A Difficult Decision - Windows

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On our remodeling project in Garland, we took a hard look at the windows. I am an advocate of saving original materials as much as possible but these poor things were in terrible shape. Nearly all were so rotten that they were falling apart. The previous homeowner had filled missing panes of glass with cardboard and plastic and the leaks had caused major rotting of the frames and sills. A decision was made to replace them. The trick will be to find windows that honor the history of the home, are super energy-efficient and also look great!

The energy lost through windows can account for as much as 10 to 25 percent of a home’s cooling bill. During the summer, sunlight streaming through windows can make your air conditioner work two to three times harder. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), new windows that meet the ENERGY STAR rating can save $150-500 per year in energy costs. To calculate your home's energy efficiency and potential savings, go to the Efficient Windows Collaborative.

Choose windows with dual-pane, low-emissivity (Low-E), can reduce heat loss, and argon blend-filled glass for maximum energy efficiency. Also, spectrally selective coatings can reduce heat gain. Look for the NFRC (National Fenestration Rating Council) label on windows. This label provides easy-to-understand numbers that represent a window's energy efficiency in terms of its U-Factor (insulating ability) and solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC). For both, look for the lowest number possible.

Many cities also offer financial assistance for energy-efficient upgrades – however new windows must have certain ratings to meet their standards. Garland Power and Light offers up to $500 in rebates as long as the windows have a U-Factor 0.35 or lower and SHGC 0.30 of or lower. New windows and other upgrades may also qualify for Federal rebates.

We began our window search at Home Depot since that is where we were purchasing most of our lumber and we were there at least once per week anyway. Home Depot stocks a brand of vinyl windows from Ply-Gem and they seemed to be quite nice at first glance – with 'colonial lite' grids in between 2 panes of glass for easy cleaning, tilt-out bottom window and security locks. Vinyl windows are also particularly energy-efficient and have the added bonus of requiring little or no maintenance.

After a bit of online research, we were pleased that the Ply-Gem windows had garnered strong reviews, the company seems very green-minded, and the price was reasonable – around $150 per window for the 3' x 5' that we needed. Plus they had a U-Factor of 0.32 and a SHGC 0.22 so they met the rebate standards for the City of Garland. We also looked at some very nice vinyl windows at Lowes but they did not stock the sizes that we required.

Next we took a gander at Andersen Renewal windows. We really like them because they are made from recycled sawdust from Andersen's wood window factories mixed with polymers and they are quite gorgeous – but the price ended up being more than our budget at between $500 - $1,000 each, installed. The other disadvantage was that Andersen windows are made to order which meant that we would have to wait weeks for delivery.

Lastly, we signed up for a few local window installers to come by the home and bid on the windows directly. For the next several days, we were absolutely inundated with phone calls and emails from the various companies. None of them ever ended up coming by so we just decided to install the windows ourselves.

Next - installing the windows!