If a window in your home is cracked, drafty, fogged, or hard to open, the first question is not who to call. It is whether the window is worth saving. Lifetime Windows & Doors does not repair windows. We replace them, and we have done that for Oregon and SW Washington homeowners since 1998. That means we have no reason to talk you into work you do not need, and we will tell you plainly when a window has life left in it.
Signs a Window Is Failing
Windows rarely fail all at once. They get worse slowly, and most homeowners stop noticing. If any of these sound familiar, the window is telling you something:
- Excess condensation, fog between the panes, or leaking
- Windows are hard to open or close
- More insects are getting indoors
- The windows are drafty or cold to stand near
- Your utility bills are climbing without a change in habits
- There is visible damage to the frame or sash
Should I Repair or Replace My Window?
Some problems are worth repairing, and a good handyman or glazier can handle them: a broken crank, worn weatherstripping, failed caulk, a single cracked pane in an otherwise sound frame. What repair cannot fix is a failed seal. Once the gas between the panes escapes, the window has lost the insulating property it was built for, and no amount of work restores it. Fogging between the panes is the clearest sign, and it is the point where repair stops being the cheaper answer. The same is true of a rotted or racked frame. If you are not sure which you have, we will look and tell you.
What Lifetime Does, and What We Do Not
We are a replacement company. We do not offer a repair service, and we would rather say so up front than book an appointment under a different name. If your window can be repaired, we will tell you that, and you will not hear from us again unless you want to. If it cannot, we install replacement windows across Bend, Portland, Vancouver and Salem, with our own crews on windows and doors, and we have done it since 1998. The in-home estimate is free and there is no obligation attached to it. Request a free, in-home estimate
Why Replacement Usually Wins on a Failed Window
A repair returns a window to working order. A replacement changes what the window costs you every month. Modern double- and triple-pane units insulate far better than a twenty-year-old unit ever did when it was new, so the rooms stop being cold to sit in and the heating system stops fighting the wall it is heating. That shows up on the utility bill rather than in a one-time invoice.
There is a second reason worth naming honestly: repairs on a failed window tend to repeat. Paying twice for a repair that did not hold, and then replacing the window anyway, is the most expensive version of this decision. When a window has failed at the seal or the frame, replacing it once is usually cheaper over any timeline longer than a couple of years. When it has not, repair is the right answer and we will say so.