Glass Block Windows Cost: What to Budget

Glass Block Windows Cost: What to Budget

Most contractors won't publish a number. Here's ours.

Glass block windows cost $550 to $950 per opening installed, including materials and mortared installation. Where you land in that range depends on four things, and none of them are mysterious.

Legacy Glass Block & Window Co. has installed glass block across Will, Cook, and DuPage counties since 1986.

What Glass Block Windows Cost per Opening

$550 to $950 per opening, installed.

That covers the block, the mortar and sealant, removing the old window, and the labor to set the panel. A typical basement has three to six openings, so a whole-basement job usually runs somewhere between $1,650 and $5,700.

These are real ranges, not teaser pricing. What your house costs depends on the factors below.

What Moves the Number

Opening Size

Glass block is priced by the block, so a bigger opening simply needs more of them.

A standard basement hopper opening runs somewhere around 32 by 16 inches and takes a modest panel. A wider utility-room opening or a garage window can take half again as many blocks.

Larger feature openings are priced separately. A bathroom or stairwell wall of glass block can be several times the block count of a basement opening, so those fall outside the range above.

Vents

A solid panel is the base price. Adding a vent costs more, because it's a manufactured unit set into the panel rather than more block.

A hopper vent is a small screened section that opens and latches shut. Utility rooms and finished basements usually get one.

A dryer vent is a port built into the panel, with the duct running straight through a sealed opening.

You decide opening by opening. Some get a vent, some don't, and that's often where two quotes on the same house differ.

Pattern

Most basement openings get an obscure pattern that passes light while breaking up the view. Clearer or decorative patterns are available and generally cost more.

Pattern affects light and appearance, not strength.

Condition of the Existing Opening

If the old steel frame is rusted into the masonry, or the brick around the opening has deteriorated, that adds prep time before anything new goes in.

This is the variable nobody can price from a photo. It's also usually the difference between a quote at the low end of the range and one at the high end.

What's Not in the Price

Worth being clear about the boundaries.

Basement waterproofing. A mortared panel closes the gaps where water was getting in around a failing frame. It isn't a waterproofing system — most basement water comes through walls and slab, and that's a different trade.

Window wells. If your well is collapsing or holding water, that's separate work.

Egress conversion. Standard glass block doesn't open, so it can't serve as the emergency exit a basement bedroom requires.

How Glass Block Compares

Against a vinyl basement replacement window, glass block usually costs somewhat more per opening and lasts considerably longer, because there's no sash, no track, and no hardware to fail.

Against leaving a failing steel hopper in place, the comparison is a rusted frame that leaks air continuously versus one that doesn't.

Neither comparison makes glass block automatically right. It's right where you want light, privacy, and security in an opening you don't need to climb through.

Getting a Real Number

The ranges here will get you close. They can't account for your openings, your masonry, or how many vents you need.

Our own crews do the work — no subcontractors — and basement glass block openings are finished in a single day. Every installation is backed for as long as you own your home.

See patterns and recent projects on our Glass Block Windows page, or call (708) 247-2044 for a free estimate.