Community Chat

[Chalcedony]

Another thing to remember - if you live in under a HOA, make sure the windows you install are within their guidelines for your house or neighborhood. Besides that, I replaced all of my drafty, heat-transferring, poor quality wood frame windows with top of the line vinyl frame windows manufactured by Encore five years ago. It was the best decision I've ever made as a home owner.

[RainyDayGal]

We just had an energy audit done and the guy didn't even recommend replacing the windows. Actually recommended against it. He said for the $20,000+ it would cost it wouldn't add up to the much savings on the energy bill to make it worth while. Fine by me, it's not like I have 20 grand laying around.

[scotttie]

On 4/7/2014 Vamp said:

We definitely don't live in a McMansion but not a cheap home either. I would call this an upper-middleclass neighborhood. Homes in our sub have both kinds of windows, and I honestly can't tell the difference at a glance. I only know that there are both kinds in the neighborhood from asking my neighbors what they put in. I'm sure there is a difference between Pella & Anderson and, say, Wallside Windows. I just wonder if spending $27,000 on Anderson windows (which my neighbor across the street did last summer) is worth it. That's an awful lot of $$.

I would say it's not worth it unless you know you are going to be there another 20 - 30 years.

[JustJazzmom]

Or do like we did, when we redid a room we did the windows at that time. The bite was not that deep to our budget. We have Andersen windows which are vinyl wrapped. There is some wood on them and we stained them with a wood stain so we wouldn't ever have to paint them through the years.

[151949]

On 4/7/2014 RedConvertibleGirl said:

We just had an energy audit done and the guy didn't even recommend replacing the windows. Actually recommended against it. He said for the $20,000+ it would cost it wouldn't add up to the much savings on the energy bill to make it worth while. Fine by me, it's not like I have 20 grand laying around.

how many windows do you have? We replaced 9 windows for well under $10,000. We just were at the home show and discussed vinyl windows and the salesman said for 6 windows would be no more than $2000.

[Vamp]

We have 6 windows upstairs and 14 downstairs + two sliding glass doors. We definitely need ours replaced...I am embarrassed to tell you how bad they are!

[Mominohio]

We spent several years replacing the windows and doors in our house. I would recommend getting several companies to come out and give you estimates. There are many levels of quality available, and the top of the line windows, whether wood or vinyl, aren't always the best choice based on the value of the house. The old adage about buying the best isn't always the best advice if the value of the home doesn't warrant it. That is where we were, no high dollar wood windows that were going to require maintenance and be of more value than the house was worth.

We got a very good quality vinyl with a local company that has great warranties. We got the kind that tilt in, and for the first time in 20 years I can wash my upstairs windows by myself, whenever I want (no more ladders).

If I had a historic old home, I would have invested in windows that suited the era of the home, but I did not. Our old windows were rotted beyond belief, and we had patched them together for as long as we could. It was a wonderful feeling to get this done, the house looks so much better, it is warmer inside, and I am one happy camper.

Good luck on your search and enjoy the updating.

[toodles11]

The seals have been failing on some of our windows and they are only 13 years old. They are wood on the inside and vinyl on the outside. Do the vinyl ones not have as much problem with seals failing?

This winter has been bad and the cold draft from the ones that failed has not helped our heating bill.

[Lakk]

I have a brick house and I had 9 double pane Nu Sash vinyl windows, siding under the overhang, gutters and etc. put on in 2001 for $7,100.00. I had a problem with two small windows (bathroom and kitchen) they literally shattered, they replaced them. Later I called thinking another one was about to shatter and they said "will you be home tomorrow?" I said yes and they came out and replaced ALL 9 windows and put in TRIPLE pane windows, no charge. No problems since. That was about 8 years ago and I would do it again tomorrow. My 2 picture windows had been put in at an earlier time and I've had no problems with them.

The triple pane windows are fabulous, you don't hear anything from outside. I have neighbors that complain about 4 dogs that are next door to me, I hear nothing but thunder and the tornado alarm that's across the street at the school. I also like these vinyl windows because I can tilt them inside and clean them all from inside and I can wipe the window sills out and they are so clean and white all the time.

Good luck.

[Lila Belle]

On 4/7/2014 beammeupscottie said:

On 4/7/2014 Vamp said:

We definitely don't live in a McMansion but not a cheap home either. I would call this an upper-middleclass neighborhood. Homes in our sub have both kinds of windows, and I honestly can't tell the difference at a glance. I only know that there are both kinds in the neighborhood from asking my neighbors what they put in. I'm sure there is a difference between Pella & Anderson and, say, Wallside Windows. I just wonder if spending $27,000 on Anderson windows (which my neighbor across the street did last summer) is worth it. That's an awful lot of $$.

I would say it's not worth it unless you know you are going to be there another 20 - 30 years.

It's worth it for resale no matter what the brand. We chose our home over another because it had energy efficient windows as well as the new HVAC. No one really wants single pane wooden windows anymore.