The key with windows is reducing your cost. I too received a quote for $30-40k back in the day… so I did it myself with vinyl replacements (double pane, argon, etc). Ended up spending only a few thousand total for the whole house, I know I did a better job than the local contractor because I spent my time and did it right.
We had a massive comfort difference due to the old windows being extremely drafty (1960’s original wood single-pane). In my opinion that’s the biggest benefit. We also were able to remove our storm windows, so improved exterior visibility, reduced cleaning, and improved curb appeal in my opinion.
Energy-savings, yeah not so much unless you DIY like I did to keep the cost down.
That’s what I found after researching as well. Now on the opposite side of the spectrum, we bought a house with zero insulation in the attic. Paid $1800 for I think 16" of blown in insulation. Simple return on that was less than 6 months. Next will be crawl space insulation and encapsulation. That’s going to run around $3000 and I expect maybe 2-3 year return on that.
We rented a house where the owner decided to replace all the old metal fame single pane windows with new high quality double pane windows.
He spent something like $30,000 on all the windows and installation.
Didn’t notice any difference.
Like, the HVAC bill was basically the same, and the noise was basically the same.
We may have saved $5-10/mo. on power but that is simply not worth it.
The key with windows is reducing your cost. I too received a quote for $30-40k back in the day… so I did it myself with vinyl replacements (double pane, argon, etc). Ended up spending only a few thousand total for the whole house, I know I did a better job than the local contractor because I spent my time and did it right.
We had a massive comfort difference due to the old windows being extremely drafty (1960’s original wood single-pane). In my opinion that’s the biggest benefit. We also were able to remove our storm windows, so improved exterior visibility, reduced cleaning, and improved curb appeal in my opinion.
Energy-savings, yeah not so much unless you DIY like I did to keep the cost down.
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That’s what I found after researching as well. Now on the opposite side of the spectrum, we bought a house with zero insulation in the attic. Paid $1800 for I think 16" of blown in insulation. Simple return on that was less than 6 months. Next will be crawl space insulation and encapsulation. That’s going to run around $3000 and I expect maybe 2-3 year return on that.
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Hah, did the same. I removed all of the old insulation too, which was worse! Sealed cracks and holes, then blew in new loose fiberglass up to R-60.