02-13-2012, 04:07 AM
we live in a house built in 1975. We've been here going on 4 years, now, and we've discovered that the house is not as air-tight in the right places as we'd like. There are some things like replacing weather stripping in the doors that have made minor improvements, but we still feel a lot of drafts and outright wind inside when it's cold and windy outside. So, I've been trying to do what I can to minimize this, especially during the winter. This has meant putting up that plastic sheeting on the inside of the windows in the winter, which seems to help a little, but that also means that we can see evidence of the drafts when the plastic billows in and out in direct response to the wind outside.
The windows in the house are the vinyl type, double-hung, double-paned, for the most part. My guess is that they're at least 20 years old, but I can't tell for sure (maybe they're original?). In several cases, the latches no longer lock the windows, and so the windows will work themselves open a bit (sounds like fun, no?). I just re-closed 2 of them this week (brrrr!). And then there are the ones that have obviously come unsealed between the 2 panes of glass and have condensation inside of them. Quite frankly, I'm getting tired of feeling like I'm heating the outdoors more than I am the indoors.
So, I'm thinking seriously about replacing at least the very worst offenders, and all of them if it doesn't break the bank. At first glance, there would be about 10 windows that would be high on my list. I'm thinking that it may be best just to hire someone to come do them, because it'd probably take me 6 months of frustration if I tried to do them myself, just to save a thousand bucks (or whatever it costs to install). My brother-in-law works for a contractor, and could hopefully find me a good contractor to come do the work--I just want to avoid getting someone that cuts corners and doesn't seal well around the windows, etc. Oh well, that's another issue.
ANYWAY...for those of you that have replaced windows, or had them replaced, any words of wisdom? Did you do it yourself? Hire someone to do it? Rough estimate of cost of installation for 10 windows? Any words of wisdom re: quality of windows to purchase?
The windows in the house are the vinyl type, double-hung, double-paned, for the most part. My guess is that they're at least 20 years old, but I can't tell for sure (maybe they're original?). In several cases, the latches no longer lock the windows, and so the windows will work themselves open a bit (sounds like fun, no?). I just re-closed 2 of them this week (brrrr!). And then there are the ones that have obviously come unsealed between the 2 panes of glass and have condensation inside of them. Quite frankly, I'm getting tired of feeling like I'm heating the outdoors more than I am the indoors.
So, I'm thinking seriously about replacing at least the very worst offenders, and all of them if it doesn't break the bank. At first glance, there would be about 10 windows that would be high on my list. I'm thinking that it may be best just to hire someone to come do them, because it'd probably take me 6 months of frustration if I tried to do them myself, just to save a thousand bucks (or whatever it costs to install). My brother-in-law works for a contractor, and could hopefully find me a good contractor to come do the work--I just want to avoid getting someone that cuts corners and doesn't seal well around the windows, etc. Oh well, that's another issue.
ANYWAY...for those of you that have replaced windows, or had them replaced, any words of wisdom? Did you do it yourself? Hire someone to do it? Rough estimate of cost of installation for 10 windows? Any words of wisdom re: quality of windows to purchase?