I'm looking into buying a new window for my bathroom. I'm installing them myself.

Home depot gave me a quote for $170. windowestore.com gave me a quote for $400. I'm going to get more quotes this week, but what should I be looking for? I live in NY and just want to make sure the windows can keep the cold out.

Both windows are lowe3 with argon, double pane.

Windowestore gave me the following info "Double Strength Glass- Double Pane- Super Spacer- Half Screen- Low E3 366 Max Performance Glass Package- 1" Overall IG Unit- Argon Gas- EZ Clean Tilt in sashes U-Factor .30 +/- SHGC .20 +/- Blocks approx. 99% Heat and Cold- 3 1/4" Frame depth Double Lifetime Warranty Lifetime Glass Breakage Warranty"

I tried to look online for windowestore.com reviews but couldn't find any. Anyone know if there windows are any good?

 

A window is largely glass, so IMO it's just about the most important thing on a window. Of the numbers you mentioned, the u-factor is probably the most important, since it is a measure of how fast the window will lose heat in the wintertime. Winter months are when most window complaints show up, due to cold glass and condensation. A u-factor of .30 would meet "Energy Star" minimums for your area, but something in the .20's would be much better. Perhaps if you looked into triple glass and low-e, that would get you there. The statement "blocks approximately 99% heat and cold" is pure BS. The 1" IGU width is good... the farther apart those pieces of glass are, the better. And the Super Spacer is good, being a rubbery material rather than metallic helps to reduce the transmission of heat around the glass perimeter. Whatever you do, don't get glass that has a plain old aluminum spacer bar. That's 1960's technology and comes standard with many cheap windows. Make sure the spacer material between the glass has "warm-edge technology" such as super spacer, swiggle, intercept, or some other man made material. They should be able to provide you with information on the spacer since it's an important part of the glass package.

Especially in a bathroom where you will have lots of humid air from showers you don't want to skimp on the window or you'll be wiping water off the sills in the winter.

If you can get exact brand names and style and model numbers, someone here might be able to help steer you in the right direction. Comparing windows is pretty hard. A lot of it is just being able to recognize what parts might be cheap or thin, which usually indicates an overall quality issue.

 

The home depot windows are American Craftsman 8500 Equal light. I am in NYC suburbs. No idea what the window e-store brand is.

 

They have changed their website I guess...as I can't find that model number there. Used to be 7500, 8500 and 9500 IIRC. The 8500 was a step up from the 7500 in that it had 3/4" glass spacing vs 5/8. Thats actual space between the panes...so the overall IGU is right at 1".

The 8500 also had slightly better hardware, more options (such as foam filled frame), a slightly sturdier frame design, as well as a little better appearance on the outside. Depending on the width..the 8500 included double locks whereas you had to get pretty large for them to be standard on the 7500. The 9500 had most of the options of the 8500 as standard as well as a more modern beveled exterior appearance and an optional wood look laminate interior with brass hardware.

The minimum I recommended was the 8500 for the DIY'r. The 7500 was for rentals.

None of them were really top grade...but they were reasonable quality for most people. The 8500 was about equal to some other brands lower grade, but at a much better price point. That's the advantage of having a large parent company (Silverline Bldg Products...since purchased by Andersen) and a wide dealer network nationwide (Home Depot, Window World, and others under different names). The warranty was lifetime hardware, frame and seal failure, but not for accidental glass breakage. Stress cracks yes. Labor not included.

Spending $500 or more for a window will indeed get a better product...but how long will it take to recoup the difference? The actual energy efficiency improvement will not be that much better for the extra cost, but the appearance and options may be worth it to some people. Either way, it may take 20 years for the payback, depending on how bad your current windows are.

When buying a home most people don't focus on brands of products...but more on "Oh, it has new high efficiency vinyl tilt in windows!" So, if you plan on or may be selling w/i a few years, hard to justify spending double on windows.

 

to complicate things, I think all my windows have storm windows. I'm not sure what that means, but all my windows have a third window pane I can open/close on the outside of the window and screen. That is called storm window?

Since I am concerned with the cold air coming in, I think I should stick with storm windows right? windowestore.com price on a storm window is $663. So a storm window is $263 extra. Ouch.

Does home depot carry storm windows?

 

From an energy standpoint, there is nothing wrong with having storm windows in addition to new energy efficient replacement windows. The problem comes in when you want to open or remove the storm windows for cleaning. There will likely not be much room between the storm window and the replacement window, making if difficult if not impossible to get your fingers in there to open the storm window latches, and there CERTAINLY will not be enough room to remove the storm window sash for cleaning, since it needs to be opened and tipped in order to remove the sash. You have to reach out through the replacement window to remove the storm window and since the replacement window frame is thick, the opening is too narrow to take the storm window sashes out and bring them inside.

This is the primary reason why storm windows are removed when new replacement windows are installed.

My reason for mentioning triple glass earlier is that it is one of the glazing options that you can get. Rather than getting a double pane IGU in your new windows, you can get a triple pane IGU which does not involve a 3rd separate storm window. Triple pane glass often will have slightly better u-values when compared to double pane units.

Home Depot and Lowes both handle storm windows, but should you go that route, you will likely need to order custom sizes.

Adding a storm window to a replacement window is not really a normal installation practice. Like I mentioned, when people get new replacement windows, the old storm windows usually get thrown away. People often replace storm windows when they want to KEEP their old windows... it's not usually the other way around.

 

Here are my choices so far:

Home depot: American Craftman 8500
Local window install: Crystal
WindowRama:
Silver Line by Andersen
Simonton
Unique
United
Great Lakes
Windsor Windows
Windowestore.com: unknown brand
- .3 ufactor

I need to get the u-factors of the home depot/windowrama windows.

But any of these brands stand out as not being low end?

 

Well...most don't show it on their sites unfortunately because it all depends on the glass options ordered, but when you get an actual quote it should include that info.

Btw...Silverline and American Craftsman replacements are the same thing. They may use different model numbers, but they are the same when comparing the same grades.

I'm not familiar enough with all the regional brands...though I've heard of most of them. Simonton used to be very good, but I've seen reports that the quality has gone down.

 

I am sure that every of those brand names mentioned all have different model numbers, which are of varying quality. For instance, Gorell SoftLite has a 5100, 5200 and 5300 model of DH. They are good, better, best.

If you are talking to a salesman, you can sometimes get them to tell you more about the model they are showing you by just coming straight out and telling them... I know you offer various grades of window... so is this model you are showing me your "good, better or best line of windows"? Is there a cheaper line? Is there a more expensive line? Occasionally you can even get a window salesman to tell you the truth. LOL If there is a more expensive line they will be sure to show it to you in hopes of upping their commission. If there isn't... well then you know they started at the top.

Man, I'm giving all the trade secrets away. LOL

And as Vic seemed to be alluding to with the comment about price... almost any of those lines of windows can be ordered with the "best" glass package in it... so at least the quality of the glass package can be equal, even if the frame it is in is good or better grade.