Simple Window Replacement Goes Full Blown

We came upon quite a surprise when we were originally contracted to replace a window the customer had purchased. He had noticed some rot on the window and wanted it replaced.

But...apparently two years prior, a big roofing company had replaced our customer's roof and left a gaping hole in the step falshing in the most critical spot. Water has been pouring inside the wall for at least two years.

We methodically removed the siding and saved it. We threw away the sheathing and window. That's when the full extent of the rotting could be withheld. The customer was overwhelmed. We quickly re-assessed the job and gave hime a fair bid which he reluctanly accepted because winter was on it's way. I felt very bad for him.

We advised the customer he should hold the roofer accountable. He tried but the manager they sent just passed the buck onto the original builders saying, "That was already there."

I went to bat for the customer and beleaguered the fact that a qualified roofer would not have let this by without informing the customer and that the bottom line was they missed it altogether. Eventually they caved and gave him $200. Wow!

We Delivered the materials and went right to work, until 8 p.m. that night. We were on the job first thing and got all the affected areas either replaced or treated with wood petrifier. The key to keeping his costs down was leaving the interior wall undisturbed. Fortunately all went well and we were successful.

We replaced the king & jack studs, the header and sill, and insulation, sheathing and Tyvek'd over the patch. Re-using most of his siding was another cost saving measure.

There was a window well and several pipes protruding that had to be cut-in and all-in-all this job was involved to say the least!

Special care was taken to ensure that his step flashing was done in such a way that this would never happen again.

Having met winter head on and ultimately replacing the window with an exact duplicate that the customer had competently purchased, once again our motto: "If it looks bad on the outside, it is 10 times worse on the inside." did not get the better of us this time either.