I use those 4' orange electic fence stakes from home depot (about $1 a piece)for lots of things in the yard & gardens. Pound it in the ground and then slide the PVC pipe over it and into the soil a bit. Set out several of these with holes drilled in the PVC pipe and string wire through them to make a fairly sturdy, portable & cheap trellis. I use these stakes to build easy fencing. I use plastic cable ties to secure wire or plastic mesh fencing to them. Because I dislike the orange and it stands out like a sore thumb, I paint my stakes black. Pound 2 rows of these stakes in the ground about 4' apart and slide each end of a flexible PVC pipe over them, making an arch. Cover this with garden cloth or plastic to protect plants. I "sew" the fabric to the pvc with fishing line. If you are using plastic, cut some flaps in it, to keep it from blowing away in a big wind. I use them to brace non secured retaining walls. At my old house I built a raised bed using them to hold the lumber together. I drilled holes in the timbers and slid them over the stakes, then I lined the interior side with heavy plastic.

You don't put screws through the jambs when installing the Anderson 400 according to the instructions. I think it's one of the worst nailing fins out there. Move up to the A series and they have 4 predrilled holes for screws. file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Guest/My%20Documents/Downloads/installationguide-0005134.pdf

We've two wood burning fireplaces in our current house. The Family Room gets used about 30-40 times per year, living room about 5. Wood-burning fireplaces were a must for our new house. We really enjoy them. Health. The issues @Springtime raised are real issues. Relative to other risks to our health are quite low though. You are likely to loose massively more years of your life to being overweight, obese, having a sedate lifestyle, or being on or near a U.S. road than to any issues with a wood burning fireplace used EVERY DAY. That said, reducing the risks with good fireplace design and ventilation are still a good idea. For instance, outside vents directly in to the fire box provide only about 200 cfm so we run our MUA @ 400 CFM when burning a fire and for at least a couple of hours after it's gone out. This insures that combustion by-products mostly go up the chimney. I also open the flue and run the MUA when cleaning ash out. Energy. Wood-burning fireplaces are not energy efficient. But, perspective. An hour of fire with an outside ambient temp of +20°f uses the same energy as driving an SUV about 1.2 miles IIRC (need to double check that number though). We ride bicycles for nearly all of our local transportation and our cars are electric (and charged by solar) so all in all the wasted energy of all of our fires for a year is a rounding error compared to how much less energy we use for transportation than an average couple or family. Whether health or energy efficiency, every little bit helps. But we shouldn't spend a lot of time and energy swatting flies when an elephant is getting ready to crush us.

For most vinyl windows, they are the same product, just with or without a nail fin and a different size. He could be steering you away from new construction because its more difficult and time consuming. While the price obviously reflects the extra time/labor, it doesn't reflect the profit that COULD have been made doing a second replacement job in the same time span as one new construction job. Installers generally don't love them unless they are diverse in what they do, ie: installing windows today, siding tomorrow, roofing another day, etc, but even at that, replacements are typically less headaches and an "in and out" install. The other, more sincere and helpful reason for pushing you away from new construction could simply be that you really dont need it, and you can save a bunch of money by going with replacement. Substantial rot, existing leakage, and sensitivity to any loss of glass area are the main reasons to go with new construction. You will find a lot of companies that push heavily one way or the other because that is just how they sell, but it should really depend on the individual circumstances so that you can weigh options for your situation. For you, given that you are having both the interior and exterior finishes already removed (siding and woodwork), it does simplify that new construction install so it becomes a more viable option IMO even if you didnt have any of the issues above.