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PGT Home Additions & ADU: The Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
If you have a PGT window or door product and you’re planning a home addition or ADU in Fort Lauderdale, you need a contractor who understands how PGT products integrate into new framing, code-compliant openings, and hurricane-rated structures. The installed cost for a home addition in Fort Lauderdale typically runs $45,000 to $130,000. PGT windows and doors show up in additions constantly, and when they’re spec’d wrong or flashed incorrectly during the build, water intrusion starts within the first wet season. Most owners discover the problem not through a leak, but through a window that suddenly won’t operate smoothly or a door that binds because the rough opening shifted. We fix the install and make the opening right.
Which PGT Models This Applies To
PGT builds for Florida’s wind zones, which means their product lines are not interchangeable the way a generic national window line might be. Within the PGT lineup, the most common products we work with in Fort Lauderdale additions are the WinGuard series (aluminum and vinyl frames, impact-rated), the ClassicVue line for larger sightlines, and the PremierVue for thicker laminated glass. The gotcha with PGT comes down to rough opening tolerances. PGT impact windows have frame-depth requirements and flange details that don’t forgive sloppy framing. A rough opening that’s even 3/8″ out of square will twist the frame, and on an impact-rated window that twist eventually compromises the seal between the glass pack and the frame. When we frame additions around PGT products, we build the opening to the spec sheet, not to standard practice.
The OEM-versus-aftermarket decision matters here too. For glass packs and sashes, OEM is almost always the right call on something under warranty. For hardware, rollers, and weatherstripping, quality aftermarket equivalents are widely used across the industry and usually fine. If the building department in Fort Lauderdale is involved in your addition (and on any permitted addition they will be), the product needs to maintain its Miami-Dade or Florida Building Code approval status. Mixing aftermarket glass into an impact-rated frame can void that approval, and we will tell you that before we take the job. That’s the kind of thing that keeps an addition from passing final inspection.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your PGT Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
- Binding or sticking during operation: The sash rubs the frame because the addition’s rough opening settled or was framed slightly out of square. This is usually the first symptom and it gets worse through Fort Lauderdale’s wet-dry cycles.
- Condensation between the panes: The insulated glass unit seal has failed. On impact-rated glass this is expensive to replace, and you’ll usually see it on the west-facing wall first, where afternoon sun plus rain cycles put the most thermal stress on the seals.
- Water staining at the interior corners: The flashing wasn’t integrated properly with the WRB during the addition’s rough stage. PGT flange windows need correct lapping sequence, and if someone caulked over the wrong layer, the leak is already inside the wall before you see the stain.
- Breeze you can feel around the frame on a windy day: The weatherstripping is compressed or the frame has flexed. On a second-story addition in Fort Lauderdale this is more common because second floors move more than first floors.
- Door panel dragging on the threshold: Most PGT sliding doors on additions have adjustable rollers, but if the header above the door was undersized, no roller adjustment will fix it. The door is carrying weight it wasn’t designed for.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For a home addition in Fort Lauderdale involving PGT products, full project pricing runs $45,000 to $130,000 depending on square footage, foundation type, and whether you’re adding a second story or going out. If the work is just replacing a PGT window or door unit within an existing addition (not building new space), the window replacement range is $4,500 to $15,000 and impact window installation runs $8,000 to $25,000. An ADU construction in Fort Lauderdale typically runs $90,000 to $220,000. On any job like this, our written price includes the product, flashing, sealant, trim work, and the labor to get the opening right, inspected, and watertight. We hand you that price before any work starts, and the number on the invoice is the number you approved.
DIY or Call Us?
If the window is binding, you can check the obvious: debris in the track, loose screws on the hardware, or a visible gap in the caulking. Beyond that, we tell people the same thing every time. Impact windows are not like standard single-hung units. The glass is heavy, the frames are reinforced, and the flashing details are the difference between a dry addition and a mold problem behind your drywall. On a second-story addition or any install involving scaffolding, the risk isn’t worth it. Falls happen. Wrong flashing details fail quietly for months before you know there’s a problem. Call us at (754) 354-7423 if you’re not sure what you’re looking at. We will tell you straight whether it needs a fix now or can wait, and the estimate is free either way.
FAQs
PGT impact products generally last 15 to 25 years in Fort Lauderdale’s salt air and humidity, though the hardware (rollers, locks, springs on door handles) often needs replacement at the 8 to 12 year mark. The glass itself can last decades; it’s the seals and moving parts that go first.
Yes, if the issue is hardware, weatherstripping, or a minor frame alignment problem. If the insulated glass unit has lost its seal or the frame is twisted out of square, replacement is the honest fix. We’ll tell you which one applies to your situation when we inspect it.
Most single-unit replacements take one to two days on-site, with longer timelines for second-story work or openings that need reframing. We’ll give you a written schedule before we start, and we’ll send photo updates while the work happens.
We stock common hardware, weatherstripping, and retrofit flashing materials in our Fort Lauderdale shop. Glass packs and custom-sized units are ordered per job, typically with a lead time of two to four weeks. If you need something PGT-specific, call (754) 354-7423 and we’ll tell you the availability before you spend a dollar.
If you have a PGT window or door in an addition, ADU, or any space in Fort Lauderdale that’s not working right, call us at (754) 354-7423. We’ll send someone out, put eyes on it, and hand you a written price before any work starts. That’s how we run every job, from a single window swap to a full addition. Luca Romano, our owner and lead contractor, is usually the one who shows up first to take a look. He grew up framing houses in East Los Angeles and has been running crews in Fort Lauderdale long enough to know which walls hide surprises. The work either holds up or it doesn’t, and we make sure it does.
Written by Luca Romano, Owner & Lead Contractor, Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale at Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.
