Wooden or PVC windows: which is easier to maintain

How a wooden window asks for care over the years

A wooden window needs repainting or re-oiling roughly every five to eight years, depending on which side gets the weather and how well the previous coat was applied. South and west-facing frames in exposed spots, common on Nõmme and Kalamaja houses, weather faster than sheltered ones. Left unpainted for too long, bare wood starts absorbing moisture at joints and sills, and that is where rot begins.

The seals and ironmongery on a wooden window are usually simpler to service than on PVC, because the frame itself can be planed, filled, or have a section replaced without swapping the whole unit. A joiner can address a swollen sash or a sticking hinge locally, which keeps the window going for decades if someone actually does it.

The trade-off is that this work does not happen by itself. A wooden window rewards an owner who checks it every year or two, and punishes one who forgets it for fifteen.

How a PVC window asks for care over the years

A PVC frame does not need painting and holds its colour and shape well for a long time, which is the main reason people choose it. The maintenance that does exist is less visible: rubber seals around the sash harden and lose their grip after roughly ten to fifteen years, and once that happens the window stops closing tightly even though nothing looks wrong from across the room.

The moving parts, hinges and the multi-point locking mechanism, need occasional lubrication, and the drainage channels in the bottom of the frame need clearing of dust and dead insects so that condensation can drain out instead of sitting in the frame.

PVC frames themselves are not repairable in the way wood is. If a frame cracks, warps, or a corner weld fails, the usual fix is replacing that sash or the whole unit rather than restoring it.

What happens during a freeze-thaw cycle

Estonian winters do not stay reliably below freezing; they swing above and below zero repeatedly, and that cycle is harder on windows than steady cold. Water that gets into a gap, a hairline crack in old paint, a loose seal, freezes and expands, then thaws and lets more water in, and the damage compounds each cycle.

On a wooden window, this shows up as paint lifting at the sill and end grain, and eventually as soft wood if it goes unaddressed for several winters. On a PVC window, the seals are what suffer most: cold makes the rubber stiffer and more brittle, and a seal that is already ageing can crack rather than flex, letting cold air and moisture through by the time spring comes round.

Condensation on the inside of the glass in winter is common in both types and is usually about ventilation and indoor humidity rather than the window itself, but a failing seal makes it noticeably worse.

What you can do yourself and when to call someone

A yearly check before winter is worth doing regardless of material: run a finger along the seals to feel for hardening or gaps, check that the drainage holes in a PVC sill are clear, and look at painted wood for any place the coat has cracked through to bare timber.

Lubricating hinges and locking mechanisms with a light oil, and touching up a small area of paint before it spreads, are reasonable jobs for an owner with basic tools and half an hour to spare.

Once a seal needs full replacement, a sash needs adjusting because the building has settled, or paint has failed over a large area, it is worth calling someone rather than working through trial and error. We do odd jobs from 39 € an hour, and general window fitting and servicing from 90 € per job, which usually works out cheaper than a winter of draughts and a heating bill to match.

• Feel the seals every fooautumn for hardening or gaps
• Clear drainage channels on PVC frames of dust and debris
• Touch up cracked paint on wood before bare timber is exposed
• Lubricate hinges and locks once a year
• Call for help once a seal needs full replacement or a sash needs realigning

Which we would recommend for a typical Tallinn flat or house

For an apartment in a panel block, where the building manages the facade and an individual owner is mainly responsible for their own unit, PVC is usually the simpler choice: little upkeep, decent performance, and nobody arguing with the korteriühistu about repainting a shared elevation in a particular colour.

For a wooden house in Kalamaja, Nõmme, or further out in Harju county, where the windows are part of the building's character and often already wooden, staying with wood and keeping up the repainting cycle tends to make more sense than replacing everything with PVC. It is more work, but the frames can be repaired rather than replaced.

Neither material is a bad choice on its own; the mismatch happens when the maintenance a window needs does not match what the owner is actually willing to do.

What fitting and upkeep actually cost over time

Fitting and servicing work through us starts from 90 € per job for straightforward cases, with a fixed quote given once we have seen photos or a description, valid for 30 days. Larger jobs, such as replacing several units, are always quoted rather than charged by the hour.

Smaller upkeep, adjusting a sash, replacing a seal section, resealing a sill, is charged as odd jobs from 39 € an hour, minimum one hour, with a 25 € call-out within Tallinn that is deducted from the bill if the work goes ahead.

Over a fifteen-year span, a wooden window will typically cost more in labour, spread across two or three repainting rounds, while a PVC window costs less in labour but eventually needs its seals replaced wholesale rather than touched up piece by piece. Neither is free to own; the difference is in when the bill arrives.