8 Signs It's Time to Replace Your Windows!

 There are many reasons to consider investing in new replacement windows for your home. You may want to consider replacing your windows if:

 *  Your windows aren't energy efficient, causing you to waste hard-earned money on your energy bills.

 *  Your existing windows look ugly.

 *  Your wooden window frames are rotting.

 *  You have excessive amounts of condensation and fading of furniture and draperies.

 *  You want to reduce maintenance because you’re tired of painting, staining, and caulking.

 *  You feel drafts of air while sitting near your current windows. 

*  You want to improve the appearance of your home. New windows can improve the look of your home both inside and out. Often, simply changing the window style can dramatically change the entire appearance of a room.

 *  You want to open your windows. Get more fresh air circulating in your house by replacing hard-to-open units with operable venting windows.

The Skinny on Sliding Glass Doors

Replacing sliding glass doors that are in older homes is a common home improvement project in Western Pennsylvania. Sliding glass doors are similar to picture windows that you can walk through. They are typically huge panes of glass mounted in a frame with rollers, and are manufactured from either vinyl, aluminum, wood, or some combination of two of these things. 

 Sliding glass doors are often one of the most inefficient areas in an older home, mostly because they were installed before technology allowed for improvements in available building materials and the high price of energy made efficiency a major priority. In fact, having an older sliding glass door that faces in the wrong direction is almost like having no barrier there at all!

Replacing your sliding glass door can not only enhance your home’s appearance, but increase its energy efficiency as well. Based on the old style aluminum frame, double-panel sliding door, sliding glass doors have received a bad reputation, but many improvements have been made to significantly increase energy efficiency. Most new sliding glass doors are made with the same energy efficiency standards and options that are available in today’s cutting edge windows, including low-emissivity coatings, and double-glazing glass panels with gas filling. Thanks to these innovations, the energy efficiency and air tightness of glass is now higher than ever and the outside noise you notice inside your home will be dramatically decreased as well!

Understanding Warranties

The warranty can be one of the most confusing aspects of choosing replacement windows for your home. Many companies offer good warranties and stand behind them, but when you are investing thousands of dollars into your home, you want to make sure that you have a solid warranty to back up that product just in case something goes wrong. 

Don’t make the common mistake of assuming that a “Lifetime” warranty means that everything from the product through the installation is covered forever.  During the sales process, companies often use the warranty as a tool to sell their product by creating the impression that the warranty they offer covers everything that might happen. Then, when problems occur down the road, they use the fine print included in the warranty to shield themselves from being responsive to legitimate claims from people who trusted them. 

Be sure that you thoroughly understand what is being warranted and what is not. For example, many warranties do not cover improper installation. This should be a major concern for any homeowner hiring a company that employs sub-contractors to install their windows.  Since sub-contractors are paid for each window they install, they are usually in a hurry to install your windows quickly and move on to the next job. This creates a large opportunity for error that could ultimately affect the quality of your window efficiency and affect you, the homeowner. Understand the terms of the warranty (what is covered and for how long) and what happens if you have a claim. Be sure there are no hidden service charges. 

If the company you are considering offers a Lifetime Warranty, ask them to define what that means.  Lifetime can be interpreted in a variety of different ways. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) uses the example of a car muffler with a lifetime warranty.  Lifetime can mean the life of the car the muffler was installed in, it can mean the length of the time the car is owned by the person who purchased the muffler, or it can mean the actual lifetime of the person who purchased the muffler. 

It's essential to understand the warranty on your new window and doors before you buy, not after, because by then, it will be too late. It pays to be a cautious consumer. If something important to you is not clear and understandable to you, ask the company to clarify it in writing on your contract or in some written correspondence from the company. If problems develop over time, it’s too late to say “I was told that …”. It doesn’t matter what you were told, it only matters what the warranty states. For many of the unfortunate folks affected by a misunderstood warranty, the complaint process or litigation can take months, even years. It happens more often than you think. Nobody enjoys waiting on a verdict and some action from a manufacturer to satisfy the terms of their warranty, especially when the issue may be the fault of the company in the first place.

Stock Windows Vs. Custom-Made Windows

If you’ve been researching replacement windows then you are well aware that there are many brands and types to choose from in a variety of prices. Many times homeowners wonder if they should go with readily available standard sized windows, or spend the extra time and money to get custom-sized windows. Our recommendation is that it is always worth it to choose custom windows. Here are 3 reasons why:

Perfect Fit:  Custom windows provide the most energy efficiency (saving you money) because they are made to fit perfectly into a specific opening. Additionally,  custom-made windows can be installed with little mess, whereas stock windows may require you to alter the wall opening, sometimes stuffing wood, insulation and filler around the window to make it fit properly. This is does not allow the windows to insulate your home properly and can cause the window to shift over time. 

Specific Design: Custom-made windows take the guesswork out of choosing from the myriad of options available that can alter the window’s appearance and efficiency. Custom windows allow you to choose the grid pattern you like, the thickness of the glass, the quality of the low-e, and more. While some of these options maybe available at the big box stores, not all are, and probably not in the combination you prefer.

Cost: Standard windows typically cost less in the beginning, but with additional labor, disruption to your home, and expenses factored in, they don’t always end up cheaper. For example, installing stock windows from a big box store typically requires you to add brick or siding to the exterior, and drywall to the interior. These materials require more money invested in your project and more time spent too. These are aspects you definitely want to factor in when weighing the price options against one another.