Carlsbad Quality Windows is North County's most trusted specialist in clad-wood windows, specializing in clad-wood double-hungs, divided-lite casements, and extruded aluminum cladding. We offer clad French door pairs and templated arched windows.
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Our team provides a species-and-finish order meeting with real wood samples, delivering warm wood rooms for homes and low-upkeep exteriors for both residential and commercial projects. Backed by 13 years in business and our 2-year workmanship warranty, we've finished more than 1,730 projects, from one rotted street-side casement to fourteen-window estates.
From the stain on the interior sash to the coated shell that faces the weather, our team handles every detail. Serving Carlsbad and neighboring Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch and Del Mar, we take the order meeting as seriously as the install, because the choices made there decide how the wood ages for decades.
Why Carlsbad Quality Windows
James, Rancho Santa Fe Village, Rancho Santa Fe
Estate with painted wood double-hungs swollen shut on the south side
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
James owned an estate with painted wood double-hungs swollen shut on the south side, and the family wanted to keep the look of wood in every room. We replaced all 14 windows across both floors with clad-wood double-hung, wood interior units, stained inside and clad in a low-maintenance shell outside. The job was an estimated $10,500 to $13,600 over an estimated 2 to 3 days, and the result is windows that open again with the wood interior James wanted to keep.
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 window style and the wood frame to see the estimated price per window, the typical lifespan and the warranty, then compare it with fiberglass on the same opening. Wood sits at the top of the picker, and the cladding is what keeps that lifespan long on a coastal wall.
Wood inside, cladding outside, simulated divided lites where the house calls for them
Down to the studs, new flashing and sill pan, stucco patched
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Clad-wood windows in Carlsbad are estimated at roughly $600 to $2,000 per window installed, the top of the frames we sell. The wood species, the factory finish, divided lites and the cladding type move the price most; a clad-wood or divided-lite casement is typically estimated at $800 to $1,200, and a stained fir or mahogany interior costs more than primed pine.
Divided lites and specialty shapes add the most per opening. A plain clad casement sits near the low end, while a simulated divided-lite unit matched to an Old Del Mar or Carlsbad Village cottage, or an arched top templated on site, typically lands toward the upper end of the range.
Most estates mix frames to control the total. A Fairbanks Ranch or Olivenhain home might go clad-wood in the living rooms and street elevation and fiberglass on the back walls, which keeps the wood where it is seen and the budget where it should be.
These clad-wood figures are estimates and may change with the species, finish and lite pattern you choose. Your written quote after the order meeting and final measure sets the final price and the install schedule, line by line.
Extruded aluminum cladding is what we quote near the coast, because it is formed first and painted after, and it is generally thicker and more wear-resistant than roll-form sheet. The table compares the three shells a clad-wood window can carry.
| Cladding | How it is made | Coastal fit | Where we use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roll-form aluminum | Thin sheet bent around the wood, often a lighter paint | Can fade, chalk and scratch | Sheltered inland walls in Harmony Grove or Elfin Forest |
| Extruded aluminum | Formed profile, painted after forming | Strong, ask for an AAMA 2605 coating | Most Rancho Santa Fe and Del Mar Heights orders |
| Fiberglass-clad wood | Wood interior joined to a fiberglass exterior | No metal outside at all | Walls that face the salt in Solana Beach |
If an architectural committee has approved a cladding color, bring its letter to the measure and we match it on the order, as we do for homes in Bressi Ranch and La Costa.
The real threat to a clad-wood window is moisture on the inside, not rain on the outside, because the cladding already sheds the weather. Wood decay needs wood that stays damp for long stretches, and condensation from showers and cooking on cool glass is how it gets there.
The marine layer makes this worse in Leucadia, Cardiff-by-the-Sea and other coastal streets, since cool, damp mornings slow drying on the room side of the sash. Run bath fans, wipe the sill when water beads, and keep curtains from trapping moist air against the glass.
The common mistakes are ordering bare wood and never finishing it, sealing over a wet sill, and leaving a cracked interior finish unpainted. Each lets water reach the timber, and once rot reaches the sill the fix is a full-frame tear-out rather than a touch-up. A DIY swap adds one more risk: a missed Title 24 permit, because the inspector still needs the NFRC sticker on each clad unit.
Our estate-side location manager runs every Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch Country Club job, and the crew that measures your openings sets the windows. Our owner walks most whole-house jobs at the end, and our 2-year workmanship warranty on every installation covers the fit, the seal and the trim. Meet the team before the order meeting.
When wood is more than an opening needs, we install fiberglass windows for salt air on the ocean side of a New Encinitas home, vinyl replacement windows for budget walls, and energy-efficient Low-E glass in every clad frame we order.
We install clad-wood across a 30-mile radius of Carlsbad, from La Costa to estate windows in Rancho Santa Fe, gated homes in Fairbanks Ranch and cottages in Old Del Mar, with Encinitas, Poway and the rest on our service area page.
Owners of older homes in Eden Gardens and Old Poway often pair clad-wood with wood window restoration on the street face, arched and specialty windows for curved openings, or patio and French doors in matching wood. Older homes that need the whole original profile matched rather than repaired book historic replacement windows in clad-wood.
A clad-wood window has a wood frame and sash with a factory shell, usually aluminum, covering the outside so rain and sun never reach the timber.
Pine is the usual standard, and many premium lines offer Douglas fir and mahogany, which suit a stained interior.
Yes, with extruded aluminum or fiberglass cladding, as on the Solana Beach bluffs, though the inside still needs a sound finish against condensation.
Yes, we replicate the lite pattern in clad-wood casements, as we did on a Tudor Revival cottage in Old Del Mar.
Clad-wood typically lasts an estimated 30 to 60 years when the interior finish is maintained.
Most two-story homes take an estimated 3 to 5 days on site, typically 4 to 12 weeks after the order while the units are built.
Request a free estimate, and we will measure every opening, bring wood and cladding samples and send 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.
