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The sliders would all run along one side of the house—so that side would be all new windows. That was another reason we thought it might make sense to do those first (they would be the cheapest and all match on one side of the house).
Does $9,200 for 4 slider windows sound outrageously expensive (even for Marvin Ultimates)?
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but my recollection is that replacing all of my house's windows (of which there were maybe about 30) cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000. I'm not familiar with Marvin Ultimates, but what we got was just plain generic windows.
1926 house with original windows here, also in the northeast.
Replacement windows will never look like originals unless they are completely custom. The fogging you are seeing is due to the temp difference between outside and inside and nothing to worry about, unless it is soaking into the wood.
I reglaze and repaint mine. IMO it's part of normal house maintenance. I am willing to bet that would be way less thank 76K even if you hired it out.
I'm hoping to get some advice from some seasoned homeowners. We've been gathering estimates for replacement windows for a mid-century modern house and are surprised how expensive the estimates have been. We want to keep the aesthetics of the house as close to its original as we can, which means we have to look at something like Marvin's Ultimate line—wood with aluminum cladding exterior, wood interior. We knew they would be pricey, but we just didn't know how pricey. We have 25 windows varying in size with the largest being approximately 8 feet x 6 feet. We priced out some Marvin Ultimates and it came in at $76,000 to upgrade the entire house. I had figured on it being more like $30-40k, so $76k is certainly sticker shock.
My thoughts are we would probably never get this money back if we sold the house at some point. However, we looked at some less expensive alternatives but they just didn't seem to match the style of the house very well.
As for the comfort level of the house, it's been very pleasant as we've gotten into December in the northeast. We heat with gas and will be getting our next bill very soon so that will be a better gauge, but the house hasn't felt cold.
So what would you do? Is it absolutely insane to spend that much on windows, even if we spread it out over a few years? Or do we put that money into other projects (bathroom renovation, exterior stain, landscaping, etc)?
Our current thought is we will replace 4 or 5 standard size windows now, which would be around $10k. That would ensure the bedrooms are taken care of and it would give us a chance to really experience how these windows would look with the rest of the house and the larger windows. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
You say you're in the northeast--where? A really expensive area, like some of the "fancy" suburbs near NYC or Boston? Or? What's your house worth, right now? $500K? Or $2 mil? If you're in Greenwich CT & have a house worth several million $$, do what you want. If you have a $500K house, yes paying $76k for new windows might be nuts.....
I wanted wood frame, as opposed to vinyl - but my contractor convinced me vinyl was the better option, and I went with his recommendation and the windows are beautiful. I don't even see the vinyl - it is very subtle. Wood rots.
If you are replacing windows for resale, get a quote on dual pane vinyl.
But you would be able to sell. I know people who pass on houses with old windows. It's a dealbreaker.
actually, I wouldn't pass on a house with old windows, because most people seem to get "white" vinyl windows, and I HATE with a passion white windows, so for me, I'd rather buy a house with old crappy windows that I can change to exactly what I like.
My choice in windows would be black framed windows with the muttons in them, and double hung with half screens. that would be my choice, and not everyone would like that either, But I would.
So to me, looking at a house with white crank out windows, would be worthless to me.
My parents changed out all thier windows with ofcourse, "white vinyl" replacement windows, I think they are ugly, but the original windows were wood with storm windows and after 50 years some of them were in rough condition, and my mother being in her mid 80's finds the replacement windows easier to clean because therer are no storm windows and the replacement ones tilt in for cleaning
the only thing I really dont like about replacement windows is they are a frame inside a frame, thus making the window opening smaller, and because Im so anal with these things, that drives me crazy.
of course her bow window in the front of the house is not like that as it is wood on the inside, and it does look nice...
Well, vinyl warps and UV-embrittles. You can keep wood from rotting by keeping it painted. how do you keep vinyl from degrading?
Plus, if you need to you can replace one muntin of a wood window. Anything goes wrong with a vinyl window you're probably replacing the whole thing. Actually, every part of a wooden window can be replaced, and it's not that big a deal to do so.
Personally I would rather just put up storm windows and periodically inspect and repair things that need it.
Generally they are not "worth it" There is a huge huge amount of profit in window contracts, especially vinyl windows. That means you are paying that huge profit pocketed by various levels of salespersons. Further the windows are usually lower quality than what you have. Many or most vinyl windows cannot be repaired, they have to be replaced when they fail or get broken. Vinyl is cheap garbage. You can still get wood or metal windows but they are extremely expensive. You get what you pay for.
If you have vinyl windows already and they are failing or broken, then you do not have much choice - so are they "worth it"? they have to be.
Will you ever recover the cost of new vinyl windows in your heating bill? No. Not unless your old windows are not maintained and are leaking like mad and you will not repair them. Maintaining or even repairing your old windows is going to be much more cost effective. Want to save some money? Make or get some simple interior storm windows. Vinyl windows have as much as 500% profit in them (sometimes even more if you are easily snowed). You are not going to recover enough in your heating bills to recoup the huge gift you just gave the salesman.
You will hear all kinds of anecdotes where people claimed their heating cost was cut in half after putting in vinyl windows. these people are either: A. Working for a window company. B Paid Spokespeople or posters; C trying to defend a really bad decision they made. The beautiful thing about sales rackets is it is human nature to never admit you made a bad decision. thus people will imagine all sorts of benefits from products, services, or treatments that do not exist. they will swear until they are blue int he fact that the high end expensive super "pure" Vitamin C pills kept them from having colds or the vinyl windows saved them thousands in one year. They often even believe it and simply are incapable of accepting the fact it is not true. they will even make up facts but believe that they are true. I had a lady swear to me her vinyl windows cut her heating bill by $500 a month. I asked to see her bill. It showed the usage comparison and there was about a 2% difference from the prior year. In any even her bill was $350 for the month. She still insisted i was reading the bill wrong and she was saving $500 a month. She just needed to get the window salesman there to explain it to me. Then I would see.
If it were me, I’d keep looking for less expensive windows. You talk like there’s nothing in between The Marvin’s Rolls Royce and Window World.
We replaced our metal frame windows with Andersen 100 series Fibrex, with argon and uv features. The outside is a taupe color and the inside is white. Dh did the labor, so we saved there. Under $4000. Were very happy with the clarity and the way they keep out the summer heat.
It very much depends. Marvin Ultimates are great windows that will look fantastic and should be very energy efficient and functional. They are also very expensive and you are likely to recoup only a fraction of what you need to pay for them. Therefore, whether they are worth it or not depends entirely on your financial situation, the price level of your home, how much functionally/ascetically you dislike your current windows, what other projects you would like to complete (and how much those projects will cost and their importance to you relative to the window project).
In sort, only you can make that decision. From the information you provided, it sounds like the windows are doing a fine job (they work, don't feel cold, look fine for the most part) and you have other projects you want to tackle so it may be best if you proceed with the other projects and wait to replace the windows. However, you haven't given much information on the above factors, so it's really too hard for us to help you weigh them.
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