Window replacement costs in Provo

Provo's houses are young. Most of the metro's housing, 55 percent, is from this century, and a 2002 house sits right at the median. Newer houses still raise window questions, and two Utah rules shape the answers.

Utah wrote a rule for older bedrooms with small windows. The state's amendments to the residential code say an existing bedroom whose egress window is smaller than today's code requires doesn't have to be changed if it met the code in effect when the bedroom was finished and the change would compromise the structure or couldn't meet other rules, like setbacks and window wells. If you're finishing a basement bedroom now, though, plan on a code-size egress window and well.

Utah also wrote its own energy chapter. The statewide amendments delete the residential code's energy chapter and replace it with a short Utah version. Under its prescriptive table, windows and glazed doors that enclose heated or cooled space must rate 0.32 or lower. That number measures how fast heat leaks through the glass and frame, so lower means warmer rooms in January.

Look for the U-factor on each unit's label and hold it to the 0.32 line. And ask whether any basement window is being sized for egress or simply swapped.