Window Replacement in Burnsville, MN

Why Burnsville has so many ramblers and split-levels

Interstate 35W reached Burnsville in 1960, earlier than most metro highways, and the two decades that followed were the city's biggest population boom: nearly 20,000 people by 1970 and about 60,000 by 2000. That early freeway access is why Burnsville has large pockets of ramblers and split-level houses. Development kept going through the 1980s and 1990s until the city approached build-out in the late 1990s.

The result is a city with a median home built in 1982 and a very even split across its two main decades: 25 percent of Burnsville's roughly 26,500 housing units date to the 1970s and another 25 percent to the 1980s. The 1960s add 13 percent, the 1990s 16 percent. Roughly 45 percent of homes predate 1980. A bit less than half of the city's housing is single-family detached, about a fifth is townhome-type, and a third is in buildings of two or more units.

Those townhome rows deserve a word of their own. Many date to the same 1980s and 1990s period as the detached houses, and the installation is no different. The association usually is: expect rules on exterior color and grid pattern, and sometimes a preference to replace across a whole row at once. We match existing exteriors as standard practice and can provide product details for your board before the job is scheduled.

Three decades of Burnsville windows, side by side

A 1970s Burnsville rambler most often came with first-generation aluminum sliding windows or early wood casements, with single-pane glass or the first double-pane units. The aluminum frames have no thermal break, so they conduct cold straight into the room, frost on the inside and sweat onto the sill every winter. The locks on old sliders rarely pull tight anymore. Early wood casements from the same era often have rotted bottom rails and operators that no longer close the sash against the weatherstrip.

The 1980s homes came with builder-grade wood windows, sometimes clad, or early vinyl. The most common failure is the seal between the panes, which lets moisture in and leaves a permanent fog. Wood sash bottoms rot where water sat on the glazing. Balances break and double-hung sashes will not stay open. Both decades are past their design life; the difference is mostly whether the old frame comes out of the wall regardless (aluminum) or gets evaluated (wood).

Burnsville kept building through the 1990s until it approached build-out, and those homes, about 16 percent of the city, came with builder-grade vinyl or vinyl-clad wood that is now 25 to 30 years old. Their problems are the vinyl kind: fogged glass, broken balances, sashes that drift down, and weatherstripping that has gone flat. The frames are usually still square, which makes these homes good insert candidates.

Insert or full-frame in Burnsville

An insert replacement keeps your existing frame and sets the new window inside it. Full-frame replacement removes the old frame back to the rough opening and rebuilds the frame, sill, exterior trim and interior casing. In Burnsville's 1980s wood windows, we check the sill and lower jamb for rot; if they are sound, an insert is a clean solution that leaves your interior trim alone. In the 1960s and 1970s aluminum units, the frame comes out either way and the choice depends on the wood around it. On pre-1978 homes, and that is a large share of Burnsville, the work follows EPA lead-safe practices. The Window Guys is an EPA Lead-Safe Certified firm with certified renovators.