Windows & Doors in Orléans: Upgrading 1980s–2000s Homes

Orléans was built in a hurry. Between the early 1980s and the mid-2000s, the old francophone village east of Ottawa became a suburb of well over 100,000 people, street after street of two-storeys and bungalows fitted with whatever windows the builder was buying that year. Those windows are now 20 to 40 years old, and Unisson Groupe — a Montréal manufacturer two hours up the 417 — now measures, builds and installs their replacements with its own crews.

Why Orléans Is First on Our Ottawa Route

Coming from Montréal on Highway 417, Orléans is the first part of Ottawa our trucks reach — the exit at Trim Road or Highway 174 is a straight run from Saint-Laurent, about two hours door to door. It is also the part of the city with the most concentrated wave of same-age housing, which makes it a natural place to begin factory-direct service in the capital.

Factory-direct means Unisson Groupe designs and manufactures the windows and doors at our own plant in Saint-Laurent, delivers them on our own trucks and installs them with our own employees. The dealer margin disappears, the subcontractor disappears, and the warranty on the product and the installation comes from the same company. On a whole-house replacement — the typical Orléans project — that difference adds up.

Orléans is also the most francophone part of Ottawa. Around three in ten residents have French as a mother tongue, francophone institutions from the Shenkman Arts Centre to the local French-language school boards anchor the community, and many households live in both languages. Our estimators and installers work in French and English as a matter of course, so you can deal with the whole project in the language you prefer.

Orléans Homes: What a 1980s–2000s Subdivision Needs

The population of Orléans roughly tripled during the 1980s, and construction barely slowed through the 1990s and 2000s: Convent Glen, Queenswood Heights, Chapel Hill, Fallingbrook, Chateauneuf, and later Avalon and Cardinal Creek. Most homes are detached or semi-detached two-storeys and bungalows in brick and siding, with a good number of townhouse rows, and most received builder-grade double-glazed vinyl or aluminum windows, a steel front door and a sliding patio door to the backyard.

Thirty years on, the pattern of failures is predictable. Sealed glass units fog or show a milky film between the panes as their seals give out. Slider windows in bedrooms develop worn rollers and drafts along the meeting rail. The patio door drags and lets cold pool at floor level. The steel entry door has warped enough to show daylight at the corners, and the weatherstripping on everything has flattened. None of this is a defect in the house — it is simply what 1990s builder-grade products do after 25 years.

The Ottawa Valley climate makes the timeline shorter, not longer. Orléans winters bring -25 °C nights and -30 °C wind chill, humid summers sit above 30 °C, and the freeze-thaw cycles in between drive water into every failed seal. North-facing bedrooms and rooms over the garage are usually the first to feel it.

• Fogged sealed units: the number-one complaint in 1980s–1990s Orléans homes.
• Drafty bedroom sliders: worn rollers, flattened weatherstripping, cold along the sill.
• Dragging patio doors: tired rollers and a track that has taken thirty winters of grit.
• Warped steel entry doors: daylight at the corners and a sweep that no longer seals.

Products That Fit an Orléans House

For the typical Orléans two-storey, a welded multi-chamber UPVC window is the direct upgrade: same openings, far better insulation, no painting, and a frame that stays square through the valley's temperature swings. Many homeowners take the chance to swap bedroom sliders for casements, which seal by compression and are noticeably tighter in a January wind; a picture-and-casement combination brightens the living room without losing efficiency.

Glazing is where the biggest gain is. Canada has used one national ENERGY STAR specification for windows since 2020 — a U-factor of 1.22 W/m²·K or lower, or an Energy Rating of 34 or higher — and our double-glazed Low-E argon units meet it. Our triple-glazed units go well past it, and for the north and west walls of an Orléans home we recommend triple glazing as the starting point, especially over the garage and in rooms that never felt warm.

For the front, an insulated steel or fibreglass entry door with a multi-point lock and a composite sill ends the front-hall draft. For the back, a Low-E patio door on stainless rollers replaces the original builder slider. Homeowners updating a brick-and-siding facade often choose our hybrid windows — aluminum outside, PVC inside — for black or dark bronze frames that hold their colour.

Ontario Code, Rebates and Permits in Orléans

Orléans is part of the City of Ottawa, and the work is governed by the Ontario Building Code — not Quebec's — including bedroom egress rules, safety glazing near doors and floors, and product performance to the CSA A440 / NAFS standard. Ontario has no counterpart to Quebec's RBQ licence for renovation contractors, so our RBQ 5670-0248 is a mark of accountability rather than a requirement; our crews are insured for work on Ontario job sites, and your invoice carries Ontario HST.

On rebates, the Home Renovation Savings Program from Enbridge Gas and Save on Energy has been offering a fixed amount per ENERGY STAR window and door opening, generally tied to a home energy assessment and to combining windows with a second upgrade such as attic insulation or air sealing — both common needs in 1980s Orléans houses. Amounts, eligibility and deadlines change; check the current program terms before you sign, and we will provide the certification paperwork for each unit.

As for permits, replacing a window or door with one of the same size in the same opening generally does not need a building permit in Ottawa. Enlarging an opening, adding a basement egress window or converting a window to a patio door does. If you are unsure, the City's Building Code Services (311) can confirm, and our estimator will flag anything that looks like it needs one.

From Our Factory to Your Orléans Home

Start with a free in-home estimate. Our technician comes to your home, measures every opening, checks the existing frames and sills, and talks through styles, glazing and colours with you in French or English. The quote is written by the manufacturer — no dealer's mark-up in the middle.

After approval, your units are custom-built at our Saint-Laurent factory; expect several weeks from signature to installation depending on the season, with a firm date confirmed once production is under way. Delivery is on our own trucks down the 417, and installation is by our own crews — usually one to two days for a full Orléans two-storey, including removal, insulation of the perimeter, exterior capping and cleanup.

The product and the installation are warranted together by the company that built them, and financing is available for Ontario homeowners. For a house where every window is the same age, doing them all at once is almost always the better deal — one crew, one trip, one warranty.

• 1. Measurement visit — free, bilingual, at your home.
• 2. Manufacturing — custom units from our Saint-Laurent factory.
• 3. Delivery — our own trucks, Highway 417 to Orléans.
• 4. Installation — Unisson crews, not subcontractors.
• 5. Warranty and financing — direct from the manufacturer.

Where in Orléans We Install

Our crews cover all of Orléans: Convent Glen and Queenswood Heights near Highway 174, Chapel Hill and Fallingbrook to the south, Chateauneuf and the old village along St. Joseph Boulevard, and the newer streets of Avalon, Cardinal Creek and Trailsedge. Cumberland and Navan are on the same route.

The same trucks continue west into Gloucester and Beacon Hill and east along the river to Rockland and Clarence-Rockland, so a project anywhere between Blair Road and the Prescott-Russell line is on our regular run.

Frequently Asked Questions