Real estate laws vary too, but in CA you are required to disclose anything material and unpermitted work is certainly material. If you don’t know if it’s permitted or not it’s not something that need be disclosed.
A changed recessed light from ten years ago is like infinitesimal though and not something I can imagine worrying about.
We’re planning to replace our windows and today we’re having our first salesman/estimator come out. We have absolutely no idea what we’re doing. Are there obvious choices we should be making or questions we should be asking?
Central Ohio 2-story house built in 1995-1996. About 30 windows around the house. Looking to replace because there’s obvious draft areas around some of them, the irritation that they don’t all easily open and close, and the general advice I’ve seen that window lifespan is roughly 15-20 years. Oh, also because the noise in the kids’ bedrooms upstairs is incredibly loud. That’s literally all the information I have.
On a side note, this homeowner thing sucks. I remember reading a lot about the cost of ownership before buying in 2010 (our first purchase) and the fact that you should budget 3-4% of home value for annual maintenance. Our first several years here we did basically nothing and I was lolling to myself about how ridiculous that estimate was. But when I look back over these 10 years and think: replacement concrete driveway, new patio to replace deck, appliances, bathroom upgrade, and now windows, it seems about exactly right.
I liked renting so much more. Eff the haters who claim it’s throwing money away.
I don’t know much about windows, but they are one of the main things terrible sales companies do where they have tons of dumbass lying salespeople and are terrible companies. Beware. Try to find the small contractor who actually does the work and not buy from the person who shows up dressed like a salesperson.
A buddy of mine in your neck of the woods got a quote for 70K to do all the windows in his house about 7-8 yrs ago. It was a pretty big house (~6500 sqft), but I was still nonplussed. I’m not sure what he ended up doing.
Cool, cool.
House is 3,700 or so sq ft, with about 30 windows to replace. I had been casually estimating $1k per window. Now have appointments set up with Rosati (a local OH company), Pella, and a contractor for Marvin.
More importantly, it warms my heart to see nonplussed used correctly.
MORE importantly, why is my animated gif not animating?
Try offering zz $30k
zz would be horrified by my cookie cutter McMansion and stepford-like neighborhood. I assume he’d show up, look at the place, and refuse to work on it based only on principle.
I am attempting to organize the worker Cooperative on the bathroom this morning with the people I know who do that work. It is not going well so far. I am not giving up, but people are quite reluctant to consider an equal share of the profit versus a daily rate which supposedly they expect to be considerably lower.
Many (probably most) residential window contractors are straight up scam artists. Loan sharks would be ashamed to put as much markup on a product as they do. Any invoice they show you from their supplier is absolutely, positively guaranteed to be a complete lie. They’re gonna pay maybe half that.
Are you sure you even need new windows? A draft around the window isn’t a window problem, it’s an insulation problem. It’s solved by removing the interior trim and squirting some spray foam in the gaps.
If they don’t open and close easily that’s usually an installation or building movement issue. Possibly a maintenance issue. Maybe fixable, maybe not if enough damage has been done.
15-20 year lifespan is absurdly low for a window, even crappy ones. If yours need to be replaced 25 years after the house was built it means your house was built poorly with bad materials.
If you do decide to replace them and your Stepford McMansion description is accurate, you probably shouldn’t waste money on wood windows or let yourself get talked into some crazy high end whiz-bang vinyl ones either. Go mid-range from a company you’ve heard of before - Pella, Anderson, Jeld-Wen are all fine for a basic house in the 'burbs. There are lots of companies you haven’t heard of that also make good, affordable windows, but you’re going to struggle telling them apart from the shitty ones.
Low-E insulated glass is all you need for energy in your climate. You’re going to quickly run into diminishing returns for any features above and beyond. Anybody who tries to convince you otherwise is ignorant or lying.
There are replacement windows and new construction windows. The former go into the existing window frame with a few screws and some caulk. If you have drafts and/or building movement issues, they likely won’t solve any problems you have for reasons I mentioned above. No interior or exterior trim needs to be removed to install them. They also make your window opening smaller and may not meet egress code for bedrooms, and if you have any water leakage problems they probably won’t solve that either.
New construction windows aren’t just for new construction and are the preferred but more expensive installation option. The entire existing window will be removed. All interior and exterior trim will need to be replaced. It’s basically starting from scratch with nothing but the hole in the wall the framers made.
The window unit for either of the above will cost about the same - maybe $3-400-ish for something like a 30"x48" unit. An experienced installer can swap out a replacement window in less than 30 minutes. A new construction window can take hours of work for each one.
Great stuff as always.
I’ve got a window question as well.
I’ve got some double pane windows and some times there is some condensation between the two panes. What’s the most cost effective fix for that?
It’s because the seal has gone bad and you need to have the insulated glass unit replaced. A local glass company can probably take care of it, maybe the same place you would go for a custom mirror or shower surround.
Thanks. We worked with a company who did our frameless shower doors and bathroom mirror. I guess I’ll start with them.
I’ll probably put it of until we’re post COVID. Been living with it for years.
I love those old steel casement windows though. Sexy mid-century industrial chic!
Does this refer to the crank used to open and close the window. I always thought you could put those on lots of different kinds of windows (vinyl, aluminum, etc).
Grinder and a cutoff wheel ldo.
Mostly seen on industrial and commercial buildings, but adopted for some residential use from maybe mid-1920’s through early 60’s. They made a comeback about 10-15 years ago in a newer, more energy efficient, and super expensive form.
Lots of my windows have steel cranks, but I’m pretty sure they’re not that kind of window.
Since I’m wasting the entire afternoon talking about windows…
| Type | Opening type | Hinge orientation |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed | None | N/A |
| Single hung | Vertical slide, bottom sash only | N/A |
| Double Hung | Vertical slide, both sashes | N/A |
| Casement | Opens either in or out | Vertical |
| Awning | Opens out | Horizontal, top of sash |
| Hopper | Opens in | Horizontal, bottom of sash |
OK it looks like I’ve got casement.
While we’re at it is there an easy way to tell what material they’re made from?
Just take a look at it and give it a poke. The only materials commonly used are wood, vinyl and aluminum. If it’s painted it’s probably wood. If it feels like plastic, it’s vinyl. If it’s metal, it’s aluminum. Nicer windows are often wood interior and vinyl clad exterior. Aluminum is becoming much less common.