“My home isn’t even three years old,” said Sophia. “How in the world can I need replacement windows already?” A glance at the electric bill in her hand, which had climbed astronomically during this winter’s particularly frigid cold snap, provided the answer: the original windows that came with the house weren’t doing her any favors.
The windows in Sophia’s home — and the sliding door that leads to her patio — were standard ‘builder’s’ models. These original windows and doors are designed for two reasons and two reasons only: they’re inexpensive and they’re easy to install. When builders are concentrating on moving rapidly for maximum profitability, the homebuyer pays — in more ways than one.
Quickly and cheaply constructed, original construction windows seldom feature the workmanship that home replacement windows offer. Also missing: the energy efficiency that could have saved Sophia hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars over the cold winter months.
Home replacement windows, with either vinyl replacement windows or fiberglass replacement windows, is one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to upgrade your home. Not only are you replacing less-than-ideal original construction windows with better built home replacement windows, you’ll get the added benefit of energy efficiency and enhance your home’s value.
Windows and doors are one area where renovators can never cut corners. Home buyers, particularly those who know of the cheap, low quality windows often used in original construction, are quick to take note of home replacement windows. Having home replacement windows installed increases a home’s value, makes it easier to ‘sell’ and eliminates one point of sales resistance — particularly important in today’s competitive housing market.
It may be frustrating to sink the money into home replacement windows into a relatively new home, but it makes strong economic sense. Much of a home’s energy is lost through windows and doors. Some industry experts estimate that as much as 40 percent — that’s nearly half! — of your home’s heat can escape into the great outdoors through leaky windows. This can be old-fashioned single paned windows in an older home — or the cheap and flimsy original construction windows found in all too many modern homes. Either way, it’s an expense you shouldn’t have to bear. Keep that energy inside with you where it belongs by installing home replacement windows.
If Sophia installed home replacement windows today, and enjoyed even a fraction of the expected savings from the resulting energy conservation high tech home replacement windows featuring insulated glass, low E coatings, and other energy saving features offer, they will pay for themselves long before she’s ready to pull up stakes and buy another home. Feature in the added value the home replacement windows present when she puts her home on the market, and it became an easy choice for Sophia.
“I never expected to have to replace my windows so soon,” she said. Then she held up the electric bill. “But I never expected to shell out this much money for heat, either. I’d rather spend my money improving my home than heating the great outdoors!”