About Southern Maine Window Replacement
A carpenter since 1988. Windows and doors only since 2007.
Matt Libby runs Southern Maine Window Replacement from an office on Route 1 in Scarborough and looks at every window and door himself before a price goes on paper. Replacing them is the only work we take on.
- Windows and doors are all we do
- Free estimate requests
- 22 towns, Kittery to Brunswick
How Did Matt Libby Learn the Trade?
Matt Libby learned the trade framing houses and building additions around Saco and Biddeford, starting in 1988. The part of every job he kept for himself was the openings: the rough sill, the header, the flashing and the way a window ties into the wall.
Framing taught him that a window is only as good as the hole it sits in. A square opening with a sloped sill and lapped flashing sheds water, while a crooked one fights the sash from the first winter.
He also saw what a rushed install leaves behind. Foam packed in too tight bows a frame until the sash binds, and a missing sill pan lets every hard rain soak into the framing below.
Why Does Matt Replace Only Windows and Doors?
Matt replaces only windows and doors because the openings are where he kept finding the damage. On older houses from Kittery to Brunswick he pulled out window after window that had been caulked shut and stuffed with foam, and found rot under the sill every time.
In 2007 he stopped taking framing work and made window and door replacement the whole job. Doors belonged in it from the start, since a rotted threshold is the same water problem as a rotted sill.
Doing one kind of work every day trains the eye for it. At every opening Matt checks the same three things before anything else: a frame that is still square, wood that is still sound and a sill that still sheds water.
What Will We Tell You Before We Replace a Window?
Before we replace a window, we tell you what that opening actually needs, even when the answer is less work than you planned. If the frame is square and the sill is sound, we will tell you an insert will do.
Sometimes the frame is soft or racked, and the window has to come out to the rough opening so the framing can be repaired and a sill pan set. You hear that during the visit, well before anything is ordered.
Fog between the panes means the seal already quit, and no bead of caulk brings it back. We say so plainly, and we also tell you which windows in the house still have good years left.
How Do We Price a Window Job?
We price a window job opening by opening, at your house, because a photo cannot show a soft sill or a frame that has gone out of square. Matt measures each window and door on your list and notes its style, its trim and the wall it sits in.
The written price names the unit chosen for each opening, its material and whether it goes in as an insert or full-frame. It also says how rot at a sill or header would be handled if the old unit reveals any, so that cost is known up front.
Replacement windows are usually made to order for each opening, so we place no order until you approve the written price. Until you do, nothing goes on the calendar.
What Do We Want You to Know Up Front?
Windows and doors are the only job we take on. Roofs, siding and decks go to other trades, while the sill pan, the flashing and the trim around each new unit are part of our work at every opening.
Maine does not license window or door contractors, and we never suggest it does. The state licenses trades such as electrical and plumbing work, and you can look those up through the Maine Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation.
Your price arrives as a signed, written contract. Maine's home construction contract law requires one, signed by you and by us, for any home job over $3,000, and every average range on this site starts above that line.
How Does a Window Job With Matt Run, Start to Finish?
A window job with Matt runs in a set order, starting with a visit to look at every opening on your list. The written price comes next, and we pull the town permit wherever your town requires one.
Install days go one opening at a time: the old unit comes out, and the new one is set, shimmed, flashed and trimmed before the next opening is touched, so the house is never left open. The old windows and doors are hauled away as the work moves around the house.
The last step is a final walkthrough together, with Matt opening, closing and locking each new window and door in front of you. Then you try every sash and every lock yourself.
Which Window Is Letting the Cold In?
Tell Matt which windows and doors are giving you trouble. He will set up a visit to look at every opening with you.