Start with conditions, not a product
How the frame ties into century-old clapboard, whether flashing sheds water through a freeze-thaw cycle, and how the sill handles Michigan winters counts for more than the brand of glass.
Build a complete scope
- Whether the address sits in a district where exterior change is reviewed
- Whether original sash is repairable, common in clapboard-era housing
- Every opening measured, since these houses rarely use standard sizes
- Frame material and thermal break sized for a real Michigan winter
- Air sealing at the install, trim restoration, disposal, and warranty
Ann Arbor context
The city's Old West Side, platted starting in 1845 and listed on the National Register in 1972, still carries two-story frame houses built for a fast-growing 19th-century college town -- about 85% clapboard-clad, the rest brick or stucco -- later filled in with Dutch Colonials, bungalows, and Tudor cottages on small lots. Underneath that older core and the newer subdivisions built across Washtenaw County sits a mix of sand, gravel, and clay-rich glacial till left by retreating ice roughly 14,000 years ago -- fertile ground that also drains poorly, one reason window, opening, and envelope work stays in steady demand across the area.