Windows & Doors in Kensington - Written Price Before Anything Is Ordered

Fast, Reliable Windows & Doors Across Kensington

Window and door work in Kensington is different than in the flatlands below. The homes here were mostly built between the 1920s and 1950s, and many still have their original single-pane steel-sash windows and wood doors that have spent decades soaking up East Bay fog. If you’re dealing with drafty frames, sticking doors, or glass that rattles every time a truck rolls down Arlington Avenue, you already know the problem isn’t going to fix itself. We’re Barrett & Sons Construction, and we’ve been doing Windows & Doors work long enough to know exactly what Kensington homes need. Call us at (877) 610-1318 and Tom or one of his sons will pick up.

Call (877) 610-1318

Why Barrett & Sons Construction Is Kensington’s Preferred Windows & Doors Company

We don’t run crews from three counties over. Tom Barrett lives twenty minutes from Kensington, his sons run the work, and the name on the truck is the name that answers the phone. That matters in a hillside community like Kensington, where every third house has a foundation quirk, a drainage issue, or original framing that surprises contractors who’ve only worked tract housing in Berkeley or El Cerrito. Our customers in the Kensington hills tell us the same thing: they’d rather pay a fair price to someone who shows up when he says he will, writes every price change down before the work starts, and comes back if something isn’t right. That’s not a sales pitch. It’s the 90-Day Done Right Promise, written on every contract.

Kensington is unincorporated Contra Costa County, which means permits don’t come from a city hall down the street. They go through the County Building Department in Martinez. We know that routine cold. If your window or door project needs a permit, we pull it and we sit for the inspection. The permit inspector works for you, not for us. We like it that way.

Our Windows & Doors Services in Kensington

Window Installation

New window installation in Kensington rarely means a simple swap. Homes along the hillsides off Arlington and Purdue often have settled frames, out-of-square rough openings, and water damage where fog moisture crept in over decades. We take measurements at multiple points on every opening, check the framing before we order anything, and install windows that actually fit the house, not just the hole. For Kensington homeowners, that’s the difference between a window that operates cleanly for twenty years and one that fights you from day one.

Door Installation

Door installation on Kensington’s hillside lots often means dealing with a slab that’s settled a quarter inch since Eisenhower was president. We square the rough opening, shim and seal correctly, and hang doors that close without dragging on the jamb. Exterior doors matter more up here than in the flatlands, too. The fog that sits on the Kensington hills in summer finds every gap around a poorly flashed door and feeds it moisture all year. We flash and seal exterior doors the way WUI standards expect, because most of Kensington sits in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.

Window Replacement

Window replacement in Kensington is one of the best investments you can make in a 1930s craftsman or a 1950s Mediterranean revival. Most original steel-sash windows are single-pane, which means they leak heat all winter and do almost nothing against fog-driven moisture. We replace them with modern dual-pane units sized for the existing openings, and we’re careful about one thing most contractors skip: the seismic straps and framing anchors that older Kensington homes need but often never had. If the opening needs new framing, that goes in writing before we touch it.

Impact Windows & Doors

Impact windows and doors aren’t just for hurricane country. Up here in the Kensington hills, they mean windows that shrug off flying debris during wind events, hold together if a branch comes through, and add a serious layer of fire-hardening to the home. Given that nearly all of Kensington falls inside a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, ember-resistant assemblies and impact-rated glass are a practical upgrade, not an insurance formality. We install impact-rated windows and doors sized to the original openings where practical, and we’ll tell you straight if the existing framing won’t support the weight without additional work.

Trusted Brands We Service in Kensington

We install and service premium brands you can look up, not mystery materials off a van. On Kensington window and door jobs, we regularly work with Andersen and Marvin, and for shower glass and wet-area glazing we trust Schluter systems. These are names with published specs and real warranties, which fits how we work. If a part is sourced locally in the East Bay, we get it fast. If it needs to be ordered, we tell you the lead time before you sign anything. No surprises, no “the factory said next week” phone calls after the check clears.

Common Windows & Doors Problems We See in Kensington Homes

• Fog-driven wood rot around window frames and door sills. The Kensington hills catch coastal fog that the flatlands of El Cerrito and Richmond never see. Decades of that moisture works into original redwood framing and turns sills soft. By the time a window sticks, the rot is usually well underway.
• Sticking doors from foundation settlement on sloped lots. Most Kensington homes sit on post-and-pier or cripple-wall foundations on steep grades. The ground moves, the house settles unevenly, and doors that swung freely in 1975 now bind at the top corner. Replacing the door without addressing the frame gets you a nicer door that still sticks.
• Single-pane steel-sash windows that rattle and leak heat. Original windows from the 1920s through 1950s have no thermal break and no insulating value worth mentioning. They also don’t seal against embers or wind-driven rain the way modern dual-pane units do.
• Improperly flashed exterior doors from previous quick fixes. We see it often enough to mention it: a previous contractor hung a door, caulked around the trim, and called it done. In Kensington’s damp hillside microclimate, that caulking fails within a few seasons and water gets behind the siding. Proper flashing and sill pan work solves it permanently.

Pricing for Windows & Doors in Kensington, CA

We Also Serve Cities Near Kensington

While this page is for our neighbors in Kensington, our crews also cover the surrounding East Bay communities of El Cerrito, Albany, Richmond, and Berkeley. If you’re just over the border in El Cerrito or down the hill in Berkeley, we can help there too, and we also handle Fence Installation in Kensington when the window job turns out to be a whole-yard project. If you’re planning hardscape work as well, ask about our Driveway & Pavers in Kensington service.

FAQs - Windows & Doors in Kensington