A long while ago, I continued replacing the old wood windows that came initially with my house. As I found out in 2011, none of the windows in my house (Model Home Version 0.1 for our area) were not very well insulated (if at all). This in itself suggests the “investment” in new windows will be a good choice, however, if we ignore the shoddy craft of the builders of my house, the question arises, does it make sense to replace old windows in a home?
Replace Windows?
In my case, I think it is an easy yes:
- The old windows were not very pretty from an aesthetic perspective. They would be a sticking point should we want to sell this house. Many house buyers would see the old windows as they walked into the house. They would dismiss it off-hand. Buyers wouldn’t even look closely at the rest of the house. It isn’t in great shape in other ways, but that is for another story.
- The continued up keep of old wooden windows is an investment in time and labour I was not willing to continue with (well Mrs. C8j did the painting and upkeep, but I am pretty sure she agrees with my evaluation).
- The new windows are an upgrade in performance. They help keep out sunlight and heat. This improvement aids in cooling the house in the summer. The lack of insulation in the old windows make this point even higher in importance. These windows also help retain heat in the house during the winter.
(by ChatGPT)
I am not going to do the math on when the windows will "pay for themselves". I view those claims as a bit trite. The windows needed replacing. I don't think, in this case, it is a frivolous home expenditure. Still have more money to drop into the remaining windows, but this needs to be done as well for now.
The latest Consumer Reports notes that a lot of people mistakenly think window upgrades will lower energy costs the most. Invisible things like sealing air leaks and adding attic insulation are better. So energy considerations should be secondary.
In my case it was an insulation issue as well, but yes, insulating walls and attics and cutting out air loss points are important too.
My next door neighbor has windows that look like this and I think he’s getting them all replaced. Ours are vinyl and a few years newer so they’re still in pretty good shape. I do have a couple that are starting to get mist in between the panes, but they’ll have to wait until after the roof gets done next year.