We had our Wausau home built in 1994, We are SICK of the leaking casement (slide-by, I hope casement is the correct term), windows leaking, we have single-handedly kept 3M in business the last 15 or so years (window film)

So we have the house paid for (yay! for over a year now), and have saved money for windows.

Basic question, if we are even remotely thinking of residing, would it make sense to do "new" windows vs replacement windows? I know it is tough to call, but on a trilevel with a 2 car garage, 3 bdr house, any ballpark on what a reside would cost? Like maybe $10-$15K I would ballpark or does this would way off?

Anyways, we did some "window" shopping (pun intended) may 4-5 years ago and at that time we were really attracted to Marvin Infinity windows, or at least that style, and we have heard great things about the dealer for Infinity in this area. Any opinions on Infinity windows? We wouldn't be DIYing this job.

Oh and no more casement, we will go with double hung and maybe some single hung.

Thanks in advance
Gilly

 

As an Ex-window seller.....Are you sure you have casement? Crank out to open? Oh...no I see you said slide-by. Those are slider windows and yes they are the most prone to leakage esp older builder grade. Quality casements are about the BEST sealing windows you can buy since they have a continuous gasket like a refrigerator door.

I would caution you on going with double hung (DH) if your house enjoys good views. The place
where the sashes join will really interfere with that in most cases. It might also be hard to find the right size unless you go with replacement inserts. Quality sliders such as Andersen, Marvin etc (which seal and operate well) might be direct replacements, but will require much more work in most cases. You might possibly find that replacement casements (either inserts or new construction style) can be mulled together to fill the opening, provide better sealing and energy efficiency as well as maintaining the amount of clear glass.

Very hard to give any cost estimates w/o number and size of windows and what brand and line you decide on. Depending on the size of the sliders, you might need 2 DH windows mulled together which will double your numbers.

Out here in the west where sliders are very common, they make vinyl replacement sliders that can be installed very quickly and give a very clean appearance. They are much better than the commonly found aluminum framed construction grade from 20 yrs ago. If the current windows only have one latch...changing to two can also help with sealing.

Whatever you decide...you need to also be aware that you need to maintain the size of the clear opening to maintain egress requirements. A quick search for "egress window requirements" will explain it quicker than I can.

 

Good advice, Vic... esp the part about affecting the view.

 

Thx X...coming from you...high praise indeed.

 

LOL, whatever!!! I was just jealous you beat me to it. heh heh

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I am pretty sure we are set on DH. We don't really have "grand vistas" that we are so concerned about the view. In our case we had thought 2 DH in the same opening as a slide-by should work. We did have an estimate done on the windows and the estimator agreed this would be one route we could take if we wanted DH, no problem.

The front room picture window is in 3 parts, a casement (being proper terminology this time, they are crank-outs in other words) on the left and right and a fixed pane of glass in the middle) and here we thought stay like this except a DH or SH on each side of the fixed glass.
EDIT actually a SH or DH in the middle and fixed glass on left and right, because if we want to open the window, on the left and right is the curtains so makes more sense to her to be able to open the MIDDLE of the window rather than the left or right, makes sense I guess

I want to say the orignal windows are Norco, which became something else now (can't remember what) but they are wood and vinyl clad and pretty much garbage in our opinion. Problems since the first year, we should have complained.

Wondering if you have an opinion on composite or fiberglass in general (can these 2 be lumped together?) and Marvin Infinity in particular.

On the "ballpark estimate" I was referring to siding, I realize there may be variables, but lets say "to the nearest $5,000", what do you guys think a reside on a 3br trilevel with 2 car garage run? No exposed basement or anything too tricky but is a trilevel.

Important thing I am trying to get an opinion on which seems to be being skipped over, and this is kind of a critical decision:
If we have a remote thought that we might want to reside in the future, would it make more sense to do "new windows" and a reside rather than replacement windows now and reside the house in say 3 to 5 years down the road, should we think about doing it all at once? Or are replacement windows as good as new windows?

 

Man...I apologize...guess my reading skills were way off this morning...missed the reside part.
Couldn't begin to answer on price...no experience there.

As to do replacement windows now and reside later....well...if you can swing it...I'd do new construction windows and the reside all at the same time. That way you can seal the house up where it's needed. If the old window frames were installed, flashed, and insulated correctly (maybe they were to standard in '94, but things have changed), then quality replacements are a good choice, but not if a reside is in the near future, as in 2-3 yrs (IMO). Reside 10 years from now? Then replacements might be the way to go.

As to composite or FG...well, they won't ever rot on you...but they kick the cost way up.

Like so many things with a home or car...installation can be more important than actual product...to a point.

Oh...one point...composite or FG replacements, though they normally offer more choices on interior and exterior finishes, will probably cost as much or more than new construction. All depends on whether you will be needing custom sizes and such. Matter of fact...I think almost all replacements are considered custom sized...though I remember a line from Andersen that offered standard replacement sizes for older DH....not really your situation though.

This is going to be pretty big money...no matter how you go...research research research....and AT LEAST 3-4 bids from different contractors for the parts they need to do.

Remember...not a Pro contractor here.

 

Thanks Vic, the authorized dealers for Infinity, aren't all that common, but I have researched the closest one. I can see if there are any more that service our area.

Fiberglass siding, any opinions on that vs vinyl?

 

I had my approximately 1000 square foot, single level home resided with a lower-cost vinyl around 1986 and the cost was in the neighborhood of $5,000. That did not include window trim or soffits. In 1998 I had the garage resided to match the house (about half of the garage), added soffits and gutters along with new vinyl windows for a cost of around $15,000. The windows made all the difference in the world from an architectural standpoint and were well worth the cost.

Since vinyl is a petroleum derivative I suspect the cost of using vinyl siding on your house would be in excess of $20,000 plus the cost of the windows.

I sometimes think I would like to have vinyl siding on my present house (also a one-level) but the cost would be prohibitive compared to just getting a good paint job. Also, it is extremely unlikely that I would live anywhere near long enough to see any economical return from residing.

 

We are probably going to be here until we can't anymore, or we do decide we need to move south, or somewhere easier to maintain when we get too old, maybe 20 years?? or more. Hard to tell, but we like it here and have steady jobs, my wife might actually retire in a few years and me in 10 or more.

Anyways, we had thought about fiberglass siding, I know that probably is 1.5 times the price of vinyl if not double. We had figured $20K also, or more for fiberglass, so looking for a reality check. Would want different window trim for sure, a few differences (we don't like the fake shutters either). The soffits and gutters i think are all in good shape.

One reason we also were thinking on residing is that the picture window we had mentioned (I think you'd call it a 3 section, casement on right and left and fixed pane in the middle), the bottom edge of that window is only a couple feet off the interior floor and my wife would like to see that raised, so a smaller vertical dimension, so obviously something would need to be done to the exterior to cover that, more vinyl is one solution but probably wouldn't match anymore due to close to 20 years, western exposure. So then I sort of brought up residing the whole house and doing new construction windows as i have never really been "sold" on replacements. No doubt this company could do a lot better job installing them as this house was built during the early 90s building boom, everything quicker and cheaper, whatever gets the house up faster is king.

Thnaks for all the experienced opinions.