Tower District · Fresno High · Old Fig
Cut-to-Size Blinds, Shutters & Rescreening in Central Fresno
Character houses, and not one standard opening among them
Central Fresno is the oldest housing in the city and the most interesting to work on. The Tower District, Fresno High and Old Fig are largely 1920s to 1940s — craftsman, Spanish revival, the occasional Tudor — and almost none of it matches a size you can buy off a shelf.
That is the single most common reason people call us from these neighbourhoods. They bought something close, cut it down, and now there is a finger-wide gap of afternoon sun down one edge. Close is not a fit on a window somebody framed by hand ninety years ago.
It is also why the material conversation is different here. In a 1930s house with original stained trim, a real wood blind matched to that trim usually looks right where a modern white faux would look like a repair. We will tell you honestly which rooms justify that and which ones do not.
We take the measurements and hang them ourselves. The fit is our problem, not yours.
What matters on windows in Central Fresno
Built to the opening
Every covering cut to the measurement we take, never trimmed down from the nearest stock width.
Out-of-square openings
Ninety-year-old houses settle. We measure top, middle and bottom and build to the reality.
Matched to original trim
Real wood stained to sit with the existing joinery rather than fight it.
Original frames rescreened
Period screen frames re-meshed instead of replaced with something that matches nothing.
Why store-bought blinds do not fit these houses
Three things go wrong on an older central Fresno window. The opening was a non-standard width to begin with. The house has settled, so it is wider at the bottom than the top. And at some point a window was replaced or a wall was remodelled, leaving a depth that no stock headrail sits in properly.
A blind half an inch narrow lets a bar of light down one edge all afternoon, which is precisely the sun you were trying to stop. Half an inch wide and it does not sit in the brackets at all. Neither is fixable after the fact, which is why the measurement is the job and the product is very nearly the easy part.
Screens work the same way. Original frames on a Tower District house are often perfectly sound under torn mesh and they are the right proportions for the window in a way a modern replacement is not. We rescreen what is there wherever the frame is straight, which is cheaper and looks correct on the house.
Openings we deal with weekly
- ·Non-standard widths from hand-framed originals
- ·Openings gone out of square as the house settled
- ·Casement windows with cranks in the way
- ·Arched and transom openings above doors
- ·Period screen frames with torn mesh
What we fit most in Central Fresno
Real Wood Blinds
North American basswood, stained to match the original trim in older Fresno houses.
See real wood blinds →Faux Wood Blinds
The Valley default. Wipes clean and will not cup or twist through a run of 100° afternoons.
See faux wood blinds →Plantation Shutters
Fitted joinery built to the opening, arches and angles included.
See plantation shutters →Same-Day Screen Repair
Bug screens and patio doors rescreened in place. How this company started.
See same-day screen repair →Central Fresno questions, answered straight
My windows are not standard sizes. Is that a problem?
It is the normal case in central Fresno rather than a problem. Everything is cut to what we measure on site. The reason odd windows in these neighbourhoods end up with us is that we build to the opening instead of fitting a stock size to it.
Can you match the original stained trim?
Usually, with real wood rather than faux. We take the trim into account at the estimate and are straight with you when a match will be close rather than exact — ninety-year-old finishes have moved, and pretending otherwise just disappoints people later.
Do you have to drill into original woodwork?
Brackets have to fasten to something, but there is normally a mounting choice that keeps fixings out of the most visible joinery. We will walk the options with you at the measure visit before anything is ordered.
Can you rescreen a 1930s screen frame?
Yes, and it is usually the better answer. Straight frames get new mesh and carry on. If one is bent or corroded through we build a new frame to the same size rather than making you change the window.
Get the opening measured properly
Open 7 days, 7 AM–8 PM. The in-home estimate is free and the fit is our problem, not yours.