Anderson windows if you have the money.
http://mathewsbrothers.com/Videos/VideoRadioCommercials.aspx
Mathews Brothers with one “t”, America’s oldest window manufacturer. Wicked Awesome.
Unless they are awful they are a poor payback.
You still have windows 98?
If you spend $20 grand on new windows, and you sell your home, don’t be surprised if potential buyers simply shrug when told that fact. Don’t expect to recoup your investment during the sale.
Be careful about the payback period. Newer windows may not be of a greater efficiency to payback in a reasonable period of time.
If you don’t have radiant barrier in the attic it may be a better investment
The windows are important. You can check how to decipher rating codes on the window labels here at the National Fenestration Rating Council.
http://www.nfrc.org/?gclid=CM28sKqTz9ICFQiHswodIdcNYQ
Each window has a decal that rates insulation, sound and a couple other things.
Installation quality is equally important. Your best bet is to require that the installer have a formal training certification. The Installation Masters program is the best one. Installationmasters.com has a list of certified installers. You should be able to find one in your area.
Full disclosure. I am an Installationmasters certified trainer. I also work for a company that manufactures sealants that are used to install windows. If you want to specify the best sealants to have your installer use. PM me and I’ll let you know what we make.
Be sure they are using foam insulation between the window frame and the rough window opening. That’s very important to prevent cold and air infiltration.
Anderson & Pella are both very good, established brands. They’re a little pricier than the in-store brands at Lowes and Home Depot.
Depending on your weather, wood-framed (Pella) are very nice but require a lot of maintenance to keep that wood sealed.
Vinyl-clad frames are low-maintenance, but stick with the white vinyl and avoid colored (brown).
The in-store brands at Home Depot and generally good quality double-paned, cost lots less than Anderson & Pella, and work well for common window sizes. From what I understand stay away from argon-gas-filled double-pane windows unless you’re in an extremely cold environment. Otherwise the argon-filled is an unnecessary expense.
It would have been helpful if you had given us a clue as to where you are. We are not the NSA.
You only have eight windows in your house?
Paradigm Windows in Portland Maine makes an excellent product.
http://www.paradigmwindows.com
Seems all of the best windows are made in Maine.
Also try to get double pane or triple pane if you can. There is a tint I would get too, I think it is called low e, I can't remember the name. It really isn't a tint but will cut back on sunshine fading your stuff inside.
All that stuff you should be able to get special order, if you go through a major lumber yard like Lowe's or Home Depot or any other major lumber yard, and a major Window Company name which both of those lumber yards mentioned would have.
I agree with Robert in Post 2. My dad built a house in 1962 with Anderson windows, and they are still working fine now. I built a house in 1978 with similar looking non-Anderson windows and had to replace them before I could sell it 20 years later. Most windows with the same number of panes and E values have similar properties when new, but the Andersons simply stay that way longer.
I have a beef with all of the products that people try to sell you that are "green" and will save you money on your energy bill. In terms of appliances, they reduced the power with which the appliance works (washing machine, dishwasher); but, increased the time they need to run in order to complete a cycle (my dishwaser now takes 2 hours and 9 minutes to do a load of dishes). The kicker is that I have never seen any savings coming from appliances.
When we put new siding on the house and better windows, I finally did see some savings. Unfortunately, it didn't last long because the electric co. decided to raise it's rates shortly after and all the savings I had gotten from the upgrades went away and I was back to paying what I had been paying prior to the upgrades.
Long story short, good windows do make a difference; and, I live on a busy street and it made a difference in noise reduction as well.
I’d also figure in, if you’re in a high property tax area, what new windows might do to your property taxes and ability to sell the house later on. It’s an issue in my neck of the woods.
Read the warranties of your top choices. Anderson and Pella are not what they used to be!
The wife is very pleased.
We pulled a building permit and had to meet modern egress / firefighter ingress standards which made us choose the French Casements (no center pillar in a two-window unit) in two bedrooms. We also had to reframe several window openings which required interior drywall and exterior stucco work. Anderson sells their "Renewal" windows which fit inside your existing window frames, but that approach wouldn't meet egress and also lost a lot of window area.
We wanted low maintenance so went with aluminum clad windows. After ten years, the exterior aluminum cladding looks new and we haven't painted it once. That is really remarkable. The wood gives a nice "thunk" when closing and latching kind of like a German car door. The fiberglass and vinyl units just didn't give me confidence like that.
Be sure to watch your contractor carefully. Our contractor sent out a couple of Russians who they claimed had installed a lot of their windows. But the guys were not shimming the windows in the frame openings - they were counting on the nailing flange on the outside and the inside trim work to hold the windows in the correct location. When they shot their nails through the window frame into the studs, you could see the joints on the windows opening up! They naturally said "this is the way we always do it" -- I got REALLY pissed off at them and threw them out. The company then brought in their top installer who properly shimmed the windows to make sure they were plumb, level, and square in the openings. I pity people who have zero knowledge of construction techniques because contractors and poorly trained installers cutting corners will lead to bad installations and possibly windows not operating correctly or leaking.
One thing I didn't do is force the use of a good membrane or sill pan on the rough opening before the window units were installed. I don't recall if they used any waterproofing on the rough sill at all. Read "Installing and Flashing Windows Correctly" in Fine Homebuilding to get smart on this detail. Fortunately, we don't get a lot of driving rain here and all of our windows have remained watertight.
One other thing I did was get some custom size poplar molding milled at a local mill shop. The stock moldings at our local molding dealer were either too small or too large, so I had some made at an in-between size. This kept the molding in proportion to the windows and room scale. I think it helps make things look more pleasing to the eye. We spent a lot of time evaluating different casing / stool / sill molding combinations. This is where you will get a lot of payback on interior visual appearance.
We purchased Low-e glass to help control heat flow, but this glass has an odd color when viewed from the street. Maybe that has improved in ten years. If I were doing it again, I probably would skip that coating to improve curb appeal. It isn't really a big thing, but you know how it is when you look at your own place.
Lastly, one thing I regret not doing while the walls were open was converting the 2x4 walls to 2x6 to increase wall insulation and caulk all the outside walls to make them airtight. We have pretty drafty 1952 stick-built 8 ft stud wall construction. It wouldn't have added a lot of cost to tear the exterior sheetrock off, add 2x2 sleepers to each stud, put in proper insulation (we have blown-in fiberglass) and re-sheetrock the rooms. But you have to draw the line somewhere.
Good luck! You'll be very happy
Mathews is a conservative company
Architect here.... what do you want aesthetically? Vinyl windows tend to have clunky frames and are a pet peeve of mine. Having said that we use them all the time bc the price point is consumer friendly. For nicer projects, we specify an aluminum clad wood window with simulated divided lites and low-e . Or all wood no cladding if owner prefers. For my own house... I’m living with my cruddy old windows until I can afford to replace the necessary ones with a wood framed, true divided lite. But that is just me. I’ll take beauty over performance any day. Even with the most efficient window, you still have a gaping hole in your exterior wall.
Used Anderson, including one five-panel, one three-panel, one bow and one French door unit, when we built our house in 1987 - still doing well as far as I can tell......