Windows & Doors in Saint-Isidore: Farmhouses of The Nation

Saint-Isidore is a village of dairy barns, brick farmhouses and one very busy arena, set on the flat clay plain of The Nation Municipality a few minutes off Highway 417. Unisson Groupe now measures, manufactures, delivers and installs windows and doors here from our own factory in Saint-Laurent, Montréal. Here is what that means for a farmhouse on a concession road or a bungalow on the main street.

Why Unisson now serves Saint-Isidore

Saint-Isidore sits in the heart of Prescott-Russell, roughly an hour and a half from our factory in Saint-Laurent. For years, homeowners here have driven to Ottawa or across the river to shop for windows, then waited on a dealer who buys from someone else's plant. We decided the corridor between Ottawa and Hawkesbury was close enough to serve properly, with our own measurement visits, our own production line and our own installation crews.

That is what factory-direct manufacturer means in practice. There is no distributor between you and the people who build your windows. The technician who measures your openings sends the numbers straight to our production floor, the UPVC and hybrid frames are welded and glazed in-house, and the crew that installs them reports to the same company that made them. If something needs adjusting, one phone call reaches everyone involved.

For a village where most people speak French at home and English at the feed store, it also matters that every step happens in the language you prefer. Our estimators, office staff and installers work in both, and the contract, the warranty and the follow-up come in whichever one you choose.

• One company: measurement, manufacturing, delivery and installation under one roof
• No middle margin: factory pricing without a dealer mark-up
• Bilingual service: estimate, contract and crew in French or English
• Free in-home estimate anywhere in The Nation Municipality

Homes in Saint-Isidore: farmhouses, bungalows and the clay plain

Settled in the 1840s and still under a thousand residents, Saint-Isidore is above all an agricultural village. The housing stock reflects it: two-storey brick and clapboard farmhouses from the late 1800s and early 1900s along the concession roads, post-war bungalows and split-levels near the church and the arena, and a scatter of newer builds on larger lots. Many farmhouses have been renovated in stages, which often means three generations of windows on the same house.

The soil is the story here. Much of Prescott-Russell sits on marine clay left behind by the ancient Champlain Sea, and clay moves with moisture. Older foundations settle unevenly, door frames rack, and windows that were square in 1970 now bind at one corner. Add wind sweeping across open fields with nothing to slow it, and you get the classic complaints we hear on estimates: drafts at the sash, frost on the inside of aluminum sliders, wooden sills gone soft where paint failed.

Winter regularly reaches −30 °C with wind chill in the open country, and spring brings weeks of freeze-thaw that pump water into every unsealed joint. Single-pane wood windows with storms, first-generation aluminum, and early vinyl units from the 1990s with failed seals are the three types we replace most often around here.

Which windows and doors fit Saint-Isidore

For exposed farmhouses, we usually recommend UPVC or hybrid windows with triple glazing, argon fill and a low-emissivity coating. The third pane is not a luxury when the nearest windbreak is a row of silos a kilometre away; it keeps the inside surface of the glass warmer, which is what stops condensation and that cold-radiating feeling next to the window in January. Hybrid frames, with an aluminum exterior over a UPVC core, suit owners who want a coloured exterior that will not need repainting.

Every unit we build is ENERGY STAR certified. Since 2020, Canada has used a single national specification for windows: a U-factor of 1.22 W/m²·K or lower, or an Energy Rating of 34 or higher. That is the same standard whether the house is in Saint-Isidore or Saint-Laurent, so there is no separate Ontario product to look for.

Doors matter as much as windows on a farm property. Insulated steel or fibreglass entry doors with multi-point locks stand up to the daily traffic of boots and equipment, and a modern patio door with a low-conductivity threshold replaces the drafty slider that so many bungalows here still have on the back wall. Mudroom and side-entrance doors are a frequent add-on for good reason.

• Triple-glazed UPVC casements for the windward side of exposed farmhouses
• Hybrid windows when you want a dark exterior finish without maintenance
• Steel or fibreglass entry doors with multi-point locking for busy side entrances
• Patio doors with insulated thresholds for back decks facing the fields

Ontario specifics: code, permits and rebates

Ontario has its own Building Code, and window replacement generally falls under it in a simple way: replacing a window in the same opening, without touching the framing or an egress requirement, typically does not require a building permit. Enlarging an opening, adding a new one or altering a bedroom egress window usually does. Rules are applied by the municipal building department, in this case The Nation, so we confirm with them when a project involves structural changes rather than guessing.

Rebates change often and we prefer to say so. At the time of writing, the main provincial program is the Home Renovation Savings Program delivered by Enbridge Gas and Save on Energy, which has offered a per-opening rebate on ENERGY STAR windows and doors when they are part of a broader retrofit that begins with a home energy assessment. Eligibility depends on how you heat your home and on the program's current terms, so we recommend checking the official program page before you sign anything. The federal Greener Homes Grant, which many people still ask about, closed to new applicants in 2024.

One practical difference from Quebec: Ontario does not have an RBQ-style provincial contractor licence. Our RBQ licence 5670-0248 still governs how we build and install, and our crews work in Ontario under the same standards, insurance and safety practices as at home. You are welcome to ask for the paperwork.

How it works from our Montréal factory

It starts with a free in-home visit. An estimator comes to Saint-Isidore, measures every opening, checks the condition of sills and framing, and talks through options for each room. You receive a written quote, in French or English, with no obligation. If you go ahead, the measurements go directly to our production floor in Saint-Laurent, where your windows and doors are built to the millimetre.

Manufacturing typically takes six to ten weeks in a normal season, a little longer for specialty shapes or custom colours. When your order is ready, our own truck delivers it and our own crew installs it, usually over one to three days depending on the number of openings. The crew removes old units, prepares and flashes each opening, sets the new unit plumb and square, insulates, seals and finishes, then hauls away the debris.

Our installations are covered for ten years, on top of the manufacturer warranty on the frames and sealed glass units. Financing is available if you prefer to spread the cost over time. Book your free estimate and we will schedule a visit to Saint-Isidore on a day that suits you.

• Step 1: free in-home measurement and written quote
• Step 2: manufacturing at our Saint-Laurent factory, typically 6 to 10 weeks
• Step 3: delivery and installation by Unisson crews
• Step 4: 10-year installation coverage plus manufacturer warranty

Frequently Asked Questions