Good advice above. Sunrise and Okna are two great vinyl choices, particularly where air leakage is concerned, although I do not believe that you have an Okna dealer in that market yet. Restorations and Vanguard are very similar, pricing will depend on dealer though. The actual product pricing from the factory is very close. Those are "exclusives", so you will not likely find a dealer that offers both.

I have expensive inside mount shutters over kitchen sink area....3 panes across. The window installer said I had to hire a company to take out and replace the shutters before installing new windows. The windows will be removed from the outside of the house, not inside. I just don't trust the shutters being removed and replaced correctly after all this moving around. I live in Maryland and the existing windows I want replaced are 27 years old. Is anyone using a national window company to deal with this problem successfully WITHOUT removing shutters?

It depends on how you look at it. Windows aren't stocks, you don't purchase new windows with the expectation that somehow they will pay for themselves. One of the reasons many people buy windows, is for the same reason they purchase an automobile or put a roof on their house. As simple as it may seem, they may just want new windows because their old one are cold and drafty, in need of major repair or they are just are just tired of maintenence and upkeep. So, here's another take on windows as an "investment". Suppose your home has 25 windows and costs $2500. per year to heat and cool and you decide to keep living with your old windows instead of purchasing new ones and assume the new windows would save 30% per year or $750. per year. That means after 20 years, you would still have the same old drafty windows and would have spent $15,000 more in utility costs than if you had replaced the old windows. But, that's not all. Lets say utility costs increase by as little as %5 per year. It's very unlikely it would be that little but lets go with that. Your total lost savings in 20 years would be almost $25,000. and you would still have the same old drafty window that would be much worse condition in 20 years than they are even today. Now lets toss in a couple of paint jobs including scraping and primer on the old windows, some money spent futily trying to make them a little less drafty and you would probably top $35,000 spent and still have the same old windows. Then you decide to sell the house but the purchaser demands you do several thing like replacing the roof and the windows. let's say 20 years from now those $700 windows you could have purchased today have tripled in price so now it's going to cost $53,000 for new windows $35,000 for maintenence and upkeep $88,000 total spent and you lived with cold drafty windows on top of it all for 20 years. I believe the utility costs will rise at a much higher rate than the 5% we assumed but, I think this gives you some idea of why people replace their windows.

You'll be so much happier with window replacement! Retrofitting is efficient and quick, and much less expensive than many homeowners realize. Give us a call if you have questions!