to update trim because the crew is already set up on site.

Bundled with siding, exterior trim is quoted as part of the whole envelope. On a Hardie job running $9 to $15 per square foot installed, window surrounds are line items within that scope, and it is the right time to switch styles since everything comes off the wall anyway.

As a standalone project, trim replacement gets expensive per window because a crew still has to mobilize for a small scope. If your trim is failing, it is worth asking whether the windows behind it are on their way out too. Twenty year old windows with rotting brick mould usually mean one combined project makes more sense than two separate ones. Our window replacement cost guide breaks down current Vancouver pricing by window type.

What happens to your trim during a window replacement

This is the question behind most trim questions we get, so here is the honest version from the crew’s side.

In a retrofit install, the new window goes into the existing frame. Interior casing usually stays, and the exterior gets new brick mould or aluminum capping. Your interior paint lines survive. This is the least disruptive path and the most common one for occupied homes.

In a full frame replacement, everything comes out down to the rough opening: window, frame, interior casing, exterior trim. You get new flashing and insulation around the opening and complete freedom to change trim styles, because everything is being rebuilt anyway. If your home still has original single pane aluminum windows, this is normally the right call.

Either way, ask your installer two questions: who is painting the new interior casing, and is the exterior trim being flashed or just caulked. Caulk alone is not a long term water strategy in this climate. Every exterior trim detail we install is designed to shed water first and look good second, which is the order the rain forecast demands.

Matching trim to Metro Vancouver housing stock

A quick cheat sheet based on the homes we actually work on, from our shop on Broadway Street in Port Coquitlam out across the Lower Mainland:

Vancouver Special (1965 to 1985): colonial casing inside, minimal stucco returns outside. Flat modern casing is the standard upgrade, and white or black flat stock sharpens the exterior.
1980s and 90s ranchers and split levels in Coquitlam, Surrey, and Langley: wood brick mould that is usually failing. Replace with PVC brick mould or cap in aluminum during window replacement.
Craftsman and heritage homes in New Westminster and East Van: wide craftsman surrounds with a proper drip cap. Fiber cement gives the period look without cedar maintenance.
Townhomes and strata buildings: trim changes usually need council approval and consistency across units, so most strata work is like-for-like replacement in more durable materials.
New builds and contemporary homes: flat stock exteriors and either flat casing or drywall returns inside.

Trim also has to suit the window itself. A picture window carries wide craftsman surrounds well, while a small basement slider looks overdressed in anything beyond flat casing. Our window styles guide covers how the window shapes themselves change the look.

Frequently asked questions

What are the different styles of window trim?

The main interior styles are modern flat casing, craftsman, colonial, shaker or farmhouse, and the trimless drywall return. Exterior styles are flat stock, brick mould, craftsman surrounds, and aluminum-capped trim. Most Metro Vancouver homes have colonial casing inside and brick mould outside unless they have been renovated.

What type of trim is best for windows?

Inside, painted MDF or finger-jointed pine in whatever profile matches your home. Outside in the Lower Mainland, the best performers are fiber cement, PVC, and aluminum-capped trim, because untreated wood does not last in coastal BC rain. The best style is the one that matches your home’s era; the best material is the one that does not rot.

What kind of window trim is popular now?

Flat and simple. Modern flat casing dominates interior requests, and on exteriors the strongest current trend in our order book is black window frames with clean white or monochrome flat stock trim. Ornate layered profiles have mostly disappeared from new work except on heritage restorations.

What are the different types of window sill trim?

Interior windows use a stool (the flat shelf) with an apron beneath it, or a picture frame casing with no stool at all. Exterior windows use a sloped sill, in wood, PVC, fiber cement, or bent aluminum, angled so rain drains away from the wall. The slope matters more than the material: a flat exterior sill will pool water against your window frame.

Do new windows come with new trim?

Usually, but confirm the scope. Our window replacement quotes include finishing the exterior with new brick mould or capping and re-trimming or preserving the interior casing. Some low quotes exclude trim entirely, which is one reason two window quotes can be hundreds of dollars apart for the same opening.

Can I change my trim style without replacing my windows?

Yes. Interior casing swaps are straightforward carpentry. Exterior trim can be replaced or capped on its own, though if your windows are older it is worth pricing the combined job, since mobilizing a crew twice costs more than doing it once.

Talk to the people who build the windows

SilverLine has manufactured windows in Port Coquitlam and installed them across Metro Vancouver since 2007. We have 9 HomeStars awards, a BBB A+ rating, and 107 Google reviews at 4.5 stars, and our crews trim out every window we install, inside and outside. If you are planning a window replacement and want the trim done right for this climate, call us at 604-942-0488 or request a free quote. We will tell you which style suits your house and which materials will still look sharp when the windows are due for their next upgrade.

Black Vinyl Windows | Cost, Fading & What to Know Before Buying | SilverLine Exteriors

August 14, 2026/in Uncategorized/by Aimee

Last winter we installed a set of black vinyl windows on a home near the water in White Rock. White panel siding, slim black frames, no grids. The owner told us three neighbours knocked on her door within a month to ask who did the work. That is what black windows do for a house: the frames stop being background and become the design.

We manufacture our own vinyl windows at our factory in Port Coquitlam, and black is now the most requested colour after white. It is also the colour people have the most questions about. Will it fade? Will it warp? Why does it cost more? Because we make the frames ourselves, we can answer those questions from the production floor rather than from a brochure.

Can you get vinyl windows in black?

Yes. Black vinyl windows are widely available in BC, but not all of them get their colour the same way, and the method matters more than most buyers realize.

There are three ways a vinyl frame ends up black:

Painted. A coating is applied over a standard white frame. This is the cheapest route and the first to show wear. Scratches reveal white underneath, and repainting a vinyl window is a job nobody enjoys.
Laminated. A durable coloured foil is bonded to the exterior face of the frame. Done well, laminate holds its colour for decades and carries proper warranty coverage. This is the most common method for quality black windows in Canada.
Co-extruded. The colour layer is fused into the profile itself during extrusion. A scratch shows dark material underneath instead of white.

When you compare quotes, ask which method the manufacturer uses and what the colour warranty says. A price that looks like a bargain often turns out to be paint.

What black vinyl windows cost in Metro Vancouver

Black costs more than white. There is no way around it. The colour requires an extra production step, and dark frames need UV-stable pigments and finishes that white frames do not. Across the industry the premium runs about 10 to 20 percent, and our own pricing lands in that range.

Here is what that looks like against our standard installed pricing:

Window type	White frame (installed)	Black exterior (installed)
Double glazed	$800 – $1,000 per window	$900 – $1,200 per window
Triple glazed	$1,000 – $1,400 per window	$1,100 – $1,650 per window

Size, style and access change the number, so treat these as planning figures. A full breakdown by window type is in our window replacement cost guide for Vancouver.

One way to keep the premium down: order black on the exterior only. More on that below.

Are black windows still in style in 2026?

They are, and the trend has more staying power than most. Black frames took off around 2018 with the modern farmhouse look, then spread to west coast contemporary, and they now show up on everything from Langley new builds to 1970s Vancouver Specials getting a facelift. On new construction in Surrey and Cloverdale, black windows are close to the default.

Two reasons we think this one sticks around. Black frames read as architectural rather than trendy, the same way black door hardware replaced brass and never went back. And the thin sightlines of a modern vinyl casement suit dark colours; a black frame makes the glass look bigger.

If you want a safer bet than full black, some of our customers in older neighbourhoods choose black only on street-facing windows and keep white everywhere else. Nobody sees the back of your house from the sidewalk.

Do black vinyl windows fade or warp? The honest answer

This is the question behind every black window consultation we do, so here is the straight version.

Dark colours absorb heat. On a sunny day a black frame runs much hotter than a white one on the same wall, and vinyl expands as it heats. In hot climates like Texas or the BC Interior, cheap black vinyl can distort over time, and that is where the horror stories online come from. Most of the Reddit threads warning you off black windows are written by people in Dallas or Phoenix.

Metro Vancouver is a different environment. Our summers are mild, our real weather problem is nine months of rain, and vinyl handles rain better than any other frame material. The 2021 heat dome pushed Vancouver past 40 degrees and the quality black frames in this region came through it fine. Heat here is an occasional stress, not a constant one.

That said, the climate only forgives so much. Three things separate black windows that stay flat and black from the ones that do not:

The colour method. Laminated and co-extruded finishes hold colour far longer than paint. Quality laminates are engineered to reflect infrared heat, which keeps the frame cooler.
The profile design. Multi-chambered frames with proper reinforcement resist heat movement. This is where budget windows cut cost, and you cannot see it from the showroom floor.
The exposure. A south or west-facing wall with no shade works the finish hardest. If your home bakes all afternoon, tell your estimator. It changes what we recommend.

Check the warranty language before you buy. Some manufacturers quietly shorten coverage on dark colours or exclude them from the colour warranty entirely. That tells you what they think of their own finish. Ask the question directly and get the answer in writing.

Black outside, white inside

Most of the black windows we build are black on the exterior and white on the interior, and for most homes that is the right call.

The exterior gets the curb appeal. Inside, white frames keep rooms brighter, match existing trim and baseboards, and save you from committing every room in the house to a black accent. Black interior frames look sharp in a photo shoot, but they fight with wood trim and they show dust more than people expect.

The two-tone option also costs less than black inside and out, since only the exterior face needs the colour finish. If you do want full black for a modern interior, we can build that too. It is a look you should see in person first, so ask us to show you a completed project rather than a catalogue page.

What black frames pair with

Black windows are high contrast by nature, so the siding colour does most of the deciding. What we see working across the Lower Mainland:

White or light grey siding. The classic pairing, and the reason the farmhouse look refuses to die. Black frames on white board and batten reads clean from a block away.
Mid-tone blues and greens. Popular on Hardie exteriors in Port Moody and North Vancouver. Black frames ground the colour without competing.
Natural wood and stained cedar. Black and warm wood is the west coast contemporary formula.

Where black struggles: very dark siding, where the frames disappear, and beige or cream stucco, where the contrast can look accidental rather than deliberate. If you are unsure, send us a photo of your house and we will tell you honestly whether black will work on it.

Frame style matters as much as colour. Casements and picture windows carry black best because the frame lines stay slim and continuous. Our window styles guide covers the options if you have not settled on a configuration yet.

Are black windows less energy efficient?

Not in any way you would notice on a heating bill. The frame colour affects how hot the frame itself gets, but your window’s insulating performance comes from the glass unit: the number of panes, the Low-E coating and the argon fill between them. A black double glazed window and a white one with the same glass have the same U-factor.

If energy performance is driving your project, put the budget into the glazing rather than worrying about colour. We wrote a full breakdown of when triple pane windows are worth it in Vancouver, including the payback math. Rebates through BC Hydro and CleanBC may apply to energy-efficient replacements; programs change, so check what is current when you order.

Why ordering from a local manufacturer matters for black windows

Most window companies in the Lower Mainland are dealers. They sell frames made somewhere else, which means colour options and warranty claims run through a third party. We are one of the few local companies that manufactures its own vinyl windows, and for black windows specifically that changes three things:

You see the real product. Visit our Port Coquitlam shop on Broadway Street and look at the black finish on an assembled frame, not a colour chip.
Custom sizing is normal, not a surcharge. Every window is built to your final measure. Odd-sized openings in older Burnaby and Coquitlam homes are a Tuesday for us.
The warranty has one name on it. If a finish issue ever comes up, the company that built the window is the company that installed it, and we are a 25 minute drive from most of Metro Vancouver.

We have been building and installing windows here since 2007. Nearly 20 years, 9 HomeStars awards, 107 Google reviews at 4.5 stars, and an A+ BBB rating. Vinyl is what we know; if you are still weighing frame materials, start with our vinyl windows 101 guide.

Five questions to ask before you sign a black window quote

Quotes for black windows can vary by thousands of dollars on the same house, and the cheapest one usually hides the answer to one of these questions. Bring this list to every estimate appointment:

How is the black applied? Paint, laminate or co-extrusion. If the salesperson cannot answer, that is your answer.
Does the colour warranty match the frame warranty? Some brands cover white frames for life but dark colours for 10 years or less.
Is the frame reinforced for dark colours? Better manufacturers upgrade the profile or the finish on dark exteriors. Budget lines use the same frame and hope.
Who handles a warranty claim? A dealer sends your claim to a factory in Ontario or overseas. A local manufacturer sends a crew.
Can I see an installed project? A finished house tells you more than any showroom corner. We keep a list of local installs our customers are happy to have driven past.

A contractor who answers all five without flinching is worth shortlisting, whether that ends up being us or not.

Black vinyl windows FAQ

Are black vinyl windows more expensive than white?

Yes, expect a premium of about 10 to 20 percent. For our windows that means black double glazed units typically run $900 to $1,200 installed versus $800 to $1,000 for white. Choosing black on the exterior only, with white inside, keeps the cost at the lower end.

Do black vinyl windows fade?

Painted black frames fade first and worst. Laminated and co-extruded finishes are built for UV exposure and hold their colour for decades in our climate. Metro Vancouver’s mild, cloudy weather is easier on dark finishes than the Interior or the Prairies. Ask for the colour warranty in writing before you buy.

Do black windows make a room darker?

No. The glass area is what lights the room, and a black frame does not shrink it. Many customers choose white interior frames anyway, which keeps the inside of the house feeling bright while the exterior gets the black look.

Are black windows a good idea in Vancouver’s climate?

Vancouver is one of the better climates in North America for black vinyl. Our main weather stress is rain, which vinyl shrugs off, and our summers are mild compared to the regions where dark frames run into trouble. The caveat is quality: an unshaded south or west exposure still demands a properly made frame with a heat-reflective finish.

Can I get black on the outside and white on the inside?

Yes, and it is our most popular black configuration. The exterior face carries the black finish while the interior stays standard white. It costs less than black on both sides and keeps interior rooms brighter.

How long do black vinyl windows last?

A well-made vinyl window lasts 25 to 40 years in the Lower Mainland, and a quality black finish does not shorten that. The frame and sealed glass unit determine the lifespan. The finish method determines how good it looks along the way.

Thinking about black windows for your home?

Send us a photo of your house or book a free quote and we will tell you what black frames would look like on it and what they would cost. If your exposure needs anything special, we will say so before you sign anything. You can also drop by the factory in Port Coquitlam and see the finish up close. Call 604-942-0488 or request a quote through our window replacement page.

Bay Window Cost | Real 2026 Pricing for BC Homes | SilverLine Exteriors

August 11, 2026/in Uncategorized/by Aimee

Most of the bay windows we replace went in during the 1980s and early 90s, when builders across Coquitlam, Burnaby and East Vancouver put a bay at the front of nearly every living room. The aluminum frames sweat all winter, the seat board is cold to sit on, and the seals gave up years ago. When homeowners call us about one, the first question is nearly always the same: what does a bay window cost to replace?

Here is the short answer. A standard three-panel vinyl bay window in Metro Vancouver typically costs $3,500 to $5,500 installed. Smaller box bays start around $2,800, and large or structurally complicated units can pass $7,500. We manufacture our own vinyl windows in Port Coquitlam, so the numbers in this guide come from our own quotes, not a national average scraped from an American cost calculator.

Why a bay window costs more than a flat window

A bay window is really three windows joined into one projecting unit: a fixed picture window in the centre with two operable windows, usually casements, angled off each side at 30 or 45 degrees. You are paying for three window units instead of one, plus the structure that holds them out past the wall.

That structure is where the labour adds up. The unit needs a solid seat board, angled jambs, support underneath (brackets or a knee wall), and in many cases a small hip roof over the projection that ties back into the house. Then everything gets flashed, insulated and trimmed inside and out. A flat casement swap might take our crew a couple of hours. A bay is often a full day.

For a single flat window, our double glazed units run $800 to $1,000 installed and triple glazed runs $1,000 to $1,400. Multiply that by three panels, add the seat board, the roof and the extra carpentry, and the bay window pricing below starts to make sense.

Bay window cost by size

These are typical installed ranges for vinyl bay windows in Metro Vancouver in 2026. All figures assume replacement in an existing bay opening:

Bay window size	Typical installed cost	Where we usually see them
Small box bay (4 to 5 ft wide)	$2,800 to $4,000	Kitchens, above the sink
Standard 3-panel bay (6 to 7 ft)	$3,500 to $5,500	Living rooms and dining rooms
Large bay (8 ft and up)	$5,000 to $7,500+	Front elevations, view homes
Bow window (4 to 5 panels)	$4,500 to $9,000	Wide living room walls

Width drives the price more than any other factor. Every extra foot means more glass, a longer seat board and heavier framing to carry the weight. If you are pricing several windows at once, our guide to window replacement cost in Vancouver breaks down what the rest of the house will run.

Double or triple glazing in a bay window

A bay projects out from the heated envelope of your house on three sides, so it loses heat faster than a flat window of the same glass area. Glazing matters more here than almost anywhere else in the home.

Double glazed units with Low-E coating and argon fill are the baseline we install, and for most Lower Mainland homes they perform well. Our winters are wet more than they are cold. Triple glazing adds roughly $200 to $400 per panel and earns its keep on north-facing bays, homes up the mountain in Coquitlam or North Vancouver, and bedrooms above a busy road where the third pane also knocks down noise. We wrote a full breakdown of when the upgrade pays off in our triple pane windows guide.

One more glazing note specific to bays: the two angled side windows catch wind-driven rain that a flat window never sees. Quality seals and proper glazing matter. If you want the background on how sealed units work, see our guide to what window glazing is.

Frame material: why we build bays in vinyl

Almost every bay window we install is vinyl, and price is only half the reason. Wood-clad bays cost 30 to 50 percent more and need repainting on a structure that is awkward to reach and permanently exposed to rain. Aluminum is what most of the failed originals are made of; the frames conduct cold straight through and stream with condensation on winter mornings. Fiberglass performs well but adds cost without solving a problem vinyl has in our climate.

Vinyl does not rot, never needs paint, and insulates well when the frame is properly chambered. Ours come out of our own Port Coquitlam production line, so custom angles and sizes are a normal Tuesday rather than a special order from another province.

Bay window vs bow window cost

People use the names interchangeably, but they are different products with different price tags. A bay has three panels and an angular shape. A bow has four to six panels arranged in a gentle curve, which means more glass, more mullions and more fabrication time.

Feature	Bay window	Bow window
Panels	3	4 to 6
Shape	Angular projection	Curved arc
Installed cost	$2,800 to $7,500	$4,500 to $9,000+
Interior space	Deep seat or shelf	Wider, shallower alcove

If you like the projected look but the budget is tight, a bay gives you most of the effect for less money. You can see both styles on our bay and bow windows page, and our article on the benefits of bay windows covers what each style does for a room.

Replacing an existing bay vs cutting a new one

Almost everything above assumes a like-for-like replacement in an existing bay opening. That is most of the work we do, and it is the cheaper path because the structure, the roof over the bay and the interior finishes already exist.

Converting a flat window into a projecting bay is a different project. The opening usually needs a new header, the projection needs engineered support, and the exterior cladding has to be cut back and re-flashed around the new structure. Budget $6,000 to $10,000 or more, and expect your municipality to want a building permit. Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Burnaby all treat a new projection differently than a same-size window swap, so permit requirements are worth a phone call before you commit to a design.

There is a middle option people forget. If your old bay is rotting and you never use the seat anyway, replacing it with a large flat picture window costs less than a new bay and floods the room with the same light. It is not the right call for every house, but on a tired 1970s rancher it can look sharp and save a few thousand dollars.

The Vancouver factor: rain, rot and flashing

Metro Vancouver gets about 1,200 millimetres of rain a year, and a bay window sticks out into all of it. The top of the projection is essentially a small roof, and the underside is exposed soffit. Both are places where water finds its way in when the original flashing was done badly.

This is the hidden cost in bay window replacement here, and no online calculator will warn you about it. When our installers pull an old bay, the seat framing underneath is sometimes wet or rotted, especially on units that faced the weather without a proper drip edge. Repairing rot before the new unit goes in can add a few hundred dollars to the job. A good installer inspects for it at the measure stage and prices it up front instead of surprising you on install day.

Newer homes handle this better. BC building practice now requires a rain screen assembly behind exterior cladding in our coastal climate, which gives water a drainage path instead of trapping it against the sheathing. The short version for bay windows: the flashing details above and below the unit matter as much as the window itself, and they are pure labour. Cheap quotes usually cut corners exactly there. Our window flashing guide explains what proper detailing looks like.

What a SilverLine bay window quote includes

Our process has two measures built into it, because bay windows punish guesswork. First a rough measure at the quote stage, where we check the opening, the condition of the seat and any signs of water damage. Then, after you order, a final measure where the installer confirms every dimension before your windows go into production at our shop.

The installed price covers removal and disposal of the old unit, the new manufactured-in-BC window units, insulation and sealing of the full assembly, exterior flashing and trim, interior finishing, and cleanup. Because we build the windows ourselves, there is no dealer markup layered between the factory and your wall, and warranty questions have one phone number: ours.

How to keep the cost down

A few honest ways to land at the lower end of the range:

Keep the existing opening size. The moment framing changes, cost jumps.
Choose a standard three-panel layout over a custom four-panel or bow configuration.
Put triple glazing where it pays (north-facing, noisy street) rather than everywhere by default.
Bundle the bay with other windows. Replacing several units in one visit spreads the crew and travel cost across the whole job.
Book for late fall or winter. Our install calendar is quieter and lead times are shorter. Vinyl installs fine in cold weather.

On rebates: energy-efficiency programs from BC Hydro and CleanBC change their rules and funding windows often, so check what is currently available before you order. ENERGY STAR certified windows are the usual requirement, and everything we manufacture can be built to qualify.

Is a bay window worth the money?

For the right room, yes. A bay adds usable space and light from three directions instead of one. On a front elevation it changes how the whole house reads from the street. Buyers notice them.

There are rooms where we talk people out of it. If furniture would block the seat, or a tight side yard means the projection crowds a walkway, the money is better spent upgrading glazing across the whole house. We have been doing this since 2007. Selling you the wrong window is not worth a review that drags down the 4.5 stars we hold across 107 Google reviews.

Bay window cost FAQs

How much does a bay window cost in Canada?

Across Canada, installed vinyl bay windows generally run $2,000 to $7,500 depending on size and how much structural work the install needs. In Metro Vancouver, expect $2,800 to $4,000 for a small unit and $3,500 to $5,500 for a standard three-panel bay. Labour rates and our wet-climate flashing requirements push local pricing toward the middle of the national range.

How much is a 5 foot bay window?

A 5 foot vinyl bay window in the Lower Mainland typically costs $3,000 to $4,500 installed with double glazing. Triple glazing adds roughly $600 to $1,200 across the three panels.

Does a bay window add value to a home?

A bay window improves curb appeal and makes rooms feel larger, both of which help at resale. The stronger case is comfort: a new bay eliminates the drafts and cold seat that plague original 1980s units, and the condensation that fogs them up every November. Value depends on the home, but a failing bay window definitely subtracts from it.

Do I need a permit to replace a bay window in BC?

A same-size replacement in an existing opening usually needs no permit in most Metro Vancouver municipalities. Cutting a new opening, enlarging one, or adding a projecting structure to a flat wall usually does. Rules vary by city, so confirm with your municipal building department, or ask us during the quote and we will flag it.

How long does bay window installation take?

A straightforward replacement takes our crew most of one day. Add time if we find rot in the seat framing or if the job includes new exterior finishing. Custom manufacturing at our Port Coquitlam shop runs a few weeks from final measure to install date.

Can I replace a bay window with a regular flat window?

Yes. The projection comes off, the wall gets framed flush, and a picture window or casement combination fills the opening. It costs less than a new bay and suits some homes better. The exterior cladding needs patching where the bay was, which is the main added cost.

Get a real number for your home

Online ranges only get you so far. A ten-minute look at your opening gets you an exact price. SilverLine Exteriors has manufactured and installed windows across the Lower Mainland since 2007, with 9 HomeStars awards and an A+ BBB rating to show for it. Our shop is at Unit 5, 1560 Broadway St in Port Coquitlam, about 15 minutes from Coquitlam Centre and half an hour from most of Burnaby and East Vancouver.

Call 604-942-0488 or request a free quote through our window replacement page. We will measure, check the framing under your old bay, and give you a written price that holds.

Basement Window Replacement | Real Vancouver Costs, Egress & BC Code Basics | SilverLine Exteriors

August 5, 2026/in Uncategorized/by Aimee

Walk down any side street in Burnaby or East Vancouver and count the basement suites. Half the houses on the block have one. Most of those suites still have the original aluminum slider windows from the 1970s, set straight into the concrete with a single pane of glass and no real flashing. We pull these out every week, and the story repeats: condensation running down the glass from October to April, mould creeping into the frame corners, and a tenant downstairs who keeps the heat cranked because cold air pours through the track.

The good news is that basement window replacement costs less than most homeowners expect. The majority of basement windows we replace across Metro Vancouver land at the lower end of our standard range, roughly $800 to $1,000 per window installed for double glazed vinyl, because basement openings are smaller than the picture windows upstairs. This guide covers real local pricing, the BC Building Code rules that matter for basement bedrooms, and what the replacement process looks like when the window sits in a concrete foundation wall.

Why basement windows fail faster in the Lower Mainland

Parts of the Tri-Cities see close to 2,000 millimetres of rain a year. Our shop in Port Coquitlam sits in one of the wettest pockets of Metro Vancouver, so we see what that moisture does to windows at or below grade. A basement window lives a harder life than any other window in the house. It sits closest to wet soil, collects splashback from rain hitting the ground, and serves the most humid room in the home.

Old aluminum frames make it worse. Aluminum conducts cold straight through the frame, so warm indoor air hits a freezing metal surface and condenses. In a basement suite where someone cooks, showers, and dries laundry, that condensation never gets a chance to dry out. The result is black mould along the bottom track and rot in any wood bucks around the opening.

If your basement windows fog up between the panes, that means the sealed unit has failed and the insulating gas is gone. Single panes that sweat, frames that have visible mould, and sliders that no longer move are all signs the window is done. Our guide on when to replace windows walks through the full checklist.

What basement window replacement costs in Metro Vancouver

Here are the installed price ranges we quote for basement window replacement, based on our current pricing across the Lower Mainland:

Replacement type	Installed price range
Double glazed vinyl basement window	$800 – $1,000 per window
Triple glazed vinyl basement window	$1,000 – $1,400 per window
Enlarging an opening for egress	Quoted per project (concrete cutting is extra)

Because basement windows run smaller than main floor windows, they often come in at or below the bottom of those ranges. A typical basement slider might be 48 by 24 inches, a fraction of the glass area in a living room picture window.

Two things push the price up. The first is enlarging the opening, which means cutting concrete. That work needs a permit and a concrete cutting contractor, and it turns a one hour job into a multi-day project. The second is rot repair. When water has been getting past a failed window for years, the framing around the opening sometimes needs rebuilding before the new window goes in.

For a full breakdown of window pricing across every window type, see our window replacement cost Vancouver guide.

Can you just replace the glass?

Sometimes. If the frame is sound vinyl and only the sealed unit has fogged, a glass-only swap costs a fraction of a full replacement. We measure the unit, order matching glass, and exchange it in the existing frame in about twenty minutes.

The honest answer for most basement windows, though, is that glass replacement is a patch. If the frame is 40-year-old aluminum, new glass in a cold conductive frame still sweats, still leaks air through the track, and still sits in an opening with no proper seal to the concrete. You pay twice: once for the glass now and again for the full replacement a few years later. When the frame is the problem, replace the whole window. When a newer vinyl frame has one failed unit, replace the glass. We quote both options and tell you which one we would pick for our own house.

American cost guides will mislead you

Search this topic and the top results quote US national averages, in US dollars, for prefab windows bought off the shelf at a hardware store. Those numbers do not translate to the Lower Mainland. Prefab sizing is the bigger problem. Basement openings in older BC homes were formed on site when the foundation was poured, so almost none of them match a standard catalogue size.

This is where manufacturing our own windows changes the math. We build every window to the exact millimetre of your opening at our Port Coquitlam facility. No furring down an oversized rough opening, no gaps packed with foam around an undersized prefab unit. The window fits the concrete opening you already have, whatever odd dimensions the original forming crew left behind.

Egress rules for basement bedrooms in BC

If the basement has a bedroom, the window rules change from optional to mandatory. The BC Building Code requires every bedroom without a sprinkler system to have an escape window that opens from the inside without tools. The unobstructed opening must be at least 0.35 square metres, with no dimension less than 380 millimetres.

Those numbers matter for anyone renting out a basement suite. A tiny slider tucked up near the ceiling might light the room, but if a person cannot climb out through it during a fire, the room is not a legal bedroom. Since the province pushed municipalities to legalize secondary suites across BC, we get more egress calls than ever from homeowners who want their suite done right.

Where the window opens into a window well, the code also requires clearance in front of the window so a person can climb out. We cover the full sizing rules, well requirements, and municipal permit quirks in our egress window guide for BC.

Choosing the right style for a basement opening

Standard basement window sizes in older Lower Mainland homes tend toward wide and short, often 32 to 48 inches across and 16 to 24 inches tall. That shape limits which styles work well. These are the four we install most:

Sliders are the workhorse. They suit wide, short openings, cost less than crank windows, and the opening can count toward egress when sized correctly.
Hopper windows hinge at the bottom and tilt inward. Good for ventilation in laundry areas, but the tilt blocks the opening, so they rarely qualify for egress.
Awning windows hinge at the top and swing out, so you can leave them cracked open in the rain. In a climate with our winters, that matters for managing suite humidity.
Casement windows crank fully open and give the largest clear opening for their size, which makes them the easiest route to meeting egress numbers in a tight space.

For most basement suites we recommend vinyl frames without hesitation. Vinyl does not conduct cold the way aluminum does, never rusts, and shrugs off the damp. Our vinyl windows guide covers the material in depth.

How the replacement works

Most basement window installation work is retrofit. The new window goes into the existing opening, so nobody touches the concrete. Here is the process we follow on every job:

A rough measure during your free quote gives us working dimensions and a firm price.
After you book, our installer returns for a final measure and records the opening to the millimetre, including how square the old concrete forming left it.
Your windows are built to those exact dimensions at our Port Coquitlam facility.
On install day, the crew removes the old unit, preps and seals the opening, sets the new window, and insulates the perimeter.

A straightforward basement window swap takes our crew about an hour to ninety minutes per window. The sealing step deserves the most attention. On a below-grade window, the exterior seal is the only thing standing between your framing and months of splashback, so we do not rush it.

The moisture detail most installers skip

Water management separates a basement window that lasts 25 years from one that rots out its opening in five. The window itself is only half the job. Sloping the exterior sealant so water sheds away from the frame, sealing the gap between frame and concrete with the right product, and leaving weep paths clear all determine whether rain ends up in your framing.

We see the shortcuts when we remove old windows: caulking smeared over a gap with no backer rod, insulation stuffed into a cavity with no air seal, weep holes painted shut. In a region this wet, those shortcuts surface as rot within a few winters. Nearly 20 years of pulling out other people’s mistakes has made our crews particular about this step.

New basement windows with energy-efficient glass may also qualify for provincial rebate programs through BC Hydro or CleanBC. Programs change, so check what’s active before you sign a contract.

Why homeowners across Metro Vancouver call us

SilverLine has been replacing windows in the Lower Mainland since 2007. We hold 9 HomeStars awards, a BBB A+ rating, and 107 Google reviews averaging 4.5 stars. Because we manufacture our own windows, your basement window comes from our facility on Broadway Street in Port Coquitlam, not from a distributor’s catalogue three provinces away.

That matters twice over for basement work. Odd-sized concrete openings need made-to-measure windows, and warranty claims get resolved by the people who built the window, not routed through a middleman. Our window replacement service covers every city from Vancouver to Langley.

Frequently asked questions

How much does basement window replacement cost in Vancouver?

Most basement windows we install run $800 to $1,000 for double glazed vinyl, installed. Triple glazed runs $1,000 to $1,400. Smaller openings come in at the low end. Enlarging an opening for egress costs more because it involves concrete cutting and a permit.

Do I need a permit to replace a basement window in BC?

A like-for-like replacement in the existing opening usually does not need a permit in most Lower Mainland municipalities. Enlarging the opening, changing its location, or cutting a new opening in the foundation is structural work and does need one. Rules vary by city, so we confirm requirements for your municipality during the quote.

Can you replace a basement window without cutting the concrete?

Yes, as long as the new window is the same size as the old one. We build the replacement to match your existing opening exactly, so the concrete stays untouched. Cutting only enters the picture when you want a bigger window or need to meet egress size for a bedroom.

What size does a basement bedroom window need to be in BC?

The BC Building Code requires bedroom escape windows to provide an unobstructed opening of at least 0.35 square metres with no dimension under 380 millimetres, openable from inside without tools. The window style affects whether the full opening counts, since hoppers and some sliders block part of their own opening.

How long does basement window replacement take?

About an hour to ninety minutes per window for a retrofit install. A whole-basement project with four or five windows is done in a day. Projects that involve concrete cutting or rot repair take longer, and we tell you before work starts.

Are vinyl windows the best choice for basements?

For nearly every basement in the Lower Mainland, yes. Vinyl frames do not conduct cold, so they cut the condensation problem that plagues aluminum basement windows. They also stand up to damp without rust or rot. We manufacture our vinyl windows locally, which is why we back them without hesitation.

Get a free basement window quote

If your basement windows fog, sweat, or leak cold air into your suite, call us at 604-942-0488 or request a free quote online. We measure, build, and install from right here in Port Coquitlam, and we have been doing it for nearly 20 years.

What Is a Casement Window? | Pros, Cons & Best Uses | SilverLine Exteriors

August 4, 2026/in Uncategorized/by Aimee

A casement window is a window hinged at the side that swings outward like a door, opened and closed with a crank handle. When you close it, the locking hardware pulls the sash tight against the frame, which is why casements seal better than any other operating window style. We manufacture casement windows in our Port Coquitlam shop, and they outsell every other operating style we build. In a region that gets 160-plus days of rain a year, that compression seal is the reason.

This guide covers how casement windows work, what the parts are called, what they cost in Metro Vancouver in 2026, and where they make sense in your home. We install them every week from Langley to West Vancouver, so the advice here comes from job sites, not a catalogue.

How a casement window works

The sash (the part that holds the glass) attaches to the frame with hinges on the left or right side. A crank at the bottom of the frame connects to an operating arm. Turn the crank one way and the arm pushes the sash outward, up to about 90 degrees on most of our units. Turn it the other way and the sash pulls back in.

The part most people miss is the lock. A casement lock is a lever on the side of the frame that engages one or more locking points along the sash. When you flip it closed, it compresses the weatherstripping between sash and frame the way a fridge door compresses its gasket. Sliding and hung windows can’t do this. Their sashes have to stay loose enough to slide, so there is always a small air path. A locked casement has none.

That single difference explains most of what makes casements the tightest-sealing operable window. You feel it as fewer drafts and less street noise, and you see it when sideways November rain stays outside where it belongs.

Casement window parts, in plain language

Frame: the fixed outer box, made up of the head jamb (top), side jambs, and sill (bottom).
Sash: the moving part that holds the glass.
Hinges: mounted at the top and bottom of the sash so they stay out of your sightline.
Crank (operator): the folding handle that opens and closes the window. This is the part that wears out first.
Operating arm: the metal arm that transfers the crank’s motion to the sash.
Lock and keeper: the lever and catch that pull the sash tight to the frame.
Screen: sits on the inside, since the sash swings out. It pops out for cleaning.

When a 15 or 20 year old casement stops closing properly, the culprit is almost always the operator or the hinges, not the sash. We see corroded cranks constantly in homes near the Fraser River and in White Rock, where salt air speeds things up. Sometimes a hardware swap fixes it. If the seal between the panes has failed too (you’ll see fog inside the glass), replacement usually makes more sense than repair.

Why casements suit Vancouver homes

Our climate is hard on windows in a specific way. It rarely gets very cold here, but it stays damp for six months at a stretch, and the rain arrives sideways on a southeast wind. A window style that seals by compression handles that better than one that seals by overlap.

Condensation is the other local issue. From roughly October to March, indoor moisture hits cold glass and fogs it up. A tightly sealed casement with double or triple glazing keeps the inner pane warmer, which cuts condensation at the source. We wrote more about glazing in our guide to what window glazing is if you want the full picture.

Ventilation matters here too. Casements open fully, and an open sash angled into a breeze scoops air into the house. On a July evening in a top-floor Burnaby condo or a Coquitlam upstairs bedroom, that catches the wind better than a slider opened halfway.

Casement window pros

The seal is the headline. Casements are the most airtight operable window you can buy, which shows up on your heating bill and in winter comfort near the glass.

The view is next. There is no rail across the middle of the glass, so you get one uninterrupted pane. Homeowners with mountain or water views almost always pick casements or fixed windows for the rooms that face them.

A few more, from years of installing them:

One-handed operation. The crank takes almost no effort, so casements work over kitchen sinks and behind counters where you’d strain to lift a hung sash.
Security. Multi-point locks anchor the sash at several spots along the frame, and there is no exposed sliding track to pry.
Full-opening egress. Because the entire sash swings clear, a casement gives you the largest escape opening for its size. That is why they are the standard answer for bedroom windows that need to meet BC egress requirements. Our egress window guide covers the exact size rules.
Interior screens. The screen stays on the inside, protected from weather, and comes out in seconds for cleaning.

Casement window cons

We sell a lot of casements, but they are the wrong choice in some spots, and it saves everyone time to say so up front.

They swing outward, so anything within about 60 cm of the wall gets in the way. Walkways along the side of the house and shrubs planted tight to the foundation both create conflicts, and so does deck furniture pushed against the wall. For openings onto a busy side path we usually suggest a slider or an awning window instead.

Window air conditioners don’t fit. A casement opening is tall and narrow, and the sash can’t hold a unit. If a portable AC with a vent hose is part of your summer plan, tell us at the quote stage and we’ll design around it.

The crank is a wear item. It’s an inexpensive part and we stock replacements, but a slider has nothing equivalent to wear out.

Cost runs slightly higher than a slider of the same size because of the hardware. The gap is smaller than most people expect, and the energy performance usually pays it back.

Casement vs sliding, awning, and double hung windows

A casement hinges at the side and cranks outward. An awning window is its sibling: hinged at the top, opening outward from the bottom, so you can leave it open in the rain. The two get combined constantly, with awnings below or above fixed glass. Our guide to casement and awning windows goes deeper on pairing them.

Sliders open horizontally on a track. They cost a bit less, never conflict with the outside of the house, and accept AC units, but they seal by overlap and always leak a little more air. We compared them head to head in sliding vs casement windows.

Double hung windows, with two vertical sliding sashes, are common in Ontario and the US but rare in new BC installs. Around here the same opening is usually filled with a casement or a single slider. If you’re weighing all the options, our window styles page lays out the full lineup we build.

What does a casement window cost in Metro Vancouver?

From our own 2026 quotes, supplied and installed:

Casement window type	Installed price range
Double glazed casement	$800 to $1,000 per window
Triple glazed casement	$1,000 to $1,400 per window

Size and floor height move the number within those bands, and so does what we find under the old window. A ground-floor swap in a 1990s Coquitlam townhouse sits at the low end. A large second-storey unit in a 1970s West Vancouver home with rot repair sits at the top.

Because we build the windows ourselves, there is no distributor margin in the middle, and lead times stay short since the product ships from Broadway Street in Port Coquitlam rather than a plant back east. Full pricing by window type is in our Vancouver window replacement cost guide. Rebates come and go, so check current BC Hydro and CleanBC programs before you sign anything; energy-efficient casements often qualify.

Casement window sizes

Casements run tall and narrow. Practical sash widths top out around 30 inches, because past that the hardware carries too much weight on an open sash and wind load becomes a problem. Common single-unit sizes fall between roughly 18 by 24 inches and 30 by 60 inches.

Wider openings get combinations instead of one big sash: two casements mulled together, or casements flanking a fixed picture window. That flanked layout is what most people picture in a living room, and it is also how bay and bow windows are typically built. Since every window leaves our shop made to order, we build to your rough opening rather than forcing the opening to match a stock size. Older Vancouver homes are rarely square, and custom sizing is what keeps the reveal lines even.

Where casements work best in a house

Kitchens, first. The window over the sink is the classic casement spot because you can open it with one hand at full reach.

Bedrooms, for two reasons: egress compliance and fine control over night airflow. Crank it open two inches for a cool room or swing it wide on a hot night.

Living rooms with a view, where the clean pane earns its keep. Bathrooms also do well with casements, though we often spec an awning window there so it can stay open in the rain while you shower.

Skip them beside walkways and anywhere a window AC unit is part of the plan.

Frequently asked questions

What is the point of a casement window?

Maximum seal and maximum opening from one window. The crank-and-lock design compresses weatherstripping for the tightest seal of any operable window, and the sash swings fully clear for ventilation and emergency escape.

Are casement windows more expensive?

Slightly. The crank and multi-point lock add hardware cost over a slider. In our 2026 pricing a double glazed casement runs $800 to $1,000 installed, roughly 10 to 15 percent above a comparable slider. Lower air leakage claws some of that back every heating season.

Do casement windows leak more?

The opposite. A properly installed casement is the tightest operable window against both air and wind-driven rain. When a casement does leak, the cause is usually failed weatherstripping, a worn lock that no longer pulls the sash tight, or an installation problem around the frame rather than the window style itself.

How long do casement windows last?

A quality vinyl casement lasts 25 to 30 years in the Lower Mainland. Cranks and hinges may need replacement around year 15 or 20, sooner near salt air. Fog between the glass panes means the sealed unit is done; at that point compare the repair quote against replacement before spending money on old frames.

Can you get a screen on a casement window?

Yes. The screen mounts on the inside, since the sash swings outward. Interior screens stay cleaner than exterior ones and pop out without tools.

Do casement windows meet BC egress requirements for bedrooms?

They are the easiest style to make compliant. The BC Building Code requires bedroom escape openings of at least 0.35 square metres with no dimension under 380 mm, and a casement’s full-swing sash reaches that in a smaller frame than a slider, where only half the width opens. We confirm egress sizing on every bedroom window at the final measure.

Talk to the people who build them

Most window companies in Metro Vancouver order casements from a factory somewhere else and mark them up. We make ours at Unit 5, 1560 Broadway St in Port Coquitlam, which is why we can size to the centimetre and answer hardware questions from the people who assembled the window. It is also why the 25-year warranty is easy to stand behind.

SilverLine has installed windows across the Lower Mainland since 2007. Nearly 20 years in, we hold 9 HomeStars awards and a BBB A+ rating, with 107 Google reviews at 4.5 stars. If you’re weighing casements against another style, call 604-942-0488 or request a free quote through our window replacement page. We’ll tell you where casements make sense in your house, and where they don’t.

Archive for month: August, 2026

The quick answer, by the numbers

What Metro Vancouver’s climate does to vinyl windows

Lifespan by component: what wears out first

How vinyl compares with other frame materials

The five things that shorten a vinyl window’s life

1. Poor installation

2. Thin, unreinforced extrusions

3. Cheap glass units

4. Blocked weep holes

5. Sun-baked gaskets on south walls

How to get 30+ years out of your vinyl windows

Repair or replace? The honest math

What the warranty tells you about lifespan

Why the manufacturer matters more than the brochure

Frequently asked questions

How long do vinyl windows last in Canada?

How often should vinyl windows be replaced?

What is the downside of vinyl windows?

Is it cheaper to replace all windows at once?

Do dark or black vinyl windows wear out faster?

Can you replace just the glass instead of the whole window?

The bottom line

Quick answer: which one do you need?

A note on terminology in BC

What insert (retrofit) window replacement is

When insert replacement is the right call

What full frame window replacement is

When full frame is the right call

Side by side comparison

Real numbers for the Lower Mainland

Why this decision is different in Metro Vancouver

Your cladding decides more than you think

The vinyl frame problem

Strata buildings

Permits in the Lower Mainland

How we decide on your house

What to ask before you sign

FAQ

Is full frame window replacement worth the extra cost in Vancouver?

How much glass do I lose with insert window replacement?

Can I mix both methods on the same house?

Does insert replacement still improve energy efficiency?

Do I need a permit to replace windows in Coquitlam or Vancouver?

Why do vinyl windows always need full frame replacement?

How long does each method take?

Get a straight answer on your house

What window trim is (and what each piece is called)

Interior window trim styles

Modern flat casing

Craftsman trim

Colonial casing

Shaker and farmhouse trim

Drywall return (no trim)

Exterior window trim styles

Flat stock trim

Brick mould

Craftsman surround

Aluminum-capped trim

Contrast trim

Trim materials: what survives BC weather

What trim work costs in Metro Vancouver

What happens to your trim during a window replacement

Matching trim to Metro Vancouver housing stock

Frequently asked questions

What are the different styles of window trim?

What type of trim is best for windows?

What kind of window trim is popular now?

What are the different types of window sill trim?

Do new windows come with new trim?

Can I change my trim style without replacing my windows?

Talk to the people who build the windows

Can you get vinyl windows in black?

What black vinyl windows cost in Metro Vancouver

Are black windows still in style in 2026?

Do black vinyl windows fade or warp? The honest answer

Black outside, white inside

What black frames pair with

Are black windows less energy efficient?

Why ordering from a local manufacturer matters for black windows