Just had Anderson here for an estimate.
For the front double window, a sliding glass door in the kitchen, and three other windows (one kitchen, one dining room, one bedroom), they want 13,500.
That still leaves me with another six windows to get done (probably about 7500 if I go with Anderson).
I won’t get back NEARLY what they suggest I will because the value of my neighborhood is low (average house cost around 100k, with me probably about 115-120)
House is 25 years old. I’ve done some nice things to fix it up (new AC and furnace, new roof, really nice garden) but none of it really adds to the value of the house itself, although I feel it will make for a quick easy sale when it finally does go up for sale.
The Anderson windows are really nice but pricey.
I’m retired and the helpful Democrats have driven down our home values here, so don’t want to spend a lot to fix up before moving, but don’t mind doing research to get decent value.
All my upstairs sunny windows have curtains on the inside and are rarely opened because I live in an area that goes from “heater needed” to “need air conditioning” practically overnight, so I covered the interior glass of each sash with gray 3M window film. (My builder-grade aluminum double-hungs have snap-out mullions.) As long as you don’t have sill rot and the windows still operate well, insulating film is much cheaper than new windows, works well and it cut my heating/cooling bill. But you have to have good hand skills and patience to apply it neatly without air bubbles or peeling corners.
Next I need to find a hack to replace the bottom insulation strip of the windows that isn’t even visible when the windows are closed; but after fifteen. years it has dryrotted.
3 years ago it was $12,000 after I got all I could from them. 16 double-hung windows. Frosted bathroom glass, grids and screens on everything, the 3 in the front are Yuge. Two guys removed the old, cleaned everything up, installed the new windows, trimmed it all out and cleaned up their mess in less than 10 hours.
If the guys actually making the windows are as good as the 2 guys that installed them, I got a good deal.