Window replacement costs in Tulsa

Tulsa's houses carry some age. Some 47 percent of the Tulsa metro's housing predates 1980, and close to 7 percent goes back before 1940, the Census Bureau estimates.

For a house in one of the neighborhoods with historic preservation zoning, such as Gillette or Yorktown, any exterior change or repair needs an HP permit from the Tulsa Preservation Commission first, even when the job doesn't need a building permit. For windows, the commission asks for a window survey. You number every window you want to replace on a site plan, photograph each one inside and out, and rate its condition, along with the design and materials of the old and new windows. The form says a window that's painted shut, has broken glass or a broken sash cord isn't necessarily grounds for approving a replacement. Windows at the back that can't be seen from an abutting street aren't reviewed.

Age brings lead, too, and in Oklahoma the state runs that program. With EPA's sign-off, Oklahoma runs its own lead-safe renovation program, so the Department of Environmental Quality, not EPA, certifies the firms and renovators who disturb paint in older homes. DEQ says its program is, for the most part, identical to EPA's.