"Othello1939" wrote in message
om...
A acquaintance in the northeast of the USA, it contemplating replacement
windows in her 40+ year old home. She is tempted by the many
advertisements
she reads, and I'm looking at them with a jaundiced eye. Can anyone out
there care to provide some personal-experience advice on this subject?
There are so many terms, i.e., vinyl, wood that is clad in vinyl, same
for
aluminum (I think) - "E" glass, double paned glass, etc. How does one
quickly separate the wheat from all the chaff on this subject? The area
of
the residence is NW New Jersey.

Thank you very much for any helpful information that may come of this
query.

Gary

reply to (I think you can see what
does
not belong).



That's a broad question. You might go to the library and lookup some
Consumer Reports issues. They had a Window issue a few years back. They
rated the Certainteed BrynMawr as a best value. It is a vinyl window. My
neighbor has them, and he's happy with them. I would avoid clad aluminum,
since alum. conducts cold very well. Vinyl or vinyl-clad wood are
preferable, in my opinion. Andersen makes a composite resin windows called
"Renewal", but they ain't cheap.

http://certainteed.com/cwindows/cwct00152p.html

I replaced mine with Andersen Tilt-Wash. They are wood on the inside, and
vinyl clad wood on the exterior side. I think they look better than vinyl,
since you don't lose a lot of glass due to the frame. They are not
replacement sashes, they're complete tear-outs, which new interior casing.
Most replacement windows are sash replacements done in the original frame.
That's not a bad thing, except you tend to lose some glass area.


Find a good installer, and get references, do drive-bys, etc. Look on DOE
and HUD's website, too to educate yourself on the terminology. In NJ, I
would think that you do want Low-E and Argon filled.