Windows and Glass in North York: A Homeowner's Guide
North York's windows come from two building booms: postwar houses from the late 1940s to the 1960s, and apartment and condo towers from the 1960s to today. Nearly half of dwellings (48.9%) are in buildings of five or more storeys and 47.2% of households rent, so who is responsible for a broken or foggy window often depends on a lease or a condo declaration as much as on the glass itself. The fix itself is usually part-level: a new sealed unit, pane or operator in the existing frame, not a new window.
56.6% of North York dwellings were built in 1980 or earlier, and 48.9% are in apartment buildings of 5+ storeys (2021 Census).
Don Mills (1952–1965) was planned as a modernist community; Willowdale's older houses have been widely replaced by large rebuilds since the 1990s.
North York has about 7% more heating degree-days than Toronto City Hall (3,760 vs 3,520).
With 47.2% of households renting, Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act and Toronto's property standards by-law decide a lot of window repairs here.
Owners who want to change condo glass that is a common element generally need board approval and a section 98 agreement first.
OhMyGlass is headquartered in North York, at 7 Benjamin Boake Trail, and replaces the glass or hardware in sound frames rather than the whole window.
On this page
North York is our home turf: OhMyGlass is headquartered at 7 Benjamin Boake Trail. The district's windows come from two building booms. One is the postwar houses built from the late 1940s through the 1960s. The other is the apartment and condo towers that started in the 1960s and are still going up along Yonge Street. By the 2021 Census, 48.9% of North York dwellings were in buildings of five or more storeys, 26.3% were single-detached houses, and 56.6% of all homes were built in 1980 or earlier.
That mix means the first question on many jobs isn't the glass. It's who is responsible. 47.2% of North York households rent, and 31.9% of dwellings are condos (21.3% owner-occupied, 10.6% rented). This guide covers the housing, the climate and the rules that decide how a North York window or door gets fixed, which in most cases means new glass or hardware in the frame you already have.
How North York was built
North York stayed largely rural until the Second World War. A housing shortage in the late 1940s and 1950s turned it into a suburb, and by the 1950s and 1960s it resembled many other sprawling North American suburbs. It joined Metro Toronto in 1953, became a city in 1979 and was amalgamated in 1998. The neighbourhoods built in those decades still set the pattern of window work today.
| Area | When it was built | What's there | What to check first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postwar bungalow streets | Mostly 1950s–1960s | Single-storey houses with living rooms at the front, often a side door to the basement | Age of any original sealed units; side-door glass and hardware |
| Don Mills | 1952–1965 | A planned modernist community, with design, colours and materials controlled by the developer | Matching replacement glass to a consistent street look |
| Willowdale | Houses from 1910 to the 1950s; large rebuilds since the 1990s | Older one- and two-storey houses beside large replacement homes | Sealed units in 1990s–2000s rebuilds now reaching the end of typical life |
| North York City Centre (Yonge Street) | High-density growth along Yonge | Condo towers | Condo responsibility and approvals before any work |
| Postwar rental tower clusters | Region-wide, mostly 1960–1980 | Rental apartment towers | Landlord repair duties; balcony doors |
Postwar houses and Don Mills
Postwar bungalows were predominantly built in the 1950s and 1960s and are commonly found in the neighbourhoods of North York, South Scarborough and Etobicoke. Don Mills, built from 1952 to 1965, is usually called Canada's first planned community. Its developer controlled the architectural design, colours and materials of all buildings, so owners there often care about keeping replacement glass consistent with the street.
Where early windows survive, expect the weak points of the era: postwar aluminum sliders used thin aluminum with narrow rubber seals that quickly froze. Where the originals were replaced decades ago, the age of those replacement sealed units matters more than the age of the house. Either way, the fix is usually at the part level: a new sealed unit, a worn operator or roller, or a side door's glass and lock, not a new window.
Willowdale's rebuilds and the Yonge Street towers
In Willowdale, large two-storey homes started replacing smaller postwar houses on a large scale in the 1990s. The neighbourhood is where Torontonians first used the term "monster homes". The earliest of those rebuilds are now more than 25 years old. Typical sealed-unit life is 10 to 25 years, and in a 25-year field study, 9.2% of units had failed by year 25. Where the frames are sound, replacing just the sealed unit keeps the window. GTA pricing puts glass-only replacement at $350–$650 per opening, a fraction of the $1,000–$1,800 a full-frame window would cost; prices vary with size, glass type and access.
Along Yonge, North York City Centre was planned as the district's downtown, built around high-density residences. Older rental towers sit in clusters elsewhere. The Greater Golden Horseshoe has 1,925 apartment towers built between 1945 and 1984, and they make up 48% of the City of Toronto's rental stock.
Climate: a step colder than downtown
North York has 3,760 heating degree-days, compared with 3,520 at Toronto City Hall and 3,890 at Pearson. That's about 7% more heating demand than downtown, which means colder glass and more winter condensation at the same indoor humidity.
Two local conditions matter most for glass:
- Sun on cold glass. On a sunny winter morning, the centre of a pane can reach 15–25 °C while the edge in the frame stays at −10 °C or colder, and that difference is what cracks glass from the edge. Half-drawn blinds make it worse.
- Heavy snow events. On January 25, 2026, Pearson recorded 46 cm of snow, a single-day record, and January 2026 finished as its snowiest month on record at 88.2 cm. Snow piled against sliding doors and basement windows can push water past worn weatherstripping.
Rules that decide who fixes what
Building permits. New glass in an existing frame doesn't change the opening and is generally treated as a repair. For whole windows, Toronto doesn't require a permit to replace a window or door in the same opening of a detached, semi-detached or row house with one dwelling unit. Other building types need a permit, including houses with a second unit, low-rise apartments and condos. So does any new or enlarged opening. Toronto's heritage conservation districts are concentrated in the old city. If your North York house is individually designated, check with Heritage Planning before changing visible windows.
Condos. By default the corporation repairs common elements and owners maintain their units, but the declaration can change that. If you want to change common-element glass yourself, for example to a different tint or triple glazing, the board has to approve it by resolution before the work. You'll also need a registered section 98 agreement setting out who repairs, maintains and insures the change. See condo glass responsibility.
Rentals. Landlords must keep a rental unit "in a good state of repair and fit for habitation", even if the tenant knew about the problem before moving in, and they can't shift that duty to the tenant in the lease. Tenants pay only for damage caused wilfully or negligently by themselves, their guests or other occupants. Toronto's property standards by-law adds that exterior windows and doors must be weather-tight, must be in good repair and must lock from inside. Our landlord and tenant guide goes further. This is general information, not legal advice.
Break-ins. Four North York neighbourhoods were in Toronto's top 10 for break-and-enter rates in 2025: Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills, Humber Summit, St. Andrew-Windfields and York University Heights. After a break-in, wear gloves and closed shoes to clear glass, keep kids and pets away, and have the opening secured the same day through our emergency glass repair service.
Working from our home base
Neighbourhoods we serve
Willowdale, North York City Centre, Bayview Village, York Mills, Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills, St. Andrew-Windfields, Don Mills, Flemingdon Park, Downsview and York University Heights, among others.
What we'd do
- Fogged unit in a sound frame: replace the sealed unit only and keep the frame.
- Condo or rental: get the responsibility question answered in writing first, then an itemized quote the landlord, corporation or insurer can use.
- Postwar house with mixed windows: check the frames and hardware on every opening before quoting, and fix a tired operator or balance at the same visit, so the whole window works again without replacing it. If a frame has failed, we'll tell you that's a window-replacement job.
Next step
Tell us your neighbourhood, the type of building and what's wrong, with a photo if you can. We'll say whether it's a glass-only job and what approvals you need first. Visit our North York window repair page or contact us for a free quote.