Window and siding replacement in Glen Carbon
What the code and the permit desk actually require here — and what the houses in Glen Carbon tend to be hiding behind the siding.
- People
- 13,842
- Homes
- 5,606
- Size
- 10.37 square miles
- From downtown
- About 14 miles northeast
- ZIP codes
- 62034
- Founded or incorporated
- 1892
Glen Carbon's heritage museum grounds include the Yanda Log Cabin, built around 1853, one of the area's oldest structures; the village itself was founded in 1892.
Glen Carbon
What that vintage turns up
First-generation vinyl replacements went in across this whole period and they are now hitting both of the ages that matter at once: the frames are inside the twenty-to-forty-year band and the sealed glass units are well past the eight-to-twenty-year band. That combination produces the most common call we get on houses this age — fogged glass in a frame that is still perfectly sound. The honest first answer there is replacing the glass unit, not the window.
Hardboard and wood-composite lap siding from this era is the one with the paperwork. Masonite's hardboard covered product installed between 1980 and 1998 and reached roughly four million homeowners; Louisiana-Pacific's Inner-Seal siding had its own national settlement in the mid-1990s. Both claim programmes closed years ago, so the relevance now is diagnostic rather than financial: swelling, delamination and mushrooming along the bottom edges of the boards on a house of this age is a known product history, not necessarily the owner having neglected it.
The one to watch on a house of this age
Synthetic stucco applied before about 1997 is the high-risk cohort. Roughly ninety-five per cent of American applications were the face-sealed kind, which has no way to drain what gets past it, and the failures traced back overwhelmingly to flashing that was left out. Drainable systems are a different animal and are not the problem.
Lead paint. No, for anything built after 1978 — but confirm the build year before assuming it. 62.2% of the homes in Madison County were built before 1980, and on anything pre-1978 the EPA renovation rule applies to both of these trades. Window replacement is never exempt from it, at any size — a single window triggers it. A whole-house re-side clears the twenty square foot exterior threshold on the first wall. What the rule actually requires of a contractor.
Neighbourhoods
We work across Old Town.
Next door
Glen Carbon shares a boundary with Edwardsville, Troy, Maryville and Pontoon Beach. Where we have a page for a neighbour it is linked; where we do not, the rules there are still different from the rules here.
The rules in Glen Carbon
Siding replacement Not published
The Village publishes no exempt-work list that reaches siding and no statement that siding requires a permit. The only exemption section in the building chapter is Sec. 9-1-4 (Exemptions From Provisions), which is limited to agriculture: 'Buildings or structures that are built on farms over twenty five (25) acres zoned agricultural may be exempted from the structural design specified by the building code if the director of community development determines that there is no danger to the public safety and such buildings or structures are for agricultural applications under this section.' Sec. 9-1-2 (Amendments To The Building Code) amends the adopted building code's permit section with 'Section 105.2: Delete the following: Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6' (Ordinance 2013-13, effective 6/3/2013) - i.e. the Village deletes several of the model code's permit exemptions - but it makes no parallel amendment to the Residential Code (Sec. 9-1-8) and mentions siding, windows and roofing nowhere.
Window replacement, same opening Not published Enlarging or cutting an opening Not published
Windows are not addressed in Glen Carbon Title 9 Chapter 1, on the Building and Zoning page, on the Current Village Building Codes page, or on the Applications & Permits page. Neither same-opening replacement nor a new/enlarged opening is published. Sec. 9-1-3 (Fees) lists fee categories including 'residential additions/remodels,' decks, fences, pools and solar, but names no window or siding category and gives no amounts, deferring to 'the Schedule of Fees found in Section 1-16-1 of the Village Code' (last amended by Ordinance 2025-48 on December 9, 2025).
Illinois sets this, not Glen Carbon — and we are not going to print a number we have not read
This is set in Springfield, not here. The Illinois Energy Conservation Code is adopted statewide by the Capital Development Board, and under the Energy Efficient Building Act no unit of local government — home rule or not — may regulate residential energy standards either more or less strictly than the state does. The Board adopted the 2024 edition, in force since 30 November 2025. It reaches alteration, renovation and repair work for which the municipality or county requires a building permit, limited to the part of the house being modified, and there is no Illinois exemption for replacement windows as such.
The unamended 2024 code figure for this climate zone is U-0.28. But Illinois publishes its own amendments to that code, it has amended that very table before, and we have not been able to open the current amendment document. So we are not going to state U-0.28 as the number enforced here. Buy to the ENERGY STAR figure below and the question does not arise; if you need the exact legal minimum, the Capital Development Board’s energy code office is on 217-685-4079.
For comparison, ENERGY STAR asks for U-0.25 or lower with an SHGC of 0.40 or lower everywhere in this metro, which is stricter than every code edition in force here. And the code only bites when the sash and the glazing are replaced together — replace the glass alone in an existing sash, or add a storm window over the top, and it does not apply.
Contractor registration Not published
No contractor registration, local licence, bond or insurance requirement was found in Title 9 Chapter 1 or on the Building and Zoning, Applications & Permits, or Current Village Building Codes pages.
What the permit costs
Not published in readable form. Sec. 9-1-3 (Fees) repeatedly directs the reader to 'the Schedule of Fees found in Section 1-16-1 of the Village Code' and lists fee categories (residential additions/remodels, residential new construction, electrical, plumbing, decks, fences, pools, solar, commercial) without amounts.
Local quirks
'We've Gone Paperless! For your convenience, we've transitioned to an online permitting system' and 'Paper applications and applications submitted via email will no longer be accepted.' Everything goes through a Tyler EnerGov self-service portal (https://glencarbonil-energovpub.tylerhost.net/apps/selfservice#/applicationAssistant), which means a contractor must create a portal account before pulling any permit. The Village deletes several model-code permit exemptions (Sec. 105.2 paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6) rather than adding to them - a signal that Glen Carbon permits more work than the model code would, though the deletion is written against the Building Code, not the Residential Code.
Who to call
- Building dept
- 618-288-2603
- Official
- Kari Crawford, Building Official (618-288-2674). Also: Erika Heil, Director of Community Development (618-288-2613, eheil@glencarbonil.gov); Dominic Cusanelli, building-code questions (618-288-2615).
- Permits
- Department page
How Glen Carbon compares with the rest of Madison County
Same county, same climate, same houses. Not the same rules.
| Place | Permit to re-side | Permit for a window | Window must meet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Carbon | Not published | Not published | — |
| Alton | Yes | Yes | — |
| Collinsville | Yes | Depends | — |
| Edwardsville | Yes | Yes | — |
| Granite City | Depends | Depends | — |
Work we have done in Glen Carbon
Not yet — Glen Carbon is on our list rather than in our records. We will say so until that changes.
Where these facts came from
Everything on this page about Glen Carbon was read off a published source. Where a question has no published answer we have said so rather than filling the gap.
Sources: glencarbonil.gov · glencarbonil.gov · glencarbonil.gov · glencarbonil.gov · codelibrary.amlegal.com · codelibrary.amlegal.com · codelibrary.amlegal.com · codelibrary.amlegal.com · codelibrary.amlegal.com · codelibrary.amlegal.com · cdb.illinois.gov · cdb.illinois.gov · cdb.illinois.gov · regulations.justia.com · regulations.justia.com · law.justia.com · law.cornell.edu · energysense.uillinois.edu
Work coming up in Glen Carbon?
We will tell you what the rules here are, including when they work in your favour.
Tell us about the house
We answer the phone. If we miss you, we call back.