Service · Fishers, IN
Bay & Bow Window Replacement in Fishers, IN
What holds the assembly up decides how long it lasts. The glass is the easy part.
What it is
Carpentry With Glass In It
Multi-unit projecting window assemblies including support, head board, seat board and roof detail.
A bay projects out past the wall plane, which means nothing sits underneath it. Its own weight, the seat, the head board and whatever roof caps it are all carried back into the wall by support cables or knee braces. A bow does the same thing across more, shallower angles.
So the failure modes are structural, not glazing. What determines whether a bay lasts twenty-five years or drops in five is the support system, the seat and head board construction, and how the bay cap is flashed where it meets the wall.
When a Bay Needs More Than Glass
A sag, or a gap opening at the head
The assembly is pulling away from the wall. That is the support system and it gets corrected before any glass is ordered.
Water staining on the seat board
Marks in the corners or along the seat mean the cap or its flashing is letting water in.
Soft head or seat board
Rot in either means carpentry to rebuild, not units to swap.
A leaking bay roof
Failed flashing at the cap-to-wall junction is the most common leak on the whole assembly.
Two or more fogged panels
Same-age units failing together, which is the normal pattern.
You want a different panel count
Three panels to five, or bay to bow, is a reconfiguration of the opening and the support, not a swap.
How We Do It
01
Inspect the structure before pricing glass
Support system, seat board, head board and cap, all checked first.
02
Rebuild and correct the support
Rotted structure replaced and a proper cable or brace system installed where one is missing or undersized.
03
Set the units and align the mulls
Panels set to the correct angles with mull joints lined up, because a bay shows every sixteenth of an inch.
04
Reflash, insulate, trim
Cap reflashed and re-roofed as needed, seat and head insulated, interior trimmed to match.
Local conditions
The 1990s Bolt-On Bay
Bays added to Fishers ranch and two-story homes during the 1990s and early 2000s remodeling wave were frequently bolted on without a proper cable-and-brace system. The window itself was fine. The addition was never carrying its load correctly, and thirty Indiana winters of snow load on the cap finish the job. When we find one, that is the actual repair, and it goes into the written quote ahead of the glass.
Structure before glass
Support, seat and head board assessed and corrected as part of the scope.
Cap reflashed properly
The wall junction is where bays leak, so it gets rebuilt rather than caulked.
Carpentry and glazing itemized separately
So you can see which half of the price is which.
Common questions
Bay and Bow Questions
Because you are buying carpentry as well as glazing: multiple mulled units, a support system, a seat and head board, a small roof and flashing at the wall junction. Glass is the minority of the labor.
Related Services
Let Us Look at What Is Holding It Up
We inspect the support, the boards and the cap before quoting, then price the carpentry and the glass separately.
Monday to Friday 7:30am to 5:30pm · Saturday 8:00am to 2:00pm