Window replacement costs in Baltimore

Close to three in ten homes in the Baltimore metro are attached single-family houses, the rowhouse and townhouse kind. If yours sits in one of Baltimore City's historic districts, the preservation commission, CHAP, has a say over its windows, and its guidelines name lead as one reason a window can go.

Its design guidelines let replacement be considered when a historic window is a lead-based paint hazard on its friction or impact surfaces, the spots that rub or knock as the sash moves. The guidelines also spell out how. Where the sashes are beyond repair, keep and repair the frames and fit new sashes, get rid of the friction or impact surfaces that tested positive for lead, and match the amount of glass in the original.

A replacement has to fill the original opening and copy the profiles of the sash, frame and muntins. Insulated glass and clear low-E coatings are generally fine. Snap-on grilles and grilles between the glass generally aren't.

The guidelines also ask you to keep a Baltimore fixture, the painted window screen, and not to cut a sash or frame to fit an air conditioner. And the contractor who handles lead paint must be certified by the Maryland Department of the Environment and accredited by EPA.