Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Why Miami Homeowners Choose CGI Construction
We provide independent Miami Cgi service, specializing in impact window installation, window replacement, and the tile and flooring work that surrounds those openings. Our crews have rebuilt hundreds of Miami kitchens and baths around CGI windows and doors, working to Miami-Dade HVHZ impact requirements and coastal corrosion standards without ever needing factory backing. We are not affiliated with or authorized by CGI. We’re an independent service provider, which means the only incentive we carry into a job is doing the work correctly the first time. Call (850) 988-7559 for a free estimate.
CGI makes some of the most rigorously tested impact windows in the country, and in a market like Miami, that matters. Salt air, 60-plus inches of annual rainfall, and direct hurricane exposure stress every component of a window assembly. The frame, the glass, the seals, the hardware, and the waterproofing all have to hold, or the failure shows up inside your wall. Trevor Nash and our team have spent years working on Cgi service in Hialeah and throughout Miami, including a lot of older homes in Coconut Grove where the windows are original, the openings are out of square, and the surrounding stucco has seen better decades.
Why Trust Penhallow Remodeling Miami for Your CGI Construction?
Our technicians know CGI products because they have taken them apart, diagnosed failures, and reinstalled them under Miami conditions. We understand what a CGI Sentinel Series casement looks like after ten years of salt exposure on a Brickell balcony, and we know why a fogged insulated glass unit in an Estate Collection picture window usually points to a failed laminate seal rather than a frame problem. That distinction matters. It’s the difference between a $900 repair and a $9,000 replacement.
Trevor Nash learned the trade at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and has spent nearly three decades managing crews on everything from small bath refreshes to full structural overhauls. He’s been working throughout Miami for years, and he will tell you directly when a job is harder than expected. Honesty, he figures, is cheaper than a callback. We use factory-spec but independently sourced glass packs, weather stripping, and hardware for CGI units. We prioritize direct replacement whenever possible, because aftermarket parts rarely meet CGI’s impact-load stack tolerances. That’s a specific engineering constraint, not a sales pitch. When a window is rated to survive a 9-pound 2×4 traveling at 34 miles per hour, the margin for a slightly-off gasket or hinge is effectively zero.
Every job we do carries a written price before any work starts, real arrival windows, and our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the work fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge. That’s in writing on every project. And if a repair fails, the return visit is free. No service call, no re-inspection fee. A live person answers the phone 24/7.
Styles & brands we work with
Common CGI Construction Problems We Fix in Miami
- Aluminum frame pitting and white oxidation at saltwater-exposed mullions and sills. Older non-marine-grade CGI units, especially on buildings within a half mile of Biscayne Bay, develop electrolytic corrosion where the aluminum meets stainless fasteners. We see it constantly in Edgewater and along Brickell. The fix is often surface restoration and re-anodizing where possible, but if the pitting has thinned the frame wall, replacement is the honest answer.
- Failed or fogged insulated glass seals in CGI impact units after hurricane pressure cycling. Every hurricane season, repeated positive and negative pressure loads flex the laminate and seal system. Eventually the desiccant inside the spacer saturates and you get fogging between the panes. That’s a failed seal, not a cleaning issue. We replace the glass pack and restore the unit’s clarity and thermal performance.
- Sagging or misaligned CGI casement sashes due to worn friction hinges. The Sentinel Series and 800 Series casement windows use stainless friction hinges that wear over time. When the hinge arms get sloppy, the sash drops a few millimeters and the multipoint lock won’t engage. You’ll notice the window closes but doesn’t seal tightly, and the locking handle feels spongy. We replace the hinge assembly and realign the sash so it latches cleanly against the weather stripping.
- Water intrusion at fastener penetrations on CGI frames when original exterior sealing was not maintained. This is a Miami constant. The original installation may have used sealant that broke down after six or seven summers of UV and humidity. Water wicks through the screw penetrations, stains the drywall below, and eventually rots the rough opening. We remove the trim, pull the frame, and reseal with through-flashing before reinstalling.
- Rough-opening rot and termite damage discovered during a kitchen or bath remodel. When we pull a backsplash or tile surround around an older CGI window, the framing behind it sometimes tells a story. In neighborhoods like Little Havana and Allapattah, the 1950s and 60s concrete block homes often have wood buck framing around window openings that was never properly flashed. Termites and moisture find it. We rebuild the buck opening and re-anchor the window before the new tile goes in.
CGI Parts & Our Repair-vs-Replace Approach
We source factory-spec CGI parts independently. For glass replacement, that means impact-rated laminated glass packs matched to the original unit’s design pressure rating. For weather stripping and hardware, we use direct-replacement components rather than generic hardware-store substitutes. The reason is straightforward: a CGI impact window is a system, and each part in that system plays a role in how the window handles wind load, water penetration, and debris impact. Change one component, and you change the whole assembly’s performance.
We repair before replacing unless one of two things is true. Either the frame itself is compromised – serious corrosion, extrusion cracking, or a distorted mullion – or the unit is an older non-impact CGI window that no longer meets Miami-Dade wind-borne debris code. In the first case, replacement is the only safe fix. In the second, keeping the window means keeping a vulnerability. Miami building code doesn’t grandfather in non-impact glass on exterior openings. If you’re doing a remodel that touches the window opening, code requires you to bring it up to current HVHZ standards.
If you’re unsure whether your CGI windows need a repair or a full replacement, call (850) 988-7559. We’ll look at the specific units and give you a written recommendation.
Our CGI Service Process – Step by Step
- 1
Diagnosis. We inspect the CGI unit in place, checking frame condition, sash alignment, glass clarity, hardware operation, and the rough opening. We also note whether the exterior sealant and flashing are still performing. If we’re working around a kitchen or bath remodel, we’ll coordinate with the tile and flooring schedule so the window work happens in the right sequence.
- 2
Repair or install. For repairs, we pull the affected sash or glass pack, replace the worn or failed components, and reinstall with factory-spec hardware. For new installs, we set the window in the opening, shim it square, flash the perimeter, and anchor per Miami-Dade requirements. CGI windows are heavy – a single Sentinel Series impact unit can weigh over 200 pounds. We set them with a two-person crew or lift equipment, never alone.
- 3
Test. We cycle every operable sash, engage the multipoint locks, check the weather stripping compression, and run a water test at the frame perimeter. For casement windows, we verify the sash closes square and the locking points engage in sequence. No “close enough.”
- 4
Warranty. Every job gets our 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If something fails inside that year, we return and fix it at no charge. The same applies to a free second visit if a repair doesn’t hold. We leave the job site cleaner than we found it.
See the difference
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AfterCGI Products We Service & Install in Miami
We service and install across CGI’s residential and commercial lines: the CGI Sentinel Series impact windows, the CGI Estate Collection impact windows, the CGI Commercial/Architectural Series, and the CGI 800 Series casement and fixed windows. We also work with CGI’s sliding glass doors and fixed picture units. We stock common replacement components locally – friction hinges, weather stripping profiles, and laminated glass pack sizes for the most frequently installed CGI models in the Miami market. Less common parts we order direct, which typically adds a few days to the schedule.
We Also Service These Brands
CGI is a core part of our work, but we’re a multi-brand shop. We regularly install and service products from KraftMaid, Cambria, Silestone, and Kohler, particularly when a window project overlaps with a kitchen or bath remodel. That’s an advantage for homeowners: one crew handles the window replacement and the tile setting, which means one schedule, one warranty, and no finger-pointing if something goes wrong.
FAQs – CGI Construction Service in Miami
Failed insulated glass seals can be repaired by replacing the glass pack with an impact-rated laminated unit matched to the original design pressure. Re-certification after a glass replacement is generally not required for the window to remain code-compliant, because the frame and anchoring were not altered. However, if the frame was removed, re-anchored, or if the rough opening was rebuilt, a Miami-Dade product control approval verification may be requested by the building department. We handle that documentation as part of the permit package. Call (850) 988-7559 and we’ll walk you through what applies to your specific windows.
Not necessarily. White oxidation on the aluminum surface is cosmetic corrosion, and it can often be cleaned and re-coated with a marine-grade conversion coating that stops further pitting. The replacement question only comes up when the corrosion has penetrated deep enough to thin the frame wall, or when the pitting has compromised the glazing channel and the glass is no longer seated securely. On a 30th-floor Edgewater condo, we’ve seen surface oxidation that looked terrible but tested structurally fine. On a 1950s bungalow a block from the bay, the same appearance hid frame loss. The only way to know is an inspection – estimates are free at (850) 988-7559.
It shouldn’t, provided the window frame is not disturbed. Installing tile up to the frame edge leaves the impact assembly intact. The risk arises when the tile setter removes the window trim or cuts into the frame to fit the tile. That’s where we sequence our work carefully: we handle the window perimeter and flashing details before and after the tile goes in, so the impact rating and the waterproofing both stay intact.
Sometimes, but not always. Enlarging a window means cutting into the wall structure, which requires a structural assessment and possibly a header modification. In Miami’s concrete block homes, cutting a larger opening means saw-cutting the block and installing a steel or reinforced concrete lintel to carry the load above. As your General Contractor, we can do that work, but we will tell you upfront if the masonry condition makes it a bigger project than the window itself. Give you a number first, then pick up the tools. Call (850) 988-7559 for a written estimate.
In most cases, yes. CGI impact windows are designed for a long service life in coastal environments, and if the frames and seals are in good shape, there’s no reason to replace them just because the roof is being updated. We do recommend a full exterior inspection as part of any major remodel – checking the frame anchoring, the perimeter flashing, and the sealant condition where the wall meets the roof line. Last month our crew was called to a 1950s Morningside bungalow where two original CGI casement windows had fogged and one wouldn’t latch. We pulled the sashes, identified failed laminate seals and worn hinge arms, replaced the insulated glass and friction hardware, then resealed the buck openings with new through-flashing, without disturbing the owner’s original CGI mill finish. That’s the repair-before-replace approach, and it’s almost always the right call when the frames are sound.
Here are the ranges we quote most often in Miami:
| Service | Typical Miami Range |
|---|---|
| Impact Window Installation (CGI) | $9,440 – $29,500 |
| Window Replacement (CGI) | $5,310 – $17,700 |
| Kitchen Remodel with CGI window retrofit | $16,520 – $53,100 |
Window replacement cost moves with the number of openings, the window style, the frame finish, and whether structural work is needed around the opening. A single standard CGI casement replacement is very different from a full-house impact window package on a 1960s CBS home with out-of-square openings. We write a fixed number before work starts. Call (850) 988-7559 for an exact quote – estimates are free.
Book Your CGI Service in Miami, FL
If your CGI windows need repair, replacement, or integration into a remodel, call (850) 988-7559. We’ll send a background-checked, uniformed technician to look at the work, and you’ll get a written price before anything gets touched. No pressure. Just a real number and a written guarantee.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner at Penhallow Remodeling Miami, serving Miami since 2004.
