Window and door replacement in Markham, Ontario
A heritage core surrounded by the largest 1990s–2010s subdivisions in York Region. Primary Seal measures, builds and installs custom vinyl windows and exterior doors throughout Markham.
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Limited lifetime warranty, transferable · Custom-built to your opening · Family owned and operated
Markham at a glance
- Region
- York Region
- Permits issued by
- City of Markham
- Typical housing
- 1990s–2010s detached; 19th-century Main Street core
- Main exposure
- Flat open plain, little windbreak
Markham homes we work on
Markham splits cleanly into two housing stories. The historic core along Main Street Markham is 19th-century frame and brick, protected and tightly governed. Everything around it, Wismer, Berczy, Cornell, Cathedraltown, Angus Glen, Greensborough, went up between roughly 1990 and 2015 in large detached and semi-detached homes.
That newer stock is now at exactly the age where first-generation builder windows fail. The sealed units installed in the mid-1990s are past thirty years, and fogged glass in a two-storey foyer or a great-room window wall is the single most common thing we are called about in Markham.
Cornell is worth noting on its own: built to a New Urbanist plan with front porches, rear lanes and a lot of street-facing glazing, so window condition is unusually visible from the sidewalk.
What Markham’s climate does to windows and doors
Markham sits on the flat clay plain north of Toronto with no lake moderation and no significant relief. Winters run colder than the city core and summers hotter, and the open subdivision layouts, wide streets, young trees, few windbreaks in the newer phases, leave houses more exposed than their age suggests.
The two-storey great-room windows common in this stock are the weak point. A tall glazed wall loses heat by convection up its inside face, and a failed sealed unit at the top of that wall is both the hardest to reach and the most expensive to leave.
Styles that suit Markham
For the two-storey window walls; we rebuild with fixed picture and fixed casement units above and operating casements at reachable height. There is no reason to pay for hardware on a sash nobody can crank.
Arched and round-top heads over foyers and gables are common here, and we build shapes to the measured opening rather than squaring them off.
In the Main Street heritage core, hung windows with matching grille patterns are the appropriate choice, subject to the heritage guidelines that apply there.
Permits and approvals in Markham
Same-size replacement in an existing opening needs no permit. Enlarging an opening or touching a header requires one from the City of Markham.
Heritage is the local complication. Markham has designated properties and heritage districts along Main Street Markham and in Unionville, and alterations to a designated building are reviewed by Heritage Markham. In the newer subdivisions none of this applies, and a whole-home replacement is simply a scheduling exercise.
Working in Markham
We also serve Unionville, which sits within Markham and has its own heritage district and its own page.
Why is there condensation on my new windows?
Condensation on the interior glass means the indoor humidity is higher than the glass surface temperature can support, not that the window has failed. New windows seal a house far more tightly than the ones they replace, so moisture that used to escape through leaks now stays inside. Running bathroom and kitchen fans and lowering the humidistat in cold weather resolves it. Moisture sealed between the panes is a different matter and is covered.
How long does window installation take?
Most whole-home window replacements are finished in one to three days. A single window typically takes 45 to 90 minutes from removal to trim and cleanup. The size of the job, the number of openings and whether exterior capping is involved set the pace. We confirm the schedule when you approve the quote, and the crew cleans and removes all old units before leaving.
How much disruption should I expect during installation?
Expect one or two openings to be affected at a time rather than the whole house. We work opening by opening, so each room is exposed for well under an hour while the rest of the house stays sealed and heated. Furniture near the window needs moving back about a metre and blinds or curtains taken down. Floors are protected and the site is cleaned before the crew leaves each day.
Book your free in-home consultation
We measure every opening, talk through the options that suit your home, and give you a written quote. No pressure, no obligation.