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ES Windows Roofing: The Austin Owner’s Guide
If you have an ES Windows skylight, roof window, or curb-mounted unit that’s leaking, cracked, or fogged between the panes, we stock replacement glass, flashing kits, gaskets, and full units matched to ES Windows specs, and we install them across Austin. Most ES Windows roofing swaps run $400 – $1,800 installed depending on whether we’re replacing glass only, reseating the flashing, or pulling the whole curb and frame. We keep the most common ES Windows flashing and gasket sets on the truck, so a lot of these jobs are done in one visit. The way most Austin homeowners find us is pretty simple: a brown water stain appears on the ceiling after a storm, or the glass suddenly looks milky from the inside and won’t clear up. That’s the part where you want someone who knows ES Windows sizing cold, because guessing wrong means ordering a unit that doesn’t seat and waiting another three weeks.
Which ES Windows Models This Applies To
ES Windows builds fixed skylights, operable roof windows, and curb-mounted units in a few distinct series, and the part numbers are not interchangeable between them. The fixed units use either a 4-inch or 6-inch curb height depending on the Austin roof pitch it was originally set for; the operable units run on a different hinge assembly entirely. Here’s the compatibility gotcha we see most often: ES Windows changed its gasket profile around 2018, so a pre-2018 frame will not accept the current gasket, and forcing it will leave you with a slow leak you won’t notice until the next big rain. When we open the frame, we always check the etched corner marking and measure the glass thickness before ordering anything. For glass-only replacements, OEM ES Windows insulated glass is the right call when the frame is still fully intact, because the spacer and sealant match the factory argon fill spec. For flashing and curb work, a quality aftermarket kit from a manufacturer like Velux or ODL works fine, but only when it’s matched to the exact curb dimension, not bought off the shelf as a universal. Sawyer Remodel Austin is an independent contractor and not affiliated with ES Windows; we just work on enough of their units across Austin to know what fits and what doesn’t.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your ES Windows Roofing Is Failing
- Water staining on the ceiling drywall in a circle or oval pattern directly below the unit. This usually means the flashing has lost its seal against the roof deck or the curb itself has a hairline crack. Austin’s wide temperature swings from summer afternoons at 100-plus to cold fronts moving through in January cause the metal flashing to expand and contract until the sealant fails.
- Condensation between the glass panes that doesn’t wipe off from either side. This is a failed seal in the insulated glass unit. Once the desiccant inside the spacer is saturated, which happens in about 10 to 15 years in Austin’s humidity, the only fix is replacement glass, not a repair.
- Visible cracking or crazing on the exterior glass surface. Hail storms in the Hill Country do a number on skylight glass. The damage can look like a small star or a long running crack, and it will spread as the glass heats and cools.
- Drafts you can feel when standing under the unit on a windy day. This points to a failing gasket or a frame that’s shifted. The fix is a gasket replacement if the frame is sound, or a full unit swap if the frame has warped.
- Mold or mildew forming on the drywall or wood trim around the interior opening. This is a late-stage symptom, meaning water has been getting in for a while. By the time you see it, the leak has usually been active for at least a full season.
See the difference
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After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In Austin, an ES Windows roofing repair or swap breaks down like this, including parts and labor:
- Gasket or flashing reseal: $400 – $800
- Insulated glass replacement (fixed unit): $600 – $1,200
- Full unit replacement (curb-mounted, same opening): $1,200 – $1,800
The spread comes down to curb height, whether the roof deck around the unit needs to be re-flashed, and whether we’re carrying a replacement up a two-story roof in Bouldin Creek or a single-story ranch out toward Circle C. Every price we give you is written before work starts, line by line, so the number on the invoice is the number you approved. The work itself is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not done right, we make it right, in writing, no argument. You get a digital invoice you can pay from a link, and you get photo updates of the old unit coming out and the new one seated and sealed before we pack up.
DIY or Call Us?
Here’s the honest split. You can safely check the interior trim for soft spots and water marks, and you can note the corner marking on the glass to tell us exactly which unit you have. What you shouldn’t do is get on a pitched roof with a tube of sealant and hope for the best. Roof work on an Austin home means working at height on a surface that’s either baking hot or slick from morning dew, and a skylight curb that’s been leaking has probably rotted the decking you’d be standing around. Even a glass-only swap means pulling a sealed unit out of a frame that’s under roof load, and dropping it means glass shards on shingles and a bigger bill than the original job. If the leak is active, call us at (409) 834-4854 and we’ll get eyes on it before the next storm cycle.
FAQs
Plan for 12 to 18 years from the glass seal and gaskets in Austin’s climate, though the frame itself can last 25 years or more if the flashing was set correctly. The heat and humidity here kill the seal first, which is why fogged glass is the number one service call we run on these units. If yours is inside that window and giving you trouble, call (409) 834-4854 for an exact quote, estimates are free.
If the frame and glass are sound and the issue is the flashing or gasket, yes, a reseal in the $400 – $800 range often fixes it. If the glass is fogged or cracked, no amount of sealant fixes that, the unit glass has to be swapped. We’ll tell you straight which camp you’re in when we inspect it. Call (409) 834-4854 to schedule a look.
A gasket or flashing reseal is a half-day job. A full unit swap is typically done in one day start to finish, assuming the opening doesn’t need decking repair. If we find rotted wood under the curb, we’ll stop, show you photos, and quote the decking repair as a separate written line before we go further. Call (409) 834-4854 to get on the schedule.
We keep the most common ES Windows gasket sets, flashing kits, and job-site sealants on the truck for Austin service calls. For full replacement units and custom glass sizes, we order by the exact dimensions and gotchas we covered earlier, and we’ll give you a written lead time before you approve anything. Call (409) 834-4854 and we can confirm what’s in stock this week.
Written by Luca Romano, Owner, Sawyer Remodel Austin at Sawyer Remodel Austin, serving Austin and nearby areas.
