Window replacement costs in Pensacola

Pensacola's old front-porch windows were built to walk through. The city's preservation district design guidelines say the windows opening onto the porch in the Pensacola Historic District were usually triple-hung, with sills close to the floor, for air and for passage out to the porch. The other windows sat about 30 inches off the floor.

New windows in that district follow strict rules. They're to be wood and, in the Architectural Review Board's judgment, closely match the original scale and layout. Sashes typically carry two to six panes, usually six-over-six on a double-hung, and every window gets true divided lites. Standard windows run two to two and a half times as tall as they are wide.

Storms test all of it. When Ivan came ashore just west of Gulf Shores in September 2004, the highest official wind report in the country came from Pensacola Naval Air Station: 76 knots sustained, gusting to 93. Thousands of homes in Escambia County and its two coastal neighbors were damaged or destroyed.

If a window breaks, the city's code gives you a window of time. Plywood can cover a damaged window or door for up to two weeks. When a natural disaster did the damage, it can stay up for as long as six months while you arrange the repair.