Replacement Windows?
Anyone ever replaced theirs? Who knew there were so many possibilities. T and I finally walked down to the window place (how convenient, there's one less than a block away from our house, so much fun living downtown) on Friday to begin the process.
They use PGT windows and gave us some brochures. I looked up PGT on the net and they came well recommended. Bob Vila even profiled their impact resistant windows on his show and their factory is in Venice, FL, so not too far from here.
I thought vinyl was the way to go but I guess aluminum holds up better in our climate and it's cheaper. Now do we want to go with Low-E windows + impact resistant or just low E (energy efficient)? Of course, all I am concerned about is style - how many lites (individual glass panes, colonial style often has 6 panes for example) should we go with?
The house was built in the 50s. However, the windows that are in place are not original, but at least 20 yrs old. The porch windows have two windows each in the frame. They have a horizontal bar in each one (hard to see), creating two oblong 'lites', for a total of 'four' lites, upper and lower sash? I guess it's called. I'd like to have just a single lite on top and on bottom (we'll be going with single hung windows I'm pretty sure), but still with two windows in the frame. I want to install plantation blinds on the front windows so I'm trying to go for as clean a look as possible. Of course original windows were jalousy style and windows in the neighborhood are all over the map - from crank out windows, to colonial single hung, to picture window, to horizontal sliders, to a few caement type windows, to single lite.
What to do, what to do?
Of course we will need to remove the bars that are on all the windows (yay gentrification), something we've been meaning to do for some time, and of course I'll need to cut back a lot of the landscaping that is now close to the windows (not a bad exercise, just work).
And of course, there's the money. Low E + Impact Resistant can cost around $500 for one window, that's not installed. Impact Resitance in this geographic area is a bit of overkill, but might be worth it. We are also eligible for a tax credit if we use low E, plus there may be some savings on insurance with the impact resistant windows.
We have a total of 11 windows we're replacing and two sliding glass doors.
The sun room is on the left with the bars and the porch window is on the right. to the right outside of the picture is another set of windows on the other side of the door and part of the porch, beyond that is another set of windows which makes up the den. It's also two windows within one frame.
They use PGT windows and gave us some brochures. I looked up PGT on the net and they came well recommended. Bob Vila even profiled their impact resistant windows on his show and their factory is in Venice, FL, so not too far from here.
I thought vinyl was the way to go but I guess aluminum holds up better in our climate and it's cheaper. Now do we want to go with Low-E windows + impact resistant or just low E (energy efficient)? Of course, all I am concerned about is style - how many lites (individual glass panes, colonial style often has 6 panes for example) should we go with?
The house was built in the 50s. However, the windows that are in place are not original, but at least 20 yrs old. The porch windows have two windows each in the frame. They have a horizontal bar in each one (hard to see), creating two oblong 'lites', for a total of 'four' lites, upper and lower sash? I guess it's called. I'd like to have just a single lite on top and on bottom (we'll be going with single hung windows I'm pretty sure), but still with two windows in the frame. I want to install plantation blinds on the front windows so I'm trying to go for as clean a look as possible. Of course original windows were jalousy style and windows in the neighborhood are all over the map - from crank out windows, to colonial single hung, to picture window, to horizontal sliders, to a few caement type windows, to single lite.
What to do, what to do?
Of course we will need to remove the bars that are on all the windows (yay gentrification), something we've been meaning to do for some time, and of course I'll need to cut back a lot of the landscaping that is now close to the windows (not a bad exercise, just work).
And of course, there's the money. Low E + Impact Resistant can cost around $500 for one window, that's not installed. Impact Resitance in this geographic area is a bit of overkill, but might be worth it. We are also eligible for a tax credit if we use low E, plus there may be some savings on insurance with the impact resistant windows.
We have a total of 11 windows we're replacing and two sliding glass doors.
The sun room is on the left with the bars and the porch window is on the right. to the right outside of the picture is another set of windows on the other side of the door and part of the porch, beyond that is another set of windows which makes up the den. It's also two windows within one frame.