Window replacement costs in New Haven

New Haven sits on Long Island Sound, and the water softens its weather. On average it sees only about 4 days a year above 90 degrees and about 1 below zero, NOAA's Connecticut numbers show, and the coast gets warmer winters and a longer frost-free season than inland towns.

The houses are the bigger story. The median home in the New Haven metro dates from 1963, about a quarter predate 1940, and roughly seven in ten predate 1980. One in ten homes sits in a building with three or four units, so a whole-building window job can mean a lot of openings.

Age brings lead into the job. Connecticut doesn't run its own lead-renovation program. EPA runs it here, so in New Haven the federal rules apply directly. Any firm paid to disturb paint in a home built before 1978 has to be certified, sole proprietors included, and an uncertified firm can't even advertise that work.

If you have small children, that matters even more. EPA singles out surfaces that rub, like window sills, as places where worn lead paint turns into chips and dust.