We're doing some renovations on our own home in the coming year or two -- new roof, siding, windows, and a garage door. (Garage door spring broke a few weeks ago and it is winter, so we're replacing that immediately -- the one we ordered came in and they are installing it in a week or so.)

Next on the list is windows. We have an older house with some average quality windows in the main house -- but then we have a sun-room add-on that we think the previous owners did on their own (but with permits). The windows in there are junk -- single pain with the metal edging that doesn't fit together right any more. So, definitely need to do those.

Any recommendations on finding the right people to do windows? Any national chains that are decent? Or best to find a local installer? We'll get several bids.

What about the windows themselves? I don't know windows. People say the traditional vinyl ones are out/old and maybe composite ones are in?

For the ones in our living room, we'd like to consider the ones that have the blinds built in. We have cats and they tend to destroy whatever we put up. So I'm thinking the ones with it built in would be nice. Even better if I can hit a button or use an app and close them from my couch. (The suns comes in while watching TV and I'm lazy after work...)

Open to thoughts/suggestions/advice. Thanks!

Like with any component, windows are a specialty. Most look only how beautiful a window is, not thinking about it's functionality and ease of use. As a contractor, there are around a dozen things you must consider before buying windows.

As I help some friends with advice, they (mostly men) ignore some of the important things to consider. Can your or anyone here understand my concerns? I'll give you some tips:

1) Type of window frame material. Wood, Metal or Vinyl.

2) The interior insulation that goes between the glass and frame. Why is this important? On friend had two sides of his house exposed to the heat around 200 days of the year. Direct sun light. The window manufacture ask the home owner about this and the owner said, "NO ISSUES WITH DIRECT SUN EXPOSURE". The owner was sadly mistaken. So the glue used to hold the insulation got activated and the insulation slid out of place, making the window ugly, and no longer weather tight. SO 1 wrong answer cost him another $10,000 in window replacement.

3) Another friend's were windows on cranks. You turned a knob and all windows opened on a pivot hinge. So you needed 100% of the old window to open. But he new windows were a slider with a fixed panel. So only 50% of the windows opened, reducing the amount of possible air flow. He had to replace all his windows with the right ones. Another $16,000. The installer was not licensed so the owner had to pay out of his pocket.

4) This property was by the beach. The air carried sand thru moisture into the new widows. The wet sand was corrosive, the eat up the window tracks, guides and wheels. Also the idiot got metal screens, it should have been fiber glass so it wouldn't corrode. New windows only cost $26,000.

5) This house had 9 foot ceilings. So the double hung windows were important so there would be a Head or Cold stand still of air flow. But the son-in-law got single hung over double hung to save 30% on the windows. He did know his in laws were partners in a winery, that sold for $400,000,000 -- their share $38,000,000.

6) After old windows were removed, no one treated the wood frame of the property for termites.

I am not real familiar with the new composite windows but here is some information on them.

" COMPOSITE

This type of frame is made from a combination of wood, metal, and vinyl. Choosing composite windows gives you the best aspects of different materials combined for a stronger product. When this type of window first came out, the composite material was just used for the windowsills, but now the entire window frame is made from it.

Pros:

Greater resistance to moisture, rotting, and warping

The composite material can be made to mimic natural wood, which can be painted or stained.

Energy-efficient and environmentally friendly

Cons:

I used Window World on a 4 larger windows we cut in on a remodeled of our own home about 4 years ago. I hate them. They are cheap and flimsy. I'm afraid I'm going to break the handle on the sash every time I open them. About half the time I flip them in to clean I end up popping it out of the spring and have to go reset the spring to get it to close. They also allow in drafts and dust worse than the builders grade aluminum windows that are on the rest of the house. Cheap junk.

I have been really happy with Atrium replacement windows I've bought from Lansing Building Products. I don't know if you can get them with blinds in the glass or not. I would think there would likely be a LBP near you since they are based in Lansing, MI. It's been several years since I've bought any so I don't know if they will have the same line of windows or not, but if not they will have a selection of quality windows. I bet they could recommend a good local installer for you if you bought your windows from them, or the installer may prefer to buy the windows and sell you a package deal.

since you are in MI, I would think getting high R value windows would be important to you. Watch some Matt Risinger videos on you tube like this one.

youtube.com/watch?v=wyyM5es8MeI

youtube.com/watch?v=srSOa-Ny_DQ

In one of his videos he says that ordering European high R value windows are comparable in cost to high end American windows but are higher R value.

European Architectural Supply Showroom right outside of Boston, Massachusetts HIGH TECH WINDOW SHOWROOM

www.eas-usa.com/

Fiber glass exterior door with Endura door sills

enerluxwindows.com/

fiberglass windows made in Nebraska great product per matt risinger

Let us know what your analysis reveals and what you ultimately chose and why you chose them.

Someday I'd love to build a house from scratch.

At our house, we test products before using them at our rentals. We got 2 windows to test from a local place. They are white vinyl and we've not had trouble with them, but the installers were awful. Left the roof area outside the window full of stuff and then caulked the window on the inside with clear caulk that looks ugly. These were energy efficient, so better than not. I didn't know the various ways they could be installed. Now I know; they could have been more energy efficient if installed properly.

The next set of windows we purchased from a very reputable company; the brand was Lang. They are also vinyl, the screens are fiberglass. We got them in a wood color that matched the wood in the 1920's house. We purchased half screens, which can be moved to the upper or lower position. You may prefer full screen. I like these windows better, and we got an installer on the side who worked for a top-of-the-line company. He did an excellent job. There was no need for caulk as his install was tight with no air gaps. He removed the window weights and insulated the space the weights were in. Be sure the insulation is done otherwise there will be a space of cold air. We used him to install windows on all of our other properties except one that tenants lived in.

My brother-in-law had windows installed. He was very specific about wanting all the window weights and insulating the air space they were in. When he went to pay for the job, he asked for the weights and the project mgr said they were taken away by mistake. He was not telling the truth. My brother-in-law did not pay for the job and had them do it over, putting the insulation in. The project mgr got fired. He took the short cut to save time and labor.

Years later, the last windows we had installed were done by neighbor who was lead installer at a well-known company; he did it on the side. The install was okay, but he was not as experienced; it was noisy and slow.

In my last house I replaced all the old windows with vinyl replacements from a local distributor. Unfortunately the company went out of business because of multiple seal failures, including some of mine.

When I built the new house I put Pella windows in. Not from the box store but from a distributor. Back when I used to build houses 30 years ago we almost always used Pella.

So I put casement windows in with built in blinds. Big bucks. I installed myself.

Maybe two years later I noticed one of the blinds wasn't working correctly. Contacted Pella who made me jump thru a lot of hoops to get them the info they required. Turns out they wanted a huge amount of money for a tech to come look at the blinds. Then whatever parts were going to be.

Talk about a let down.

I figured out how to get the blind to work correctly, but I am cautious now about lifting any of them. We do not have young kids or anyone else who handles them poorly.

Otherwise I do like the windows. Aluminum clad with wood pre-painted interiors. I used spray foam to seal them up. You can still hear things outside, but they are 34x40 ish windows so that is to be expected.

Thanks for all the input. I'll keep doing some research and check out those YouTube videos also.

-John...

Interesting -- good to know. We just have a couple small ones on the south side -- and then a fence for the neighbor. So we should be good there.

-John...