u/BuyChoice9575

I need to access a 2nd story window on one of the gable ends of a house where they have these landscaping rocks underneath. To setup my ladder at the proper angle (4-to-1 vertical height/distance from wall) the feet would be sitting on top of them. Is this ok?

If I move the rocks out of the way, there's a plastic sheet (anti-weed) underneath. Do I really have to remove that so I hit solid dirt to make this safe?

Casement window is in my basement family room (walkout basement) on the north gable end of my house. It's roughly 100 inches wide by 63 inches tall. They are 36 years old (original to when the house was built in 1990). I do not see a brand on anything besides the hardware (Truth Hardware).

The main issue with this window is there's rotten wood on the bottom of the exterior part of the frame. On one part of the frame (far left corner), it goes completely through the entire frame into the opening of a wall cavity to the point where I can take a skinny stake and push it 2 feet down into the wall cavity where the insulation is.

The glass seals seem intact. The bottom part of the sashes have some rot near the outside corners (meaning when the window is open all the way at a 90 degree angle, the corner that's furthest from the house). I took two pictures of the corner with the worst rot.

I did have a contractor take a look at it. He said that there doesn't appear to be signs of bad structural damage to the wall cavity so he doesn't think he would need to open it up. He said there is likely mold on the insulation but that isn't a big deal (again, according to him). But, he did also say the entire window needs to be replaced. I'm wondering if that's the hard truth or if he was trying to make more money/make his job easier.

Please see the attached pictures and read the captions for more details.

The place I bought it from says it is Kwikset compatible, but it is not fitting in my existing Kwikset KW1 locks.

The place I bought it from says it is Kwikset compatible, but it is not fitting in my existing Kwikset KW1 locks.

I captioned the photos to differentiate between the two trees. Thank you in advance. Sorry that the tree 1 needle picture is blurry! Also, I couldn't find a pine cone lying on the ground around tree 2.