Retrofit vs brick-to-brick window installation

Retrofit leaves the existing frame in the wall and fits the new window inside it. Brick-to-brick removes the old frame entirely, back to the masonry opening, and installs a complete new frame.

Retrofit is the right call whenever the existing frame is structurally sound — which, in our experience, is most of the time. Brick-to-brick is the right call when the frame is rotted, when the opening has water damage, or when you want back the glass area a retrofit gives up.

Brick-to-brick adds $250 to $450 per opening over a retrofit.

What retrofit actually involves

The old sash and glass come out. The existing frame stays. The new window — a complete unit with its own frame — is fitted inside the opening the old frame leaves behind, sealed, insulated with low-expansion foam, and trimmed.

It is faster, it is cheaper, and it disturbs your interior finishes far less. Plaster, wood trim and wallpaper around the opening usually survive untouched, which matters a great deal in an older home where the trim is original.

The cost is glass area. Because the new frame sits inside the old one, you lose roughly one to two inches on each dimension. On a large picture window that is barely noticeable. On a small basement or bathroom window it can be the difference between meeting the egress clear-opening requirement and not.

What brick-to-brick actually involves

Everything comes out — sash, glass and frame — back to the structural opening. On a masonry wall that means back to the brick itself. A complete new frame goes in, gets flashed and insulated, and the exterior is re-capped in aluminium.

This is the correct method when:

• The existing frame is rotted or water-damaged. You cannot seal a new unit into a frame that is failing; you are building on a bad foundation and the warranty on the installation is worth very little.
• There is evidence of water entry — staining on the interior trim, soft wood at the sill, efflorescence on the brick below the opening.
• You want to recover the glass area a retrofit costs you, usually because the opening is small and the room is dark, or because an egress requirement is marginal.
• The opening is being resized — though note that changing opening dimensions triggers a building permit in every GTA and Waterloo Region municipality.

How to tell which one you need

You mostly cannot tell from inside, and neither can anyone quoting over the phone. The frame condition is behind the trim and under the sill.

What we do at the estimate is check the sill for softness, look for staining and separation at the joints, check whether the frame is still square, and look at the exterior for signs of water tracking. On a pre-1930 house we also check whether there is continuous framing at all — many solid-masonry Toronto and Kitchener houses have no proper rough-opening buck, which means “brick-to-brick” exposes an irregular masonry reveal rather than a clean stud opening, and the frame has to be built to fit it.

The thing to watch for in a quote

Brick-to-brick is more expensive, so there is an obvious incentive to recommend it whether or not it is needed. A quote that specifies brick-to-brick on every opening in a house, without a stated reason for each, is worth questioning.

We tell you which method each opening needs during the estimate, in front of you, with the reason. We do not recommend brick-to-brick on a frame that does not need it — and on a typical whole-home project, most openings do not.