Window and door repair in Smyrna, Georgia
Smyrna went through several names before it settled on one. Pioneers arrived in 1832, the Smyrna Camp Ground was a well-known religious gathering place by the late 1830s, and once the Western and Atlantic Railroad was finished in 1842 the stop here was called, at various times, Varner’s Station, Ruff’s Siding, Neal Dow and Ruff’s Station. The city incorporated as Smyrna in 1872. On July 4, 1864, the battles of Smyrna Camp Ground and Ruff’s Mill were fought here.
The Smyrna most people live in today started much later. When Lockheed reopened the wartime Bell Bomber plant in 1951, the town took off: 2,005 people in 1950, 10,157 in 1960 and 19,157 by 1970. That boom left Smyrna with a real stock of 1950s and 1960s houses. About one home in six here was built in those two decades. On top of that sit two more building waves, one in the 1980s and one in the 2000s, each accounting for more than a fifth of today’s homes.
We work out of our shop in neighboring Marietta.
Three generations of windows
Because Smyrna was built in layers, the window problems change from street to street.
The mid-century houses. A ranch house from the Lockheed years is now sixty to seventy years old. Where its original wood windows survive, they are usually better timber than anything you can buy now, and the usual problems are failed glazing putty, paint built up until the sash sticks, loose joints and rot at the bottom rail. All of that is repairable. Our window restoration page explains what is involved. Many of these houses have already had their windows replaced once, sometimes with units that are themselves now twenty or thirty years old and failing, which brings them into the next category.
The 1980s houses and older replacements. Forty-year-old wood and clad windows show rot at the sills and lower sash corners first, especially on elevations that catch the afternoon storms. Their insulated glass has generally lost its seal by now. Fogged panes in a sound frame are a glass replacement, not a window replacement.
The 2000s houses and townhomes. These are reaching the age where builder-grade balances, cranks and locks wear out and the first insulated glass units start to fog. Most of it is hardware repair and glass work.
Doors
The same layering applies to doors. Many mid-century front doors are solid wood and worth keeping; the trouble is usually a rotted jamb base, a loose threshold or a door that has swelled until it binds. Later houses bring sliding patio doors with worn rollers, and entry doors whose decorative glass inserts or sidelights have fogged. We handle door repair, door glass repair and, where the door or frame is beyond saving, door replacement.
Repair or replace in Smyrna
We do both, so we have no reason to push either. The rule is the same in every era of house: if the frame is sound and only one part has failed, fix the part.
The judgment calls are at the ends of the range. An original 1950s wood window with good timber is almost always worth restoring, and in many cases it will outlast a new vinyl unit. A cheaply made replacement from the 1990s with a warped frame may not be worth another dollar, and window replacement is the better answer. We will tell you which you have. Our repair or replace guide and quiz walk through the same reasoning.
What a visit looks like
Someone comes out, looks at every window and door you are concerned about, and tells you which need attention and which are fine. The written estimate separates what is urgent from what can wait. There is no charge for the visit.
Glass and hardware are usually measured on the first visit and fitted on the second. Sash restoration happens in our Marietta shop, with your openings closed up and weathertight while the sashes are away.
Nearby
From Smyrna we cover the surrounding parts of Cobb County and the edge of the city, including Marietta, Vinings, East Cobb, Powder Springs and Buckhead.
