Windows & Doors — Suffolk County

Long Island
Windows & Doors.

Insert or full-frame decided opening by opening, sills and flashing corrected rather than covered, the gap sealed deliberately, and every bedroom escape opening checked before a single unit is ordered.

Get a Free Estimate Call (631) 312-7441

40.7712° N · 72.9934° W — SUFFOLK COUNTY

SERVICE: WINDOWS, ENTRY & PATIO DOORS

YARD: EAST PATCHOGUE · SINCE 2018

Windows & Doors — Long Island

The Unit Is A Product.
The Opening Is The Job.

Almost every "the new windows leak" call we take is not a leaking window. It is a window fitted into an opening that was never flashed, or flashed in the wrong order so the tape directs water into the wall instead of out of it. The sticker on the glass has nothing to do with it.

We fit windows and doors as carpentry, because that is what they are: the sill, the flashing, the shim pack, the insulation in the gap and the trim that goes back over it. That also means we will tell you which six of your thirty openings are actually worth doing first. One crew, from East Patchogue, since 2018.

What We Do

Insert (pocket) replacement windows
Full-frame replacement to the rough opening
Rotted sill, jamb and trim repair
Egress windows for bedrooms and finished basements
Bay, bow and fixed picture units
Entry doors in fibreglass, steel and wood
Sliding and hinged patio doors
Storm doors and screen replacement
Sill pans, flashing and head detail
Interior and exterior trim, matched and finished

Get Free Estimate

Long Island colonial mid-re-side with the housewrap and window openings exposed

Why Alec's

Opening By Opening,
Not Thirty At Once

We Flash The Opening

Sill pan, jamb flashing, head flashing, each lapped over the water-resistive barrier in the right order. On a full-frame replacement you get to see the sill before it is covered — which is the whole reason full-frame exists.

An Honest List, Ranked

Openings fail at different rates depending on which way they face. We measure everything, rank it by condition and exposure, and tell you which ones to spend on this year. That is a harder quote to write and usually a cheaper job.

Egress Checked First

Every sleeping room and finished basement gets measured against the net clear escape opening before anything is ordered. An insert unit is smaller than what it replaces, and that is exactly how a compliant bedroom window quietly stops being one.

Spec & Detail

What A Real
Window Quote Says.

Two quotes for the same house can differ by a large factor and both be honest, because they are quoting two different jobs. These are the lines that tell you which one you are reading.

Insert Or Full-Frame, Per Opening

Insert where the frames are sound, dry and square. Full-frame where there is rot, staining, water history, or the siding is coming off anyway. A quote that prices thirty openings one way has not walked the house.

The Gap Gets Sealed

Low-expansion foam or backer rod and sealant between the unit and the framing, deliberately, on every opening. Most draughts blamed on windows are air coming round the frame through a scrap of fibreglass stuffed in when the house was built.

Sill Pan On Every Door

A formed tray under the threshold with upturned back and side legs, sloped to drain out. It is the most-skipped item in door installation on this Island and it is why so many replaced doors have a rotted subfloor under them a decade later.

Flashed In The Right Order

Sill pan, jamb flashing, then head flashing, each lapped shingle-fashion over the water-resistive barrier so water is led back out. Flashing installed in the wrong order directs water into the wall.

U-0.32 And SHGC 0.40

The prescriptive fenestration values for Climate Zone 4A. We put the actual NFRC numbers of the units in the written scope rather than the word 'efficient'. Confirm the code edition in force with your department.

Egress Checked Before Ordering

5.7 square feet of net clear opening in most cases, with a minimum clear height and width and a maximum sill height, on every sleeping room and finished basement. An insert is smaller than what it replaces — this is where compliance quietly disappears.

Long Island Conditions

What This Island
Does To Openings.

Salt Takes The Hardware First

On the bays, canals and North Shore harbours the operators, locks, balances, hinges and screen frames fail long before the glass or the frame. Corrosion-resistant hardware is worth naming in the order and is not what comes as standard.

Horizontal Rain

A nor'easter delivers rain at the head and jambs of an opening, not just the sill. Openings detailed for water falling downward — most of what was built here before the 1990s — leak in exactly that condition.

Aluminum With No Thermal Break

Went into a great many Long Island houses in the 1970s and 1980s. The frame frosts and runs with condensation on a January morning while the glass stays clear. There is no repair for it; the metal is the bridge.

First-Generation Vinyl

Fails at the welded corners. Once a corner opens the sash racks and stops meeting the lock, and no adjustment brings it back. Look for a hairline split at the frame corner.

Pre-1978 Paint

The federal renovation rule covers disturbing painted surfaces in housing built before 1978, which is most of what we work on here. That means containment and clean-up practice on old sash, not a drop cloth and a broom.

Flood And Debris Zones

On the canal streets and the bay side, flood-resistant construction requirements govern what may be installed below the design flood elevation, and parts of the South Shore fall inside the windborne-debris provisions. Both are address-level questions.

Common Questions

Windows & Doors FAQ

Fog or haze between the panes that will not wipe off means the insulated glass seal has failed. A screwdriver that pushes into the sash bottom rail or the lower corners of the sill means rot. An aluminum frame with no thermal break that frosts and runs on a cold morning cannot be repaired. Draughts, condensation on the inside of the glass and a sash that will not stay up are usually repairs, not replacements.

An insert leaves the existing frame in the wall and fits a new complete window inside it, so the exterior is never disturbed — fast, and right where the frames are sound and square. Full-frame removes everything to the rough opening so the sill and the flashing can be inspected and corrected, and keeps the original glass area. Most houses are honestly a mix of the two.

It depends on the town and on whether the opening changes. Like-for-like replacement inside an existing rough opening is treated differently from enlarging an opening or turning a window into a door, and the answer changes again in a flood or windborne-debris area. The Town of Huntington additionally requires sealed architect or engineer plans for alterations over ten thousand dollars. We confirm against the address before quoting a schedule.

Long Island is Climate Zone 4A, where the prescriptive fenestration values are a U-factor of 0.32 or lower and a solar heat gain coefficient of 0.40 or lower. That is the code path; confirm the edition in force with your building department. On a replacement job U-0.30 or better is a sensible target, because the unit cost difference is small next to the labour of fitting it.

It can, and it is the check most often skipped. Every sleeping room and finished basement needs an emergency escape opening — 5.7 square feet of net clear opening in most cases, with minimum clear height and width and a maximum sill height. An insert unit is smaller than what it replaces, which is exactly how a compliant window becomes a non-compliant one. We measure before anything is ordered.

Windows first. The window has to be flashed and lapped into the water-resistive barrier and the siding then goes over that flashing. Fitting windows after the siding is on means cutting and patching round every opening and a flashing detail that is a repair from day one. Sequencing both together also makes full-frame replacement much cheaper than doing it alone.

In the village housing of Northport, Bellport, Port Jefferson, Sayville and Patchogue it frequently is. Original sash is old-growth wood, denser and more rot-resistant than current stock, and what has failed is usually the glazing putty, the weatherstrip and the parting bead. Replacement wins where the sash itself is rotted or the frames are out of square beyond correction.

Yes. Openings are done one at a time and closed the same day, so the house is never open to the weather for long. What changes in the cold is the material — sealants and foams have temperature ratings and they have to be the right ones, stored warm rather than left in a van overnight.

Service Area

Windows and Doors Across Suffolk County

Replacement windows, entry doors and patio doors throughout Suffolk County, from the yard in East Patchogue. Town-by-town guides below.

Not listed? Call (631) 312-7441 — we cover Suffolk County.

Long IslandWindows & Doors.

The Unit Is A Product.The Opening Is The Job.

What We Do

Opening By Opening,Not Thirty At Once

We Flash The Opening

An Honest List, Ranked

Egress Checked First

Our Process

Free Walkthrough

What Is Behind The Trim

Then The Window

What A RealWindow Quote Says.

Insert Or Full-Frame, Per Opening

The Gap Gets Sealed

Sill Pan On Every Door

Flashed In The Right Order

U-0.32 And SHGC 0.40

Egress Checked Before Ordering

What This IslandDoes To Openings.

Salt Takes The Hardware First

Horizontal Rain

Aluminum With No Thermal Break

First-Generation Vinyl

Pre-1978 Paint

Flood And Debris Zones

Windows & Doors FAQ

More FromAlec's Construction

Siding

Insulation

Painting

Additions

Get Your FreeWindow Assessment

Windows and Doors Across Suffolk County

Same-Day Response — 0 to 10 Miles

Core Suffolk — 10 to 25 Miles

North Shore Suffolk

Read Before YouBook Anyone.

Window Replacement

Full-Frame Or Insert?

Reading The Label

Hung, Casement Or Slider

Entry And Patio Doors

Drafty Window Repair

Long Island
Windows & Doors.

The Unit Is A Product.
The Opening Is The Job.

Opening By Opening,
Not Thirty At Once

What A Real
Window Quote Says.

What This Island
Does To Openings.

More From
Alec's Construction

Get Your Free
Window Assessment

Read Before You
Book Anyone.