Windows & Doors in Vars: Rural Living on Highway 417

Drive west from Montréal on the 417 and Vars is the first Ottawa village you reach — a railway settlement from the 1880s, still bilingual, still surrounded by flat farmland, and now a ten-minute detour for our trucks. Unisson Groupe measures, manufactures, delivers and installs windows and doors in Vars, factory-direct from Saint-Laurent.

Why Unisson now serves Vars — and why factory-direct matters here

Vars has been on our route for as long as we have been delivering to Ottawa: every truck that leaves our factory in Saint-Laurent for the capital passes the Rockdale Road interchange. When we expanded our eastern Ontario service along the Ottawa–Hawkesbury corridor, Vars was an obvious addition — close to the highway, full of the country homes and village houses our products are made for, and home to plenty of families who are just as comfortable talking windows in French as in English.

Factory-direct is a simple idea with a big consequence. We do not sell through dealers; the company that measures your openings is the company that builds the frames, glazes the units, drives them to your door and installs them. That removes a layer of margin from the price and, more importantly, removes the finger-pointing that happens when a product and its installation come from two different businesses.

It also means honest advice. Our estimators are not paid to push one line over another; they recommend the frame, glazing and opening type that will actually perform on your lot. Our RBQ licence 5670-0248 is a Quebec credential, but the ENERGY STAR and CSA certifications on our products — and the written warranty behind them — travel with every unit we install in Ontario.

Vars homes: railway village, post-war streets and open concessions

Vars grew up around a station on the Canada Atlantic Railway in the 1880s, and the tracks still run through the village. The oldest houses stand near the main street and the church; around them are the post-war bungalows and 1970s–80s split-levels that make up most of the village core, then newer subdivision homes from the 2000s onward on the edges, and finally the country properties along the concession roads toward Navan and Sarsfield. With roughly sixteen hundred residents, it is small enough that the same few builders' work shows up on street after street.

That is useful for diagnosis. The 1970s and 1980s homes usually have their original aluminum or wood windows, or a first round of vinyl replacements whose sealed units have started to fog. The subdivision homes of the 2000s carry builder-grade vinyl that is now fifteen to twenty years old: stiff cranks, sagging sashes, sliders that no longer lock tight, and big patio doors that let cold pool at floor level. Steel entry doors on these homes are often warped enough to see daylight at a corner.

Vars is flat and open. Winter wind crosses the fields unobstructed, drives snow against the north and west walls and finds every failed weatherstrip. Temperatures dip toward −30 °C in a cold snap and the freeze-thaw swings of March and November pry at caulking and sill joints. Homes closest to the 417 also live with steady traffic noise, which older double glazing does little to soften.

• Village core: post-war bungalows and 1970s–80s split-levels, original aluminum or early vinyl windows
• 2000s subdivisions: builder-grade vinyl at end of life, drafty sliders and patio doors, warped steel entry doors
• Open concessions and highway edge: wind, drifting snow, freeze-thaw, traffic noise

Which products fit Vars

For Vars we recommend triple-glazed UPVC windows as the baseline. The multi-chamber frames insulate on their own, the third pane keeps the interior glass warm on windy nights, and the extra mass of triple glazing noticeably reduces highway noise for homes near the 417. Casement and awning styles, which compress against the frame when closed, are our first choice on exposed north and west walls; hung or slider styles remain available where you prefer them.

Every window we manufacture is ENERGY STAR certified under the single Canadian specification in force since 2020 — U-factor of 1.22 W/m²·K or lower, or an Energy Rating of 34 or higher. Hybrid windows, with an aluminum-clad exterior over a UPVC core, are the upgrade for larger openings and for anyone who wants a dark exterior colour that will not fade on a south-facing wall.

For entry doors, we build insulated steel or fibreglass slabs with multi-point locks and an adjustable threshold, so the seal stays tight as your foundation and framing move through the seasons. Patio doors with a thermally broken frame, low-e triple glazing and a low-profile sill fix the cold-floor problem at the back of most Vars homes, and we manufacture them to the existing rough opening.

Ontario specifics: code, rebates and permits for a Vars project

Vars is part of the City of Ottawa, so your project is governed by the Ontario Building Code rather than Quebec's Code de construction. Both provinces reference the same North American fenestration standard (NAFS / CSA A440) for windows and doors, which is why the units we build in Saint-Laurent meet Ontario requirements without modification; where the paperwork differs — for example the SB-12 energy-efficiency supplement — our estimators prepare it the Ontario way.

The rebate to know about at the time of writing is Ontario's Home Renovation Savings Program, which offers a fixed amount per eligible ENERGY STAR window or door opening, with conditions on the number of upgrades and on product certification. Funding levels and deadlines change, sometimes mid-year, so check the current program terms before you budget around it. We provide the certification and invoice documentation the application requires.

Permits are set by the City of Ottawa. Replacing windows and doors in existing openings generally does not require a building permit; enlarging an opening, cutting a new one or altering a structural wall generally does. Rules and interpretations evolve, so for anything beyond a like-for-like replacement we recommend confirming with the City's building services — and we will tell you during the estimate if your project is likely to need one.

How it works: a Vars home and a Saint-Laurent factory, under two hours apart

Start with a free in-home estimate. A Unisson estimator comes to Vars, measures each opening, checks sills and framing for hidden damage, and reviews frame types, glazing, colours and hardware with you on site. You receive a written quote with no obligation. If you go ahead, your measurements go directly to our production floor in Saint-Laurent, which for Vars is well under two hours by the 417 and Highway 40.

Manufacturing typically takes several weeks depending on the season and the products chosen. Your units arrive on a Unisson truck and a Unisson crew installs them — removal, setting, insulation, interior finishing and clean-up — usually within one to three days for a whole house. Because Vars is right on our main route, scheduling is straightforward and we complete the job in a single visit.

A written warranty covers both the product and the workmanship, and financing options are available if you prefer to spread the cost. When you need service years later, you call the manufacturer directly — not a dealer who has to call someone else.

• Measure: free visit to your Vars home and written quote
• Build: custom manufacturing in Saint-Laurent
• Deliver: Unisson truck straight down the 417
• Install: Unisson crew, single visit, written warranty, financing available

Frequently Asked Questions