- Serving Kansas City & Overland Park
- nbowman@horizonexteriorskc.com
We install bow windows in Kansas City as well as bay windows, and handle bay window replacement in Kansas City where the original unit has dropped or leaked. A bay window replacement is structural work, not a swap, and bay windows in Kansas homes usually need the header and seat rebuilt at the same time.
Creates extra interior room
Multi-angle light entry
Three window panels that angle out of the room forming a window seat or alcove.
Typically comprised of one large picture window with narrower casement or double-hung windows on either side.
Can be installed at different angles depending on what is best for your home.
Generally comprised of four or more windows set side by side creating a gradual curvature.
Tend to be wider than Bay windows because they have more individual windows, giving a broader view.
Lower profile, meaning it does not extend out as far on the exterior.
Our Bay and Bow Windows feature Head and Seat Boards of 1 1/4″ Furniture Grade Birch or Oak Plywood. Roof Kits Available in Wood, Painted Aluminum and Copper.
Both project outward from the wall and both add light and floor space, but they are built differently and they suit different rooms. The choice is usually decided by the width of your opening and how much of a shelf you actually want inside.
Three units, a large fixed centre flanked by two angled operables, usually at 30 or 45 degrees. The sharper angle gives a deeper interior seat and a stronger exterior line.
Four or five units in a gentle curve. Softer from the street, more even light across the room, and better suited to a wider opening than a bay.
A bay gives a deeper usable seat; a bow gives a shallower shelf across a wider span. Decide which you actually want before the unit is specified.
Both hang off the wall and need cable support or knee brackets sized to the unit. This is the part that fails on a cheap installation, and it fails slowly.
Replacing a bay or bow means rebuilding the header and the seat, not swapping a sash. It is carpentry as much as it is glazing.
The small roof over a bay is the single most common leak point we are called to. It has to be flashed into the wall properly, not caulked.
A bay or bow carries real weight and cantilevers it away from the wall. Almost every failure we are asked to repair traces back to one of two things: support that was undersized at install, or a head roof that was sealed with caulk instead of flashed.
The tell is a sash that suddenly will not latch, or a gap opening at the top of the unit. The glass is fine; the support is not.
Nearly always the head roof rather than the glazing. By the time it shows inside, the sheathing behind has usually been wet for a while.
The large fixed unit takes the most thermal load, so it is normally the first seal to fail on an aging bay.
Usually, yes, but it is structural work. The header has to be sized for the new opening and the unit needs proper support, so it is priced as carpentry plus glazing rather than a window swap.
Two days is typical for a straight replacement into an existing bay opening. Converting a flat opening, or rebuilding a rotted seat, runs longer and we will tell you which at the measure.
They have more glass area and more exposed surface, so the seat and the roof cavity must be insulated properly. Done well the performance is fine; skipped, the seat is cold every winter.
Because these units carry weight away from the wall, the parts you never see decide how long they last. This is the sequence we hold to on every one.
The opening carries the load above it, so the header is calculated for the span before anything is ordered rather than reused because it was already there.
Support is specified for the finished weight of glass, seat and anything you will put on it. Undersized support is the single most common failure we are called to repair.
The little roof over the unit is flashed into the housewrap and lapped to shed outward. It is never sealed with caulk alone, which is what fails in year three.
The void under the seat is inside the envelope and gets insulated and air sealed, or the seat is cold and damp every winter.
Interior casing, seat board and exterior trim are part of the job, so you are not left finding a carpenter to close it in.
Both flanking sashes are adjusted after the unit settles onto its support, because a bay that latched at install and not a week later was never supported properly.
