Window replacement
Window maintenance in a Cypriot home, and how often it is due
Cypriot windows fail at the gaskets, rollers and drainage holes, not the glass. What to check, how often, and which jobs need a professional.
7 min read
Photo: Ksenia Chernaya on Pexels
Stavros covers the rooms that carry the most cost per square metre and the finishes that go into them. He tracks the order trades have to arrive in, which moves a Cypriot renovation bill further than any hourly rate does.
Published
Windows in Cyprus almost never fail because the glass gave up. They fail because the rubber went hard, the drainage holes in the bottom track silted up, and the rollers under a heavy sliding door wore flat. The routine that keeps them alive is short: clear the tracks and drainage holes monthly and after every dust episode, wash frames and screens quarterly, inspect gaskets and the perimeter sealant twice a year, service rollers, hinges, locks and shutter gear annually, renew brush and rubber seals every three to five years, and reassess the frames at around fifteen years. Do that and a good aluminium window outlasts two kitchens. Skip it and you pay to replace frames that were structurally fine.
Why the climate matters here
Most Cypriot homes are glazed in aluminium, which ages differently from the timber and uPVC that imported maintenance advice is written for. The first pressure is heat and light. A south or west elevation takes strong sun almost all year, and what ages is the soft parts: the gaskets holding the glass, the brush pile in the sliding tracks, the silicone bead between frame and reveal. They harden and shrink back from the corners. The frame itself expands and contracts daily, which is why a three-metre balcony slider that ran sweetly in spring starts catching by the end of summer. Inland that is worse rather than better — Nicosia has the widest temperature range on the island, and that swing drives insulation and shading specifications there.
The second pressure is what is in the air. After a dust-laden spell the bottom track of every slider fills with fine grit that packs into the drainage holes at the base of the frame. Those holes are how rain that gets into the track gets back out. Blocked, the track becomes a gutter with no outlet, and the first heavy rain pushes water over the inner lip onto your floor. Owners read that as a failed window. It is a blocked hole. Near the sea, salt does the rest: in Kato Paphos and along exposed coastal frontage the air is salt-laden, which is why galvanised and marine-grade fixings are standard there.
Building stock decides the rest. In the 1970s to 1990s blocks that fill Strovolos — the stock where rewiring and replumbing already dominate renovation work — the original glazing is single-glazed aluminium with no thermal break, usually with a roller shutter box above each opening. Those boxes are the least maintained part of any Cypriot flat. In central Limassol, where high-rise development has raised demand for balcony waterproofing and facade maintenance, the glazing is newer but far harder to reach, and access equipment drives the price more than the glass does.
The maintenance schedule
Monthly, and after every dust episode. Vacuum the bottom track of every slider, then check the drainage holes are open. A cocktail stick or a length of strimmer line clears them; a wire coat hanger scratches the coating.
Quarterly, wash. Frames and sills with fresh water and mild detergent — no abrasives, nothing solvent-based on powder coating. Rinse the insect screens from the outside face, where the dust is. On coastal properties this is the highest-value habit in the list, because it is the only thing keeping salt off the coating and the fixings between rain events.
Twice a year, seals and sealant. Run a hand along the gaskets around the glass and the brush pile in the tracks, feeling for hardness and gaps at the corners. Then look at the silicone bead outside, where the frame meets the plaster or stone reveal. A split there sends driven rain into the wall rather than the room, which is why it goes unnoticed for years.
Annually, the mechanical parts. Work every lock, handle and hinge, and lubricate with a dry PTFE spray rather than an oil. Check that sliders sit square, that restrictors on upper-floor openings still hold, and that shutters run without grinding.
Every three to five years, renew. Brush pile and glazing gaskets are consumables, and on a decent aluminium system they change without dismantling the window.
At around fifteen years, reassess. Misting between the panes, condensation on the frame every winter morning, a slider that needs both hands, corrosion breaking through the coating. At that point the question stops being maintenance and becomes whether you reglaze or replace.
What you can do yourself
Most of the list above. Clearing tracks, washing frames, swapping brush seals and lubricating gear are householder jobs, and the dry climate helps — a joint cut out in the morning is ready to reseal that afternoon.
Clear the track before you clean the glass
Vacuum the grit out first, then wipe. Washing a dusty track turns the dust to paste and drives it into the drainage holes.
Prove the drainage actually drains
Pour a cup of water into the track and watch it. It should be gone in seconds. Every rain-in-the-house complaint on a ground-floor slider starts here.
Renew the outside perimeter bead, not the inside one
The bead that keeps weather out is the external one, between frame and reveal. Cut it out completely and use a neutral-cure sealant rated for aluminium and UV exposure.
Lubricate dry, not wet
Oil and grease collect airborne dust and turn into a grinding paste that holds salt against the metal.
What needs a professional
A misted or failed sealed unit. Once condensation appears between the panes the seal has gone, and cleaning will not bring it back. A glazier can usually replace the unit in the existing frame, which is a far smaller job than replacing the window.
Anything that changes the opening. Making a window taller or wider, cutting a new opening, or enclosing a veranda touches the structure and the elevation, and those rules sit with the Department of Town Planning and Housing rather than with your fitter. Enclosures are routinely fitted first and regularised later, an expensive order to do it in.
High-level and balcony glazing. In the Limassol high-rise stock, and on any unit that cannot be reached safely from inside, access equipment decides the price and the safety case.
Shutter motors, wiring and structure. Motorised shutters need a certified electrician, and the certificate matters again when the property sells. A cracked lintel or a frame that has dropped belongs with an ETEK-registered engineer.
Cost of neglect
The arithmetic here is unusually clear, because there are two prices and a wide gap between them.
Replacing a thermally broken aluminium window, supply and fit, runs roughly €190 to €450 per square metre with the median near €280 — the spread set by frame system, glass specification, opening size and how the units reach the floor they are going on. Replacing the glazing unit inside a frame you keep runs about €90 to €260 per square metre, median around €150.
That gap is what maintenance protects. A frame kept clean, drained and lubricated stays serviceable long enough that when the glass fails you are choosing the lower number. A frame left to corrode, or one whose blocked drainage has been wetting the reveal for five winters, takes the plaster and often the sill with it. If a neglected balcony opening ends up enclosed properly instead, aluminium and glass enclosures sit around €220 to €580 per square metre installed, median near €340.
Smaller costs compound: a slider forced open and shut for a year on flat rollers damages the track it runs in, turning a cheap roller change into a frame repair.
Common questions
How do I know whether to reglaze or replace the whole window?
Look at the frame, not the glass. If it is square, the drainage works, the coating is sound and the hardware operates, a misted unit is a glazing job. If the frame has corroded through, dropped out of square, or has no thermal break and you are trying to solve condensation, a new unit alone will not fix what is wrong.
Is double glazing worth it in a climate this warm?
The gain here is mostly cooling and noise rather than heating, and the frame matters as much as the panes: old aluminium with no thermal break conducts heat straight through whatever glass sits in it. In Nicosia, with the widest temperature range on the island, that conduction is what drives the specification.
Why does water come in under my balcony door when it rains hard?
Almost always, blocked drainage holes in the bottom track, and it is free to fix. The rest is usually a threshold sitting too low against the balcony finish, common where a floor has been retiled over an existing one and the step was lost.
Do I need permission to change my windows?
Like-for-like replacement in the same opening raises fewer questions than altering the opening or the elevation, but enclosing a veranda, enlarging an opening or changing external appearance can, and apartment blocks often have their own rules on uniformity. Check with the Department of Town Planning and Housing first; the district pages here list contractors who handle that paperwork routinely.
How long should insect screens and shutter straps last?
They are the shortest-lived parts of the assembly, particularly on coastal elevations where UV and salt work on them together. Treat both as consumables rather than waiting for failure.
Window and glazing contractors listed by district
8 companies covering this area.
Atrium
Chalkoutsa, Limassol
Atrium is a window construction in Chalkoutsa, in the Limassol district.
Pipakis Aluminium Systems
Deryneia, Famagusta
Pipakis Aluminium Systems is a window construction in Deryneia, in the Famagusta district.
Muskita Aluminum Industries
Aradhippou, Larnaca
Muskita Aluminum Industries is a company in Aradhippou, in the Larnaca district.
Euroblinds
Agios Georgios, Nicosia
Euroblinds is a window blind in Agios Georgios, in the Nicosia district.
P. Andreou Enterprises
Kalograes, Nicosia
P. Andreou Enterprises is a doors business in Kalograes, in the Nicosia district.
Window Gallery
Aspres, Nicosia
Window Gallery is a window construction in Aspres, in the Nicosia district.
Alpha Blinds
Agioi Anargyroi Ii, Larnaca
Alpha Blinds is a window blind in Agioi Anargyroi Ii, in the Larnaca district.
Sources
- Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK) — registered engineers and technical practice — retrieved 2026-07-28
- Department of Town Planning and Housing — planning and building control — retrieved 2026-07-28
- Cyprus Statistical Service — construction cost indices — retrieved 2026-07-28
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