I just bought a 1995 brick veneer home with wood grid-style windows in Charlotte, NC. I had some concerns with the windows, so I brought in a window repair guy to take a look at the windows and give me an estimate to fix them.
A lot of the balances were broken, a few cracked channels, missing weatherstripping, a few broken seals. Only one showed signs of wood rot. The repairman gave me an estimate of $3,500 to fix the windows. The seller paid $3,500 of my closing costs as an offset.
As a side note, the repairman seemed to reluctant to give an estimate. He gave the impression he doesn’t want the job. There seems to be a lot more contractors willing to sell me new windows than repairmen willing to fix them.
My first thought was to just get them fixed. However, I started to think that given the age of the house, it might be better to just replace all the windows. There are 20 windows in the house. I estimate that the windows would be $500 apiece (installed), for a total cost of $10,000. So I could use the $3,500 to offset the cost of the new windows. It sort of feels like spending $3,500 on repairs might be a waste if I have to replace the windows in the future. I’d like to live in the house for the next 10-15 years.
Any recommendations?
Replies
Replacement windows will have meny 'user friendly' features your existing windows lack.
The only downside is that you will NOT realise the energy savings the salesman will lead you to expect. This is because windows typically have insulation and air leakage issues around the window casing itself- an issue not addressed by simply replacing the windows.
Who manufactured your original windows?
Hi there,
It is a little tough to say without seeing the condition of the windows first hand what the best option may be. If most of the windows are in need of some work, and they are approx. 20 years old then I would guess they are not very high end windows to start with. IF you were planning on being there for a long time then I would recommend putting new, good quality windows in. That being said, if you are budgeting $500/window installed then you will be gettting the bottom of the line units which may not be much better than your current windows after a few years of use.
Looking at the photo in your post the double hungs on the front appear to be about 6 feet tall. Those units with SDL (simulated divided light), made by a good manufacturer like Marvin or Andersen will cost $1000.00 or so just to buy the units. In the Boston area, going rate for installation of a new construction window with new trim installed inside and out is about $500/unit for labor alone. So, I would figure at least $1500/window for the big ones on the front. If the units on the back and sides are quite a bit smaller you might pay $1000/unit installed. Again in my locale, this project would run in the neighborhood of $25,000.00. For a replacement window where the frame and exterior trim remains intact, we can usually save a little money - not as much as most homeowners anticipate however. This is because the replacement units generally cost more than new construction units. The other downside to replacement units is leaving behind old frames that may soon begin to deteriorate, and not being able to easily upgrade the window's insulation and flashing.
IF you are NOT thinking about being in the home long term, $3500.00 to repair the existing may be the better option. I just can't imagine there is a $10,000.00 option that makes sense. But again maybe there are outfits in NC that can furnish and install decent, very large windows for $500/a piece. Around here though definitley not... Good luck
Anyone know what's up with the 3 capital A's wearing the little hats?
Fine
The answer is as forthcoming as those of the rest of the questions.
They are still working on the alert that the email notification is not working.
That would appear to be a UNICODE 0x00C2 character. No obvious reason for it to be showing up (I've seen it too), other than the software here is really badly hosed.
(It looks like the characters show up when the first line (which turns into the title) is shorter than the title space.)