Erin Mills · Mississauga
Erin Mills: fifty years of windows, and the repairs that come with them
Erin Mills was built as a planned new town from the early 1970s, and streets built together tend to wear out together. The sealed units fog, the cranks slip and the patio doors start to drag, often within a few years of each other. We're a free referral service. Tell us what your window or door is doing, and we connect you with an independent local pro who fixes that kind of problem and quotes it in writing.
At a glance
- Built
- A planned new town, developed from the early 1970s
- Where
- Dundas Street to about Britannia Road, Winston Churchill Boulevard to the Credit River
- Common jobs
- Fogged sealed units, casement cranks, patio door rollers, screens
- Permits
- Same-size replacement needs no City permit
A 1970s new town, now Mississauga's biggest community
Erin Mills was developed from the early 1970s on former farmland, planned as a whole community, and it is now the most populous community in Mississauga.
Houses went up in phases, but across most of it the original windows or their first replacements are old enough that three parts wear out around the same time:
- The sealed unit (the double glazing) loses its edge seal and fogs.
- The crank on a casement window strips or seizes.
- The rollers under a sliding patio door flatten, and the door drags.
Each can usually be fixed on its own. A new window makes sense when the frame itself is failing.
Fogged sealed units: swap the glass, keep the frame
A haze between the panes that won't wipe off from either side means the seal has failed and moist air has got in. It won't clear by itself. There are three fixes, each suited to a different window:
- A new sealed unit in the existing frame, measured and made to fit. This suits a frame that is sound and square.
- Defogging, where a specialist cleans and vents the unit. It can improve the look; ask what it does and doesn't restore.
- A new window, worth pricing when the frame is cracked, soft or leaking.
Our foggy window page compares the three in detail.
Cranks, locks and balances
Casement and awning windows open with a crank. When the handle spins without moving the sash, the gears in the operator are usually stripped. When the sash opens but won't pull in tight, the hinge arms or the lock may be worn. Both are part swaps, not new windows, as long as a matching or adaptable part can be found.
Sliding and hung windows have their own small parts: a latch that no longer catches, a balance that lets the sash drop, rollers on a horizontal slider. Window repair explains what pros fix and what they check first. One crank is a fine request on its own.
Patio doors that drag, and screens for summer
A sliding patio door that has to be shoved open usually has worn rollers or a damaged track, not a failed door. Rollers can be replaced and the door adjusted so it glides and locks again. A lock that won't catch often means the door has dropped out of adjustment. Sliding door repair goes through the symptoms one by one.
Screens come up every spring. A torn window screen can be rescreened in its own frame, and a bent frame rebuilt to size. Patio screen doors get new rollers and mesh. See window screen repair.
Replacing windows: same-size, no City permit
When replacement is the right call, the City of Mississauga is clear: replacing a window or door with one of the same size needs no building permit. A new opening, or making an existing one bigger, does. Zoning rules still apply when no permit is needed. The City's permit page has the current wording.
If you're thinking of a bigger window, a wider patio door or a new basement opening, ask the pro to include the permit in the quote. Replacement windows explains retrofit and full-frame installs and how to compare two quotes. To start, send a photo of the window.
Erin Mills questions
Why are so many Erin Mills windows fogging?
Because many were installed around the same time. Erin Mills went up as a planned community from the early 1970s, so the windows on a street tend to be of a similar age, whether original or first replacements. Sealed units eventually lose their edge seals, and once one on the street goes, others often follow. A fogged unit can usually be replaced without a new window.
Is the water on my windows in the morning a failed seal?
Probably not, if you can wipe it off. Moisture on the room side of the glass is condensation: humid indoor air meeting cool glass. It points to humidity and air movement, not a broken seal. Fog you can't reach, trapped between the panes, is the failed seal, and the foggy window page explains the options for that.
Can the original patio door on an Erin Mills house be repaired?
Often, yes. A door that drags, sticks or won't lock usually needs new rollers, a cleaned or repaired track, or an adjustment. A fogged panel can have its sealed unit replaced. Replacement makes more sense when the frame is bent, the sill leaks, or parts can no longer be found. Send a photo of the whole door and a close-up of the bottom track.
Can the screens on original Erin Mills windows still be fixed?
Usually. Most window screens can be rescreened in their own frames, and a bent or broken frame can be rebuilt to the same size, even for older windows. On casement windows the screen sits on the inside, so photograph it in place with the window closed. Window screen repair explains the options.