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ES Windows Bathroom Remodeling: The Long Beach Owner’s Guide
If you own a home with ES Windows and the bathroom is starting to show its age, you’re likely wondering what a full remodel will cost and whether we handle ES Windows products directly. A complete ES Windows bathroom remodel in Long Beach typically runs $9,000 to $28,000, and yes, we work with ES Windows on every bathroom project we take on. Most owners discover they need this work when they find water staining under the window sash, condensation between the panes, or visible rot in the frame. That’s the moment the window stops being a background detail and becomes the first thing you see every morning.
We’re Sawyer Remodel Long Beach, and we’ve been remodeling bathrooms across this city for nearly two decades. We’re an independent contractor, not affiliated with ES Windows, but we install and work around their products every week. The good news is that ES Windows are well-built, and in most Long Beach bathrooms, the window itself doesn’t fail. What fails is the installation around it, or the waterproofing, or the tile work beneath it. That’s what we fix most often.
Which ES Windows Models This Applies To
ES Windows makes a fairly broad line of vinyl and aluminum windows, and what you find in a Long Beach bathroom depends on when the house was built or last remodeled. The older aluminum-frame ES Windows from the 1980s and 1990s are common in Naples and Belmont Shore bungalows. The newer vinyl lines, including the ES Windows Series 400 and Series 600 replacement windows, show up a lot in Alamitos Heights and Bixby Knolls homes flipped over the last decade.
The compatibility gotcha most owners miss is this: the rough opening on an aluminum ES window is almost never the same size as the vinyl version that replaced it. You can’t just swap a new vinyl window into an old aluminum frame opening without reframing or adding a proper nailing flange. And in a shower or bath surround, that means tearing back tile to get the waterproofing right. We check the label on the sash edge, which carries the ES Windows series code, then measure the glass-to-glass opening before anything gets ordered. For aftermarket parts like glazing beads, balances, or weep-hole covers, quality equivalents from brands like Caldwell or Don Young exist, but for the window itself, we order genuine ES Windows framed units. The series code matters more than the year. Get it wrong and you’ll have a window that closes fine for a season, then binds when the Long Beach humidity kicks in.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your ES Windows Bathroom Remodeling Is Failing
- Condensation between the panes. The seal on the insulated glass unit has failed, which means the argon gas is gone and the window’s now just two pieces of glass with damp air between them. In a bathroom, this shows up fast after every shower.
- Peeling paint or soft drywall under the window. Water’s been getting past the frame, usually at the sill. By the time you see paint blisters, the framing behind them has been wet for months, maybe years. This is the one that turns a window swap into a full remodel.
- The sash doesn’t close square. On older aluminum ES Windows, the corners loosen over time. In a house near the water, the salt air in Long Beach accelerates that. A sash that fights you is a window that’s no longer sealing, and in a bathroom, that means moisture is finding its way in.
- Black staining at the tile-to-window joint. This is mold in the caulk and likely behind it. You can scrape and re-caulk, but if the waterproofing membrane behind the tile was done wrong, it’ll be back in three months. We see this constantly in homes remodeled by flippers who skipped the Schluter edge trim (the metal strip that waterproofs where your tile meets the floor) around window openings.
- Opening the window feels gritty or catches. A sign the tracks are packed with sand and salt from ocean air, especially within a mile of the water. For a bathroom window, a stuck track means it stays shut all winter, and the humidity climbs, and now your exhaust fan can’t keep up.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
A bathroom remodel that properly addresses an ES Windows installation runs $9,000 to $28,000 in Long Beach. If it’s a small guest bath and the window just needs to be pulled, reflashed, and the shower tile rebuilt around it, you’ll land near the bottom of that range. If it’s a master bath with a walk-in shower, a tub-to-shower conversion, and the window is being relocated or enlarged, you’re heading toward the top.
Here’s where the money goes on a typical ES Windows bathroom project:
- Window removal and replacement: $800 to $2,500 depending on size and whether the rough opening needs rebuilding
- Waterproofing package (Schluter Kerdi or equal): $1,200 to $3,000
- Shower or tub surround tile and labor: $2,500 to $8,000
- New fixtures, vanity, plumbing: $1,500 to $6,000
Every quote from Sawyer Remodel Long Beach is a written line-item price before any work starts. That means the number you approve is the number on the invoice. No surprises at the end of the job. And the install itself carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not done right, we make it right. In writing, on every project.
DIY or Call Us?
You can absolutely handle some of this yourself. Re-caulking the tile-to-window joint is a Saturday job. Cleaning the tracks on an aluminum ES window is straightforward. If the window is just hard to open, a little dry silicone spray on the tracks often buys you a year. But once you’re into seal failure, rotted framing, or tile that needs to come off the wall to fix the waterproofing, this is not a weekend project. The work involves removing glass from a wall that’s already holding moisture, and doing that wrong leads to mold behind the tile you can’t see until it’s a real problem. When the repair means opening a wall in a bathroom, we recommend a trained professional handles it. That’s not a scare tactic, it’s just honest. Water finds the weakness in a Long Beach house faster than anywhere else in the state.
The work tells you everything. The rest is just talking.
FAQs
An aluminum ES window near the coast will typically last 20 to 30 years before the frame seals fail; a vinyl ES window in the same bathroom should give you 30 to 40 years with proper installation. The window isn’t usually the problem. The caulk joint, the waterproofing, and the tile work around it go bad well before that, which is why we address the whole opening, not just the glass. Call (562) 512-6480 for a free estimate and we’ll tell you exactly what’s failing and what’s still good.
It depends on what failed. A broken balance or a worn glazing bead can be replaced, and a seal failure on an insulated glass unit can sometimes be handled with a new sash. But if water has been getting behind the frame, the repair almost always becomes a remodel of that wall section. The honest answer: we don’t patch a window that’s going to leak again in a year. We’ll show you the difference and let you decide. Estimates are free.
A full bathroom remodel with an ES Windows replacement runs 2 to 4 weeks depending on the scope and what we find when the wall opens up. We’ve been doing this since 2005, and we build our schedules around real job site conditions, not optimistic guesses. Live arrival tracking and photo updates are part of The Relay Visibility Guarantee, so you always know where the job stands.
We stock common ES Windows replacement hardware like glazing beads, balances, and weep covers for the aluminum and vinyl lines, along with window flashing and waterproofing materials from Schluter. For the framed window unit itself, we order direct. We also work around other material brands in the same bathroom, including KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone, so the whole project moves on one schedule. Call (562) 512-6480 and we’ll tell you over the phone whether we can handle your window the same week.
Written by Luca Romano, Owner, Sawyer Remodel Long Beach at Sawyer Remodel Long Beach, serving Long Beach and nearby areas.
