1980s Contemporary House Window Replacement — Angles and Big Glass
Your 1980s contemporary has forty openings and a dozen of them are not rectangles, and the seals on the big ones have been fogging for years.
Reply within one business day. Or call / text 763-204-2099.
1980s contemporary house window replacement means a lot of shapes in one house: angle-top and trapezoid units in the gables, transoms stacked over casements, big fixed glass in the great room and clerestories up high. JMB Builders templates and measures every opening in one visit, orders the whole house together and installs it across the Twin Cities metro. Priced per project, each opening listed. Photos get a reply within one business day, or book a free in-home estimate.
- Shapes measured and templated in one visit
- Whole house in one order
- Interior scaffold for great-room glass
Contemporary houses from the 1980s were built to show off glass. A typical one has a vaulted great room with a wall of fixed units, angle-tops following the roof pitch, transoms stacked over casements and a few clerestories nobody can reach. Many of those shapes were made by a window line that is now gone, and the seals on the big pieces are failing.
Replacing one odd shape is a project on its own; the trapezoid page covers that. Replacing the whole house is mostly about getting the shapes right once. Every angle is measured or templated, every unit is on one order so the frame color and glass match across rectangles and shapes, and the order is checked against the measure sheet before it is placed. Odd shapes are made to order, so their lead time is usually the longest in the package.
Install is planned around the great room. That room gets interior scaffold on protected floors and is closed in the day its big glass goes in. The bedrooms and the rest are done one room at a time.
Get a written quote for this job
Three photos and a sentence is enough: a reply within one business day, or ask for a free in-home estimate. Or text the photos to 763-204-2099.
What you supply
- A photo of each wall from outside and the great room from inside
- Decisions on which fixed units should become operable, if any
- Frame color, glass package and screens
- Great-room furniture moved to the middle of the room, or out
What JMB supplies
- One measure of every opening, with templates for angles and arcs
- The whole package ordered together through ABC Supply
- Rolling scaffold inside on protected floors; ladders, brackets or a lift outside
- Old units removed; framing and sills checked; old glass hauled away
- Setting blocks, sill pans, flashing and sealant on every opening
- Interior returns or casing and exterior trim finished
- Painting quoted as its own line, or left for you
How it is priced: per project
Quoted in writing from your photos, with a reply within one business day. What moves the number:
- How many non-rectangular units are in the house
- Size and weight of the great-room fixed glass
- Height of clerestories and gable units, inside and out
- Fixed units changed to casements or awnings
- Stacked transoms replaced as one mulled unit or separate pieces
- Window line, frame color and glass package
Odd shapes are measured in person before any number is final; photos show us the scope, the measure sets the order.
How long it takes
Lead time depends on the brand and is written on the quote; shapes are often the longest. On site, most contemporaries take one to three weeks, depending on the great room.
How your project works
- 1
Send photos, get a written quote
Send three photos of the space and a sentence about what you want. You get a clear, itemized reply within one business day. Prefer a look in person? A free in-home estimate is always an option.
- 2
Pick materials, or bring your own
We help you choose profiles and materials that fit the house and the budget, or match your existing millwork exactly — or you buy the door or trim yourself and we install it. Everything is confirmed before the crew is scheduled.
- 3
Clean, precise installation
The crew shows up on time, protects floors and furniture, and installs with tight joints and consistent reveals. Photos of the finished work go in your job folder.
- 4
Walkthrough and invoice
We walk the finished work with you. If anything is not right, we fix it before we call the job done. Then one invoice, paid by check or direct deposit — no card fees, no payment links.
1980s Contemporary House Window Replacement — Angles and Big Glass: questions, answered
Can angle-top and trapezoid windows still be ordered for a 1980s house?
Yes. Most window lines make angle-tops, trapezoids and other shapes to order from exact measurements. The shape, angle and leg lengths are measured or templated at each opening and the order is built to those numbers.
Should the whole house be done at once if only the big windows are fogged?
Not necessarily. Some owners do the great room and shapes first because their seals are failing, and the rest later in the same line and color. The quote lists every opening so you can see both ways. One order for everything is the surest color and glass match.
How do you replace high windows in a vaulted great room?
Rolling scaffold inside on covered floors, and ladders, roof brackets or a lift outside, planned wall by wall. The great room is closed in the same day its big units come out.
Can fixed windows in a contemporary house be changed to ones that open?
Often. A fixed rectangle at reachable height can become a casement or an awning. High gable shapes usually stay fixed. Changes are decided before ordering, and bedroom windows are checked for egress.
Do the stacked transoms over my casements have to come out too?
If they are part of the same mulled unit, they come out together. If they are separate units, they can be replaced or left, but they will not match a new frame color. We look at how they are joined at the measure.
Will the great-room glass need tempered glass?
Glass that sits low to the floor, near a door or in certain other spots has to be safety glass by code, and big fixed units often fall in that zone. We check each opening against the code and order tempered where it is required.
Recent JMB work, from our job log
59 installs recorded across 30 Twin Cities communities since Dec 2025. Window and door installs for homeowners and the builders we work with. Counts come straight from our job log; no customer names.
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Read morePage reviewed October 9, 2026 · JMB Builders LLC, MN license BC809005 · All whole-house projects pages
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