Five Home Prep Tips Before Window Installation
A little bit of preparation before the big day will help your window installation go much smoother. The following five tips can help you prep like a pro.
1. Staging Areas
Your installers will need a couple of staging areas. These are typically located outside but in an easily accessible area. They will need an area to place the windows and hardware upon delivery, an area to set up tools and equipment, and possibly an area to stack the old windows for a few days until they can be disposed of. Typically, paved areas such as patios or driveways are preferred. If this isn't possible, work with your installer to set up an area of your lawn for staging.
2. Window Stripping
If your home is like most, you likely have blinds, drapes, and possibly even decorative items hanging in or over your windows. Stripping refers to removing all of these items, and it must be done before the new windows can be installed. Some items, such as decorative glass suncatchers and drapes, should be removed by you. Your installer may offer to remove other items, such as blinds or drape hardware.
3. Clearance Creation
There must be clearance on both the interior and exterior sides of the window. Indoors, move any furniture or other objects that are within 3 to 6 feet of the window. Outdoors, move any objects near the home well away. You should also trim back bushes and other plants that are directly under or next to the window in order to ease access. Your installer may also ask you to tie up or cover shrubs, particularly if they are thorny.
4. Traffic Control
There will be workers coming into and out of your home. Work out with your installer in advance which door workers should use and whether there are any areas that are off-limits, such as the room the family dog will be contained within. Use signs to indicate these off-limit areas as well as to designate the acceptable entrance points into the home.
5. Interior Prep
You may need to do a bit of interior prep. Covering vents below windows is a must, as you don't want dust to get into your HVAC system. Furniture in the room that can be moved should also be covered with sheets to protect them from any dust kicked up during installation.
Contact a company like Innovations Siding & Windows to learn more about window installation.