San Bernardino Window Replacement is San Bernardino County's trusted source for wildfire-resistant windows in San Bernardino, CA, specializing in tempered dual-pane glass, ember-resistant screens and whole-house window replacement for homes in fire hazard severity zones. We offer fiberglass and reinforced vinyl frames and solid-core exterior doors.
Our team provides glazing that meets the one-tempered-pane language in California's wildland-urban interface rules, delivering stronger glass against radiant heat for both residential and commercial projects. The installer who measures each opening is the one who sets it, and we write the tempered pane, the frame material and the NFRC U-factor and SHGC into the written scope before anything is ordered.
From fine metal screen mesh on every operable sash to a full elevation of tempered units facing the hillside, our team handles every detail. Serving San Bernardino, San Antonio Heights, Claremont and Rancho Cucamonga, we plan fire-zone replacements around the openings that face the fuel.
Why San Bernardino Window Replacement
The installer who measures your openings is the one who sets the new windows, from the first visit to the final walk.
In a wildfire, radiant heat usually breaks ordinary window glass before flames ever touch the house. The heat warms the exposed glass while the edge stays shaded by the frame, and that temperature difference grows the tiny cracks along the glass edge until the pane fails. Once it fails, the opening is a path for embers into the rooms behind it.
Single-pane annealed glass, the glass in most original aluminum sliders, is the most fragile common type, and large windows are more vulnerable than small ones because they have more edge. An open window is worse still: embers carried ahead of a fire can blow straight in and land on furnishings.
San Bernardino sits where Santa Ana winds pour through Cajon Pass into the county, and those dry, gusting winds drive most of Southern California's wildfires. The 2003 Old Fire, fanned by Santa Anas, burned about 91,281 acres, put San Bernardino and Highland at risk and burned part of the Cal State San Bernardino campus. Foothill and canyon homes here face that exposure on the elevations that look toward the slope.
California's wildland-urban interface rules, Chapter 7A of the Building Code and Section R337 of the Residential Code, ask that exterior glazing be insulating-glass units with at least one tempered pane, glass block, or an assembly with a fire-resistance rating of not less than 20 minutes. That is the language in CBC 708A.2 and CRC R337.8 as summarized by county building departments. Tempered glass earns that place because it is about four times stronger than annealed glass and resists thermal shock. Research at UC Cooperative Extension found the glass, more than the frame, decides how a window holds up in a wildfire, and dual-pane units with tempered glass let the outer pane shield the inner one.
Chapter 7A is tied to fire hazard severity zones. The State Fire Marshal's 2025 maps for local responsibility areas sort land into moderate, high and very high zones; earlier local maps showed very high zones only. Cities must adopt the new maps within 120 days of notice and may raise a zone's severity but not lower it.
Whether a replacement window on an existing home must meet Chapter 7A depends on the zone, the permit and the edition the city or county has adopted. We confirm that with the building department for your address before the scope is written, and we quote tempered dual-pane glass on fire-facing elevations either way.
Vents, screens and frame material matter alongside the glass, because a window that keeps its glass but deforms or lets embers past its screen still lets fire inside.
Once the glass is right, frame material can be chosen largely on looks and budget. The known weak spot is vinyl with unreinforced mullions, which can soften and let the glass unit drop out. Vinyl certified to AAMA/WDMA/CSA 101/I.S.2/A440 carries internal reinforcement, and fiberglass holds its shape under heat on sun-baked walls.
Bronze, coated-fiberglass and aluminum screens all delay glass edge-cracking under radiant heat, with bronze performing best and aluminum worst. Fine mesh around one-sixteenth of an inch can stop small embers even after a pane fails. Screens do not stop direct flame.
The same code section that sets the glazing asks for vents covered with noncombustible, corrosion-resistant mesh with openings between one-sixteenth and one-eighth of an inch, or listed ember-resistant vents. We note any open gable or eave vent beside a window opening on the walk so the homeowner can address it.
Laminated glass performed no better than ordinary annealed glass in wildfire testing, so it is not the fire-zone answer, even though it is excellent for noise.
A fire-zone window replacement starts with the elevations that face the vegetation and ends with every opening in the house on tempered dual-pane glass.
We walk the house and the lot, mark which walls face brush, slope or a neighbour's structure within close range, and note anything combustible under a window.
Tempered glass cannot be cut or ground once it is tempered, so each opening is measured by the installer who will set it and the glass is ordered to that size.
The written scope names the frame, the tempered pane in each unit, the screen mesh, retrofit or full-frame install, and the NFRC U-factor and SHGC, so the energy rules are met in the same order.
Old units come out, new ones go in level and square, the sill is flashed and sealed, and the opening is water tested before trim goes back.
We walk the finished house with you, opening by opening, and hand over the product data and the written warranty.
A whole-house wildfire-resistant window replacement in the San Bernardino foothills is typically estimated at roughly $8,000 to $30,000 per home, driven mostly by the number and size of the openings and the frame material.
These figures are estimates for the area and are subject to change with product pricing and site conditions. Only the written quote that follows the free fire-zone measure sets the final price.
The process
Four steps, and nothing is ordered until you have signed off on the written quote.
We look at every opening with you, check the frames, the sills and the stucco around them, and measure each one for the unit that will go in it.
Frame material, glass package, label values, install method and the order date arrive in writing. For a community or a commercial building the work is split into phases, so every resident or tenant knows their day.
Old units come out, openings are checked for water damage, and each new window is set, flashed and sealed, with a water test at the sill before trim goes back.
We open and lock every window and door with you before calling it finished, and adjust anything you flag.
Questions
Under Chapter 7A and Residential Code R337, exterior glazing must be insulating-glass units with at least one tempered pane, glass block, or a 20-minute fire-resistance rated assembly. Your building department confirms which option and which code edition applies to your permit.
That depends on your zone and how your city or county applies the code to alterations. We check it for your address before quoting, and on fire-facing walls we recommend tempered dual-pane glass regardless.
The State Fire Marshal publishes fire hazard severity zone maps, and the 2025 local responsibility area maps added moderate and high zones beside very high. Your city or county building department can confirm the zone for your parcel.
No. In wildfire testing laminated glass performed no better than ordinary annealed glass. Tempered glass is the pane the code points to; laminated glass belongs on the noise side of a window spec.
No, though a whole-house job is simpler to schedule and permit. If the budget needs phases, start with the windows that face the vegetation and the largest panes, then finish the remaining elevations.
Vinyl can work when it is reinforced. The weak point is unreinforced mullions that soften and release the glass, so look for units certified to AAMA/WDMA/CSA 101/I.S.2/A440, or choose fiberglass.
Yes. Metal and coated-fiberglass screens delay glass cracking under radiant heat, with bronze best, and fine mesh can keep small embers out. They do not stop direct flame, so the glass still has to be tempered.
We walk the outside of the house first to see which walls face the slope or brush, then measure every opening inside and out. You receive a written quote naming the tempered glass, the frame, the screens and the install method for each window.
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.
