Wood, vinyl, repair??? Please help!!

12 years ago

I have a tenant who is complaining of the cold seeping in from the wood windows and wood patio doors. They are single-pane, probably original to the 60 year old building. The weather stripping is pretty shot.

Should I repair with new weather stripping, or, replace?

Should I replace with new wood windows?

New clad alumininum (can be wood inside) such as Marvin (not much cheaper than wood)

or a good vinyl (can add wood trim sills all painted white (to make it look more like wood)...

or Fiberglass???

The three-unit building is in L.A. near the beach and has mostly wood windows that I may have to update in time to keep the coherent look. It's a simple building'50s structure, so the windows are important to the overall look.

Please help... Thanks

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

PRO
Windows on Washington Ltd
12 years ago
The necessity to replace depends entirely on what you are after.

The reality is that you can easily make them much tighter and perform better with new storm windows and weatherstripping/retrofits.

Will that get you the look you are going for...probably not.

If you want to update the look, that is up to you. What material depends entirely on the look you are going for?

What color do you want the exterior to be? Wood, Fiberglass, composite, vinyl, etc can all be color matched so that is not a dis-qualifier for any of them. What you want the interior to look like is probably more decisive in terms of a material selection.
belladom
Original Author
12 years ago
I like the look of wood, and got an estimate to take out the whole window which requires redoing the stucco. The new 3x6 window is $400 plus $100 for dual Low E.... installation cost including stucco is another $600, coming to about $1,000 per window... Does this sound right?
The wood sill is okay, old but not termite damaged.... just the window is single pane and weather stripping is shot. Can't I plop out the old and replace a new wood window? Or replace the glass and have a specialist add the weather stripping??
Also need new French patio doors The estimate for divided lights in wood is $1175, plus $400 for dual low E, and another $600 for installation (no stucco removal on this one..) Does this sound right for wood?
Should I consider another material for Los Angeles near the beach??

THanks!
Related Discussions
help needed to find vinyl that looks like wood
Q
Comments (13)
Thanks for all of your suggestions! We will certainly look into them. I would like to respond to the comment about vinyl needing to be maintained. We are very particular about how we keep our floors. Ours was initially ruined from a plastic laundry basket. (Our 9-month-old pushed it across the floor just days after installation). Apparently scuffs from plastic on this surface are inevitable. Our installers came back to take out a few samples to send in to Karndean and could not believe how horrible it looked. We've had professional flooring people come out 3 times now to try to strip it, polish, etc... Anyone who comes in our home can't believe the company is not going to do anything to help us. Be forewarned.... If you are very careful about maintenance and following all instructions about how to maintain your floor, as I am, this product is not for you. We're going to listen to some advice from consumers next time and not salesman to try to avoid this again. :)
...See More
Bay window - vinyl not wood - please help
Q
Comments (3)
I have a Milguard vinyl window in my DR and it measures 72" wide with 11" side panels, a 41" center panel and 16" sil. These aren't the best pictures but you should get the idea. What concerns me in your measurements the most is the smaller center panel. I don't mind so much the narrower side windows because I have the big center window which I look out of. Is yours narrower because you need a deeper seat? The deeper you go, the narrower the center panel will be to maintain the angles of the bay. In your situation I would draw it out on graph paper, but to me that doesn't sound like that much room for a seat. Our window is flush with the walls but you could always build it out into the room a bit to get the seat depth. We did consider some type of roman shades for our bay window. I know it can be done but you need to be careful of the measurements as they would be outside mount and you need to make sure the shade headers meet at the correct angles, take into account any cranks, etc. Also, keep in mind because they will be mounted inside the bay window, it will significantly reduce your window view as well since even when open, they will obstruct the view at the top. The only shades I'd consider putting inside would be the mini cellular shades which stack up to about 1". But your window will be taller than mine is since you mentioned a seat so perhaps that is not so much of a concern for you as it was in my situation. Something to think about though, as well as how it will blend with other windows in the vicinity. In my situation I had an adjacent window in the LR and I didn't want such varying heights for the WTs since they were in view of each other. The drapes gave the rooms a more cohesive look as a whole.
...See More
trying to figure out vinyl vs wood laminate Help !
Q
Comments (11)
Don't get me wrong, a solid argument can be made for any of these. But what I like about glue down vinyl plank is its wear-ability and repair-ability. Lets say you replace an appliance like a dishwasher and when it gets dragged out a sharp edge of the appliance gouges into the flooring right in the middle of the room. With sheet vinyl your faced with a tedious repair that will most likely be noticeable from that point on. (Live with it or replace it). With the laminate you can replace the affected piece, but it s in the middle of room. So to get to that piece you have to take half the room apart (and probably have to remove some quarter round from the base board) and it never seems to go back together quite like it was. (takes half a day if your lucky and hopefully looks and feels right after its put back together) With vinyl plank you can heat up the affected plank with a heat gun or hair dryer, peel up the bad plank, apply a little glue and lay down the replacement piece and your done. (10-15 minute job and you never know anything happened.) Vinyl plank is superior to sheet vinyl in repair-ability. Vinyl plank is superior to laminate in repair-ability and wet area performance. Again this is just my opinion.
...See More
Flooring Help! wood vs vinyl vs laminate
Q
Comments (6)
We have gone back and forth on this as well- we are doing a major dining, living, kitchen remodel. We have decided to go with a beautiful wide plank engineered hardwood (French oak) from Bella cera called “Monza” bivio. It’s just light and natural and I think will look beautiful with our white cabinets. It’s a wire brushed engineered hardwood which I like more than the rustic hand scraped ones. It was very affordable at less than $4/SF. We have had a few people try to discourage real wood in the kitchen but my parents have had knotty pine floors for 30 year and they’ve held up fairly well and have been refinished twice. The only thing with engineered wood is the top layer is fairly thin with plywood underneath, so you can’t really refinish them but most wont need to be since they have a 25-50 yr residential warranty. I chose one that had some knots and grains and looked like it’d be forgiving. Some of the new lvt is more expensive but really pretty, I can just tell it’s not real wood and it feels a little plasticky and I just like natural materials. My friend has it in her yoga studio and for that application I think it’s great. The only thing I am nervous about is not being able to steam mop my kitchen and having to use wood cleaner with a microfiber mop. But I like rustic and genuine surfaces- we went with granite and are refinishing Saltillo. It’s not perfect but I’m just a natural materials person. You really can’t go wrong! But I think wood floors are always better for resale personally. The new vinyl is great though, and I would def do it in a bathroom, playroom, mud room, but don’t love it throughout the main house. Laminate is ok, but I don’t like the clickety clack sound when you walk on it, and I can almost always immediately tell something is laminate vs wood.
...See More
brickeyee
12 years ago
..."plus $100 for dual Low E"

Unless you are considering selling in the near term or you pay for heat, why would you even consider this?

Do you pay for heat or does the tenant?
belladom
Original Author
12 years ago
tenant pays for heat... I'm considering so they have a comfortable unit and not unnecessarily cold....
PRO
Windows on Washington Ltd
12 years ago
Just changing out the windows is usually not going to make that huge a difference in the comfort and certainly not as a result of the glass alone.

What most customers benefit from is the improved air tightness at the window opening and that impact on the feel of the home.

Wood, vinyl, repair??? Please help!!

Comments (5)

Windows on Washington Ltd

belladom
Original Author

Related Discussions

brickeyee

belladom
Original Author

Windows on Washington Ltd

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Wood, vinyl, repair??? Please help!!

Comments (5)

Windows on Washington Ltd

belladomOriginal Author

Related Discussions

brickeyee

belladomOriginal Author

Windows on Washington Ltd

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

belladom
Original Author

belladom
Original Author