“Every window in the front of the house opens again. Rosie wrote down the hours for each one before anyone touched a sash.”
Allyson K.Italianate house, Midtown
Window sash and trim restoration · Kingston, New York
Old windows, repaired instead of replaced
Pollard Sash & Trim repairs, reglazes and repaints the wood windows and trim of Kingston's old houses: sashes that stick, panes that rattle, sills gone soft. We bill by the hour, and every estimate lists the hours by person.
Who does the work
Hours are billed by who does the work
A window can't be priced from the street, so we estimate hours and bill hours. Here is who does the work; your estimate lists the hours of each.
Lead craftsperson
Rosie Pollard looks at every window, writes the hour estimate and does the joinery herself.
- The site visit and the written estimate
- Splices, repairs and joinery
- The final fit and sign-off
Journeyman
Solomon Avery strips, reglazes, primes and paints, and fits new cord and weatherstrip.
- Reglazing and priming
- Painting, two coats
- Cord, weatherstrip and tuning
Apprentice
Himari Tanaka protects the room, takes sashes out and back in, and wet-scrapes and vacuums.
- Room protection and cleanup
- Sash removal and rehanging, with a lead
- Scraping and vacuuming
The estimate lists hours by person, the rate for each person, materials and anything left out, and Rosie calls before the hours go over.
What we restore
Four kinds of work, one kind of house
We work on wood. If your house still has its original sashes, casings and porch trim, this is the work we do.
Double-hung sashes
Freed, repaired, reglazed, painted and hung again on new cord, one window or the whole house.
Casings, sills and stops
Soft wood cut out and spliced, joints closed, sills made to shed water again.
Storm sashes and screens
Wood storms repaired and painted, so the windows have a second layer in winter.
Doors, brackets and porch trim
The carved and turned parts that make an old house look like itself.
Why hours
A window can't be priced by the square foot
What an old window needs is under the paint, and you can't see it from the sidewalk. So we look at it, probe the wood, and write down the hours the work should take.
You are billed for the hours worked. If rot turns out worse than it looked, you hear from us before the hours change, not on the final bill.
A written hour estimate before work starts
A call before the hours go up
Materials listed on the bill, not folded into the rate
One sash, start to finish
Six steps, in the order we do them
- 01
Step 1: Look and list
We probe the wood, count the panes and write down what each window needs.
- 02
Step 2: Take it out
The sash comes out and a temporary panel closes the opening, so the room stays closed up.
- 03
Step 3: Scrape and vacuum
Paint is wet-scraped and vacuumed. On old paint, never dry-sanded and never burned off.
- 04
Step 4: Repair
Loose joints glued, soft wood spliced, cracked panes replaced.
- 05
Step 5: Reglaze and paint
New putty, then primer and two coats once the putty has skinned over.
- 06
Step 6: Hang it again
New cord, weatherstrip, and a sash that opens with one finger.
Before the paint
What old paint is hiding
Split rails, soft sills, putty gone to dust. The condition of the wood sets the hours.
Sample photos.
After the work
Notes from the people with the windows
“They told us two of our sashes weren't worth saving and said what the new ones should keep. I'd rather hear that than be sold a window.”
Istvan M.Brick house, Stockade area
“The bill matched the estimate line for line. When the sill turned out soft, the phone rang before the extra hours.”
Chelsea B.Frame house, Rondout
Sample reviews.
Who comes to your house
A craftsperson and two
Three people, one truck, one set of hands on each window from start to finish.
Rosie Pollard
Owner and lead craftsperson
Writes every estimate and does the joinery herself.
Solomon Avery
Journeyman
Reglazing, priming and painting; sets cord and weatherstrip.
Himari Tanaka
Apprentice
Room protection, sash removal and careful scraping, working under a lead.
The paperwork
What the firm holds, and where to check
Old paint
EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm
Firm number in the footer of every page; look it up on the EPA's site before you sign
Insurance
General liability insurance
A certificate of insurance goes to you on request.
Local rules
County and city requirements
New York sets home improvement licensing by county and city; we confirm yours before scheduling
Where we work
Kingston and the towns around it
Mostly Ulster County, with some work up the river in Greene County.
- Ulster County: Kingston, Rondout, Stockade District, Lake Katrine, Ulster Park, West Park, Ruby, Accord, Gardiner, Mount Marion, Glasco, Shokan, West Hurley, Phoenicia
- Greene County: Athens, Cairo, Palenville
We don't take windows below the Dutchess County line or west of the Catskill high peaks; the drive eats the hours.
Before you call
Questions we get at the first visit
Can my old windows really be repaired?
Most can. The wood in an old sash is often denser than new wood, and a joint, a sill or a pane can be replaced without replacing the window. When one can't be saved, we'll say so.
Why do you bill by the hour?
Because what a window needs is hidden until it's open. A flat price per window either pads for surprises or leaves you surprised. The hours are estimated in writing and billed as worked.
Does my house built before 1978 change how you work?
Yes. Paint in homes built before 1978 may contain lead, and federal rules require a firm paid to disturb that paint to be certified and to follow set work practices: containment, wet methods, a HEPA vacuum and a cleaning check. Our firm number is in the footer, and we'll ask the year your house was built before we price the work.
Do you replace windows?
No. We don't sell or install replacement windows.
How long are my windows out of the opening?
Shop work takes a few weeks door to door, because putty and paint need days to cure. A temporary panel closes each opening, a few windows at a time.
Start here
Tell us about the windows
Send a few lines and a photo. We'll reply on the next working day to set a time for a site visit.