Full home Window Renovation + Before & after photos

Welcome back to the BLOG! Couple of months no new read, but I am here now with another HOME UPDATE! The long awaited window install finally happened after a few bumps in the road. I am so excited to have one more thing crossed off of the Home reno. list! It definitely leaves one with a sense of accomplishment and motivation to get saving for the next project.

Brandon and I had a conversation back in December about what our next focus for updates in our home should be. We had received yet another flyer in the mail about windows and it got us thinking about the money we could save in the long run. At the time we had no idea how expensive it was going to be, but after doing the research we decided to not be cheap on such an important part of a home. We looked at this venture as an investment. The resale value of our home will go up about a few thousand and the heating and air bill will definitely be impacted in a good way.

Before we get into our new windows, lets talk about our old ones. Most likely original to our home which makes them close to 40 years old. The draft was very noticeable not just up close, but also from a few feet away. When feeling the glass you could tell the temperature outside and when the wind is really howling you can hear it whirling in from the cracks of the window pain. Almost sounding like a tornado coming like in one of those old movies. But the worst and probably most dangerous aspect about our old windows are the lock and latching mechanisms. Most of our windows would not lock and once they were open it was very difficult, if not impossible to get them closed. This contributed to allowing the outside temperatures to make its way inside our home. The most deterring aspect of the “vintage” windows was the fact you could barely see through them and when you could, it was never clear. The condensation and dirt in-between the pains was so nasty and thick that it made it almost impossible to look out of the windows. The outside was rusted along the trim and overall needing to be torn out.

BEFORE:

In late December Brandon did research on Window Installation companies in our area and ultimately set a meeting with the company that sent us the flyer in the mail. This company had the most stars and best reviews. The downside, they are the most expensive. Renewal by Anderson had a representative come by and show us the ins and outs of their product. After getting to see and do some fun experiments the rep began to speak on the not so interesting stuff, the cost and fine print statements. One thing that caught our attention during the financial speak is the warranty. A 20 year warranty to fix, replace, etc. for any of the windows for free and if we sell our home within the 20 year warranty it becomes transferable to the new homeowners. It is very hard to find a warranty like this and even more guarantees the higher resale value of the home. Also hearing that we do not have to make our first payment until the month after installation was an added bonus. After realizing how much the investment was going to cost us we began to budget. Condensing windows, deleting grills, realizing we did not have to get certain windows tempered and so on. This with the added discounts we were able to save $13,863 which is 32% of the entire project. In total we installed 13 new windows in a home with 16 original single hung windows. We turned two smaller windows, in the kitchen above the sink and in the guest bathroom above the royal throne, into awning windows that only open to a 30 degree angle. Switched out two single hung windows for the awning version saving us bunches. We also turned our Kitchens three single hung windows into one unit, a huge beautiful bay window with two small sides and one big picture in the middle. We did something similar to our upstairs guest bedroom. The room has two single hung windows next to each other. We converted the single hung to one big window that slides into itself. Therefore converting a 16 window home to 13.

After the lady gave her presentation we were given the final cost with our discounts and condensing of $29,460. Yes, that is still a lot! Like I said Brandon and I went into this looking at it as an investment and did not want to go cheap on one of the most important things making our home. We had two days to cancel after the initial meeting and paperwork and the finance company Anderson uses would be billed in two separate installments. One being directly after signing the contracts and the other after complete installation. We obviously did not cancel. We were told it would take about 6-12 weeks for the materials to be made given that Renewal by Anderson is also Anderson windows. The company manufactures their own products which made this deal even more enticing.

We were given a call a few months later with our install dates, March 28th and 29th. Weeks earlier than we had expected. When the dates became closer we received another call that they would not need to come on the 28th because the team was going to be able to complete the project in one day. The day of the 29th came and Brandon got a call saying they had to cancel do to a Truck problem and would be coming the following Tuesday. We new given the weather conditions of the upcoming week the probability of them cancelling again was very high. Brandon had already taken days off of work and changed his schedule for the installation and now that it was continuously changing he was increasingly becoming more upset. On April 5th we received the cancelation call and knew that they were not going to be coming the next day either because the weather was supposed to be just as bad. After being told that the next available install date was not until June my Husband went over the edge which lead to a stern email sent to the heads of business. Fortunately this got their attention and we had our install date now on Saturday, April 9th, a day they do not normally do installations. The morning of… they showed!

DURING:

The men immediately got to work and within an hour of their arrival they already had 2 windows out. The bittersweet news we received was the knowledge that one of the windows had been broken on the truck while driving down here. Thankfully the window was the guest bedroom window and faces toward the back of the house it wasn’t a big issue. On the plus side of it all is that we do not start making payments until the month after the full installation. Given that a window is missing we now are not obligated to pay until the month after that window has been installed. From 10:30 until 5:30 the six man crew worked hard and seamlessly. The house was freezing all day because we had gigantic holes where the windows used to be as they tore one out and put another in and so on and so forth. Brandon and I sat on the couch for the most part watching as they did the living room and kitchen. After the installation was done the head man on the job showed Brandon and I how to work the windows properly and gave us paperwork. The men left in their big truck and we went to CiCi’s Pizza for dinner!

We ran into some bumps, but ultimately we are very happy with the product we purchased and excited to use our new windows in a more efficient and safe way. The next step in completing our windows is obviously getting the last window installed and purchasing shades, not BLINDS, for all but the kitchens new bay window. Thank you guys so much for joining us on yet another Home Update and look forward to the next one!