Carlsbad Quality Windows is North San Diego County's go-to specialist in shaped windows, specializing in radius arch-tops, half-round transoms, and round porthole windows. We offer eyebrow arches and gable-peak trapezoids for vaulted walls.
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Our team provides full-size templates and grid layouts drawn across a whole shaped group, delivering elevations that read as one design for homes and arched entries for both residential and commercial projects. Backed by 13 years in business and our 2-year workmanship warranty, we've completed over 1,730 projects, from one half-round over a front door to whole walls of arch-top units.
From tracing a flattened eyebrow curve onto cardboard to matching grid bars from one unit to the next, our team handles every detail. Serving Carlsbad and neighboring Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe and Elfin Forest, we settle every shape and grid on the elevation in one sitting, so no arch is ordered alone.
Why Carlsbad Quality Windows
Robert, Del Mar Heights, Del Mar
Spanish Colonial Revival home with four arched windows whose old frames had warped out of round
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Robert's Spanish Colonial Revival home in Del Mar Heights had four arched windows whose old frames had warped out of round, so the sashes no longer met the curve and gaps had been packed with caulk. We recommended templating each arch on site and ordering fiberglass arched-top fixed units cut to the exact radius. The 4 arched windows, Spanish Colonial Revival home scope was an estimated $3,800 to $5,600 job that took an estimated 1 to 2 days on site. Robert now has four arches that close tight, with no gaps filled with caulk.
Templated arch, half-round or custom shape
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Click or drag the window to open it.A picture window is fixed glass and does not open.
Window style
Frame material
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Pick a style and a frame material to compare the estimated price per window, the lifespan and the warranty of each frame. Fiberglass is the usual pick for an arch, because it holds a radius without bowing, while wood suits Rancho Santa Fe homes that want stained arches inside.
Five shapes cover almost every curved or angled window we replace, and the right name tells the factory how to build it. The table shows the shapes we template most often and what each one needs from the measure.
| Shape | What it looks like | What we measure | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half-round | A half circle, height exactly half its width | Width only | Over a front door or a flat window |
| Arch-top (radius) | A rectangle with a curved head | Width, leg height, center height | Living room and stair windows |
| Eyebrow | A shallow, flattened arch | Width, leg height, center rise | Low walls under deep eaves |
| Full circle or oval | A round or elliptical fixed unit | Diameter, or both axes | Gable ends and stair landings |
| Trapezoid or gable peak | Angled top following a roofline | Both legs and the pitch | Vaulted great rooms |
Spanish Colonial Revival homes, the style Lilian Rice made the standard in Rancho Santa Fe, lean on arch-tops and half-rounds, while 1980s tracts in La Costa and Aviara carry more trapezoids and eyebrows under their vaulted ceilings.
An arched or specialty-shape window in Carlsbad is typically estimated at $900 to $1,600 installed, and the shape, the size and whether the unit opens move the price most. Robert's four fiberglass arches in Del Mar Heights came to an estimated $3,800 to $5,600 for the set.
A half-round over an existing flat window in Olivenhain or Leucadia is the low end, because only the curved piece is new. A full arch-top casement that opens, or a set of arches with grids that must line up across a wall, prices toward the top, since each unit is built to its own template and cannot be trimmed on site.
When the stucco arch around the window is out of round, truing it to a clean radius adds labor, and we price that in writing before the order, the same way we did on the Spanish Colonial Revival homes of Rancho Santa Fe Village.
These arched window prices are estimates and can change with the shape and the condition of the opening we find. The written quote after our template visit sets the final price and the install schedule.
Every arch we replace is templated on site, because two numbers describe a rectangle but not a curve, and that is the step DIY orders most often skip. A perfect half-round is the lone exception, since its rise is always half its span; any other arch needs leg height, center height and radius, or better, a traced pattern of the real opening.
Local stucco makes the template non-negotiable. Plasterers shaped many arches on 1980s Calavera Hills and Bressi Ranch homes by eye, so the left half of a curve can differ from the right, and installers often packed shims behind the original frame to hide it. Our pattern records the opening as it really is, and then we choose between copying that uneven curve and reshaping the plaster to a clean arc. A shaped unit that arrives the wrong size cannot be cut down, so a bad measure means a reorder and another wait.
Most arches we set are salt-air fiberglass windows cut to a radius, Old Del Mar cottages often go clad-wood windows with divided lites, and original wood arches worth saving go to our heritage window restoration crew.
The crew lead who cuts your template is the one who sets the finished arch, so the curve on paper and the curve in the wall come from the same hands. Our owner walks most shaped-window jobs at the end and checks every grid line himself, and our 2-year workmanship warranty on every installation sits on top of the maker's warranty. Meet the team behind the templates.
We template and install shaped windows across a 30-mile radius, from Carlsbad Village to arched windows in Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe homes and Elfin Forest properties. The rest of North County we serve is on our service area page.
Shaped windows often join bay and bow windows on a front elevation, ocean-view picture windows below a half-round, or steel-frame windows on Spanish Revival estates.
Most arched or specialty-shape windows are estimated at $900 to $1,600 each installed, and the number on your written quote follows the template visit.
Shaped units are built to one exact size and cannot be cut down later, so a traced pattern is the only safe way to order them.
Yes, an arch-top casement or a single-hung with a curved head can open, though most half-rounds and circles are fixed, and a fiberglass casement under a fixed arch typically runs an estimated $650 to $1,200.
Yes, we draw the grid across the whole group before ordering, so the bars line up across every mullion.
Most arched windows take an estimated 1 to 3 hours each to set, typically 4 to 12 weeks after the template visit while the units are built.
We match the uneven curve with the pattern or reshape the plaster to a smooth arc, and the quote names the choice, as on the out-of-round arches we see in Old Encinitas and Eden Gardens.
Yes, a permit is typically required, and the city checks each window's U-factor and SHGC under Title 24 before sign-off.
Request a free estimate, and we will template every curved opening, show you grid options and give you a written, itemized quote.
The process
We check every frame, sill and the stucco around it, then laser-measure each opening for the unit that goes in it.
Frame material, glass package, label values and install method arrive in writing before anything is ordered.
Each window is set on a sloped sill pan, flashed and sealed, with the NFRC sticker left on for the inspector.
We open and lock every window and door with you, and the city signs off the Title 24 permit.
Services
Where we work
Homeowners get a free measure at the house. Boards, managers and contractors can send plans or an opening count for a bid.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
