Home Depot estimate too high? (and other questions)

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HomeSealed
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Re: Home Depot estimate too high? (and other questions)

#16 Post by HomeSealed »

thomase, coming from someone that sells and installs vinyl, wood, fiberglass, and composite, the short answer is no. You are not selling wood short. Wood windows can be an excellent choice for the right application, however it sounds like you may have already flew past that checkpoint. Appearance is where wood's advantage starts and ends. For a home that requires the richness of a real wood stain, that is hard to match in any other material. After that, again, non-organic materials win. Can you find 100 year wood old windows still in service? Yep. Can you find today's windows made of that same, ultra-dense, old growth wood? Nope. Not to mention the fact that there is no real comparison when it comes to performance. The higher end vinyls are the top performers for the most part in the US. A good vinyl may very well be say 30-40 years, but most wood windows are half that. Often times less, as folks don't take the time to maintain things like they used to. They have rooms in their homes that may never even get the blinds open as the home is conditioned year round, then one day 9 years later they open the curtains to find mushy windows that rotted away, either from poor exterior cladding design, or interior condensation. Today's pine windows could be used to clean up a spill, that pine is nearly as porous and absorbent as a roll of Bounty.

Fiberglass? Some nice options out there as well, but again, kind of a niche product that is only "best" in a relatively narrow set of circumstances. Higher price than vinyl, lower performance (generally speaking). You want to paint the interior of the window gray or some unconventional color but want a "no-rot" material? FG is a good option....

toddinmn
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Re: Home Depot estimate too high? (and other questions)

#17 Post by toddinmn »

I think if you tell them you are not going to do the second pitch they'll will oblige and give you a quote. I personally wouldn't do it unless they want to pay me For my time.
A piece typical copy paper is usually about 0.005 inches thick, fold it in half it is about 0.010 thick try to fold it half 8 time is almost impossible, fold it half a 103 time and it is as thick as the universe or so they say?

thomase
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Re: Home Depot estimate too high? (and other questions)

#18 Post by thomase »

I decided to go with the Okna 500 with new construction installation (my wife has been wanting new interior trim). The exterior trim is being replaced as well, and according to the installer, using white composite trim (i.e. rot-proof) will save me $40 per window vs. new wood trim with aluminum capping. However, I've heard that even though it is composite, I'm probably going to want to paint it at some point.

Advice?

I'm also trying to decide on the grid pattern. I have a colonial home where most of the old double-hungs have approximately square glass (24" x 24") for each sash and have snap on 12 over 12 grids (i.e. 12 lites for each sash in a 4 wide and 3 high pattern). There are shorter windows in the bathrooms (back of the house) which are about 16" high and 24" wide.

Some homes in the neighborhood still have their original windows (typically 12 over 12), some have replacement windows WITHOUT grids, and most others with replacement windows have 6 over 6 grids. The neighborhood is mostly colonials, but built by many different builders (mine only built 3 back in '79). For my square windows, 6 over 6 obviously results in a taller rectangular shape for each lite, where 9 over 9 (3 wide and 3 high) results in square lites. The 6 over 6 configuration results in square lites for the shorter windows.

I kind of like the square symmetry of 9 over 9 for my square windows, but very few if any nearby homes have this pattern (I've seen one or two in other neighborhoods around town). Some homes even have 8 over 8 if the windows are a bit wider, but generally, this results in lites that are VERY tall and elongated.

Advice?

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Windows on Washington
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Re: Home Depot estimate too high? (and other questions)

#19 Post by Windows on Washington »

Depends on the trim, but most will want some sort of paint to freshen them up. We are talking about Years and Years though if you go with a good trim.

On the grids, I am usually a big fan of default spacing for agreement throughout the home. You can ask your supplier for a couple of renderings if you want that will give you a visual on the final look.

thomase
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Re: Home Depot estimate too high? (and other questions)

#20 Post by thomase »

I'm not sure exactly what kind of trim other than that it is composite that is similar to Azek (but not Azek itself). I guess I should ask. Just want to know if I'd be better off paying extra and having them do aluminum-capped wood.

FYI, currently, I have vinyl siding over the original clapboard. The J-channel abuts the outer perimeter of the original trim which is currently capped with aluminum. Incidentally, this makes it easier to install with a nailing fin from the outside because the vinyl doesn't go all the way to the edge of the rough opening, and thus we don't have to remove it (only the trim).

Regarding "default spacing", I'm not sure what that means exactly. Are you saying the computer will pick a default pattern based on the size of the glass and the fact that I want "colonial" grids?

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Windows on Washington
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Re: Home Depot estimate too high? (and other questions)

#21 Post by Windows on Washington »

While capping wood is pretty universally accepted, if I have the chance to change to a composite...I am doing that.

Yes on your default grids question. The computer tries to keep the grid boxes the same throughout the home regardless of operator so it has a formula that it uses. Most of the time, it is better choice in my opinion.

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