If we are talking about replacing windows, there is a high probability that your home was built before 1980. If we are talking about homes that are more than 50 years old, you may be dealing with a historic or conservation district. If you want to watch a Preservationist go Nutzoid, talk to them about replacement windows. There is a valid reason it makes them crazy. Replacement windows may be the single worst offense people can commit against the way their house looks. There are very good reasons for the design criteria and restrictions that are in place to protect homes in an historic district. If your house is a "contributing" property in an historic or conservation district, stop reading now. We just need to talk. There are other solutions for your problem.
Before you replace your windows, drive around in your neighborhood slowly. Look at the windows on your neighbor's houses. Can you tell which ones are original and which ones have been replaced? When your house was built, there were styles of windows that were all the rage at the time. Builders try and create whatever it is that the current buyer wants. The windows on your home are a style that is appropriate for the period in which your home was built.
OK, the Pet Peeves.
1. You have to be careful about changing the window style. Please. Just don't do it. Don't change window styles. If the original windows were large single panes, get replacement windows that are large single panes. If the windows have multiple panes, get windows with multiple panes that won't change the way your house looks now.
2. Partial Replacement. It is common to see homes where the homeowner only did one room or one side of the building and stopped. I understand the temptation to do that. Windows are hugly expensive. My hand shakes and I make spelling errors when I write checks that big. However, if only some of the windows are replaced, it makes the outside of the house look really bad. Really bad.
3. Cheesy plastic mullions. Don't buy the windows with the snap-in plastic gizmos that attempt to make the window look as if it has multiple panes. I recently sold a house where there was a set of french doors that had those. My client commented that replacing those doors was one of the first projects they were going to take on after closing. I asked what was it about the doors that bothered them (I have learned the hard way to avoid saying "I just HATE those doors, too!!!!!" I have learned to say "Tell me why YOU hate those doors" first!). Anyway, the client's problem was that the divided panes just wasn't as clean and contemporary as she wanted. I showed her that the divisions were just a trick-of-the-eye, caused by those nasty snap-in plastic grids. She closed on the house. One of the first things she did after closing was to remove that plastic grid from the doors.
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This posting is one of three posts that I have written about Replacement Windows. To see the other two, click here...
I sell lots of houses in the Dallas-Ft Worth area that need or have gotten Replacement Windows. If you are interested in looking, call me at 214-228-9828 or check out my website at this link.
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