Window replacement costs in Spartanburg

Spartanburg's older neighborhoods put lead-paint rules at the center of a window job. Four in ten Spartanburg-area houses went up before 1980, one in six before 1960, and about 7 percent by 1939.

South Carolina isn't on EPA's list of states that certify lead-safe renovators themselves, so the federal rule applies here directly. It covers paid work on homes built before 1978.

That rule singles out windows. Small jobs that disturb only a little painted surface can count as minor repair and fall outside the rule. Window replacement can't. EPA says replacing a window of any size, even one under six square feet, is a renovation. So on a house from the 1950s, even one small kitchen window calls for a certified firm and lead-safe work practices.

A sash swap is treated differently. EPA says taking out a sash by unscrewing hinges or releasing it from a jamb liner isn't window replacement, so that kind of fix may fit the minor-repair definition if little paint gets disturbed. If your old frames are sound and only a sash has failed, ask whether a sash replacement would do.