Window Replacement in Anoka, MN
Anoka has some of the oldest housing in the north metro, with more than six in ten homes built before 1980 and one in nine from before 1940.
Owner-run. The owner has personally installed more than 10,000 windows over 24 years in Minnesota. Licensed residential contractor, MN Lic. BC809328. EPA Lead-Safe Certified firm.
A river town with genuinely old houses
Anoka was settled in 1844 at the confluence of the Rum and Mississippi Rivers and incorporated in 1878, which makes it one of the oldest cities on our north-metro route. The housing shows it. The median Anoka home was built in 1973, and 62.4 percent of the city's housing predates 1980. Eleven percent of all units were built before 1940, another 5 percent in the 1940s and nearly 10 percent in the 1950s. The 1960s were the biggest single decade at 18.5 percent, followed closely by the 1970s at 18 percent and the 1980s at 15.1 percent. Only about 13 percent of Anoka's housing has been built since 2000.
The city's own comprehensive plan puts it plainly: more than 80 percent of Anoka's housing stock was more than 28 years old when the plan was written, and nearly 9 percent dated to 1939 or earlier. About half the units are single-family homes and about 42 percent are multifamily. For a window contractor, Anoka is the one city in the county where the pre-1940 playbook gets used every week.
Pre-1940 through 1950s Anoka homes: full-frame, done lead-safe
Walk the older blocks near downtown and you will see the original equipment: wood double-hung windows hung on weights and pulleys, aluminum or wood storm windows on the outside, sashes painted shut somewhere along the way, and sills that have gone soft after decades of Minnesota weather. Rope cords have broken, the upper sash is frozen in place, and the glazing putty is cracked. These are handsome windows and they were built well, but they are not keeping the cold out anymore.
On homes like these, full-frame replacement is almost always the right call. We remove the entire old unit including the weight pockets, insulate the cavity that used to hold the sash weights, set a new ProVia window, and rebuild the interior with new jamb, casing and stops sized to match the character of the room. Older homes rarely have standard-size openings, so every unit is measured and ordered for its specific hole.
Any home built before 1978 may have lead-based paint on the old trim, and in a pre-1940 Anoka house you should assume it does. The Window Guys is an EPA Lead-Safe Certified firm with certified renovators, and our crews follow EPA lead-safe work practices on every pre-1978 job: containment, careful removal, and cleanup that protects your family and ours.
1960s through 1980s Anoka homes
More than half of Anoka's housing went up between 1960 and 1989. The 1960s and 1970s homes commonly have first-generation aluminum sliders or early wood casements, single-pane or an early double-pane unit, that frost on the inside in January and let the heat pour out around the frame. The picture window in the front room is often the coldest spot in the house. The 1980s homes carry builder-grade wood or early vinyl windows that are now past 35 years old, with fogged glass from failed seals and rot at the bottom of wood sashes.
The 1960s and 1970s homes usually need full-frame replacement because the frames themselves are failing. Some 1980s homes with sound frames can take insert replacements, where a new window is set inside the existing frame and the exterior stays as it is. We look at every opening before we tell you which one you need. A house that got a set of replacement windows in the 1980s or 1990s often has a sound original frame under them, and that changes the answer.
Anoka's permit rule is strict and clear
The City of Anoka's window and door replacement handout states that a building permit is required whenever a window or exterior door is replaced. The only exceptions are combination storm and screen windows, sash replacements, and glass replacement or repair. The handout also requires that the manufacturer's installation instructions be on site for the final inspection, along with photographs of the installation.
We are used to this. Our office pulls the Anoka permit, keeps the manufacturer's instructions on the job, photographs the installation as the city requires and closes out the inspection. You do not have to lift a finger on the paperwork, and you get the documentation for your records.
How The Window Guys works in Anoka
The Window Guys MN is owner-run. The owner has personally installed more than 10,000 windows over 24 years, a large share of them in older homes, and he trains and checks every crew. ProVia is our main window line, and Andersen and Marvin are also available. Exterior aluminum wrapping and interior wood trim are done by our installers, which matters most on an old house where the trim is half the look.
Anoka is about 30 to 40 minutes from our base in East Bethel. Start with Quick Price, our online pricing tool at build.windowguysmn.com, to get a number before anyone visits. Then we schedule an in-home visit to measure every opening, which matters more in Anoka than anywhere else on our route. From the historic downtown to the neighborhoods near Anoka High School, from Highway 47 to the Anoka-Champlin bridge on Highway 10 and 169, we work throughout Anoka County and nine metro counties. And yes, we know the Halloween Capital of the World has been running its parade since 1920. We try not to schedule exterior work on that day.
One practical note for older Anoka homes: measure day takes longer here. We measure every opening individually, check the sill and the framing behind the interior casing where we can, and note which openings are out of square. That information goes into the order, so the window that shows up fits the hole it was built for and the crew is not improvising on installation day. On a 1920s house that is the difference between a clean job and a caulk job.
Anoka window questions we hear most
What about lead paint in my 1920s Anoka home?
Assume the old window trim has lead-based paint if the house was built before 1978. The Window Guys is an EPA Lead-Safe Certified firm with certified renovators, and we follow EPA lead-safe work practices on every pre-1978 job: containment around the work area, careful removal of the old trim, and a thorough cleanup before we leave.
Do I need a permit to replace windows in Anoka?
Yes. The City of Anoka requires a building permit whenever a window or exterior door is replaced, with exceptions only for storm and screen windows, sash replacements and glass repair. The city also wants the manufacturer's instructions on site and photos of the installation at final inspection. Our office handles all of it.
My old Anoka windows have weights and pulleys. Can I keep the look?
You keep the look, not the weights. We remove the old sash weights, insulate the pockets they lived in, and install a new ProVia double-hung that operates the way the original did, with a divided-light look if you want it. Then we finish the interior with new jamb, casing and stops sized to match the room.
How long does a full-frame window job take in an older Anoka home?
Longer than a typical suburban job. Most homes are done in one to two days, but full-frame replacement with new interior trim on a pre-1940 house takes more time per opening because we are rebuilding the frame and finishing the woodwork. We give you a realistic schedule before we order.
Ready to price your Anoka windows?
Get a real number online first, then book an in-home visit when you are ready. No pressure and no sales games.
Also serving nearby: Champlin, Coon Rapids, Andover, Elk River, Ham Lake.