Good morning sada, And you certainly said nothing wrong - if that was directed towards me. I just haven't been here for a couple of days... If you were looking to replace your windows and you didn't have storm shutters already then I would be very much recommending that you consider impact windows in your home. Since you have impact shutters, then impact windows would probably be overkill. Still, I would suggest that you at least consider the possibility. Impact windows are passive protection which means that you don't have to be there to protect your home - the windows will do that for you - if, for example, you do decide to travel overseas again one day. Triple pane is also probably overkill in your environment. Without knowing specifically what your neighbor put into his home I cannot comment on his windows, but there are a number of options for you to consider. If you want ease of maintenance in your location, then vinyl or fiberglass frames might be your best option. Both of those materials area able to resist the effects of weathering, including salt spray as well as anything on the market. For energy performance and comfort, then you will want at least a dual pane window with a LowE2 coating. The LowE2 coating will work in each of your micro-climates and it will give you significant energy performance improvement over single pane or clear dual pane alternatives. You can also get a tinted LowE2 to block even more solar heat and glare - or, you can opt for the new LowE3 coating which has the same low SHGC (Solar Heat Gain Coefficient - or how much solar heat gain gets thru your window) numbers as the tinted LowE2 but virtually the same visible transmittance as the untinted LowE2 product. All that means is that the LowE3 blocks as much solar heat as the tinted LowE2 but without the darkening of the window that relates to the tint. But, if solar glare is a problem then the tinted version might work for you. Don't get "ordinary" tinted glass - without the LowE2 coating. Some window sales folks may tell you that ordinary tinted glass is your best performing product. Not true. Ordinary tinted glass will cut down on glare and it will block some IR so that you may not notice the direct solar heat gain as much, but non-LowE tinted glass absorbs heat rather than reflecting heat and a good bit of that absorbed heat will eventually end up in your home where the air conditioner will be working extra hard to make it go away. So sada, my next suggestion would be to do talk with a few window folks - even big box folks - just for more information gathering. I suspect that after a few salesfolk visits you may end up with more questions than answers. What I have said here is very general information and if you have more specific questions please feel free to ask away! And I cannot overemphasize installation! Install is so very important in window performance - energy, sound, water infiltration - even more so in a climate like yours where the windows do tend to take a beating. Guy - thanks Bud! And from me to you a very Merry Christmas to you and your family as well and a safe and prosperous New Year.

Hello again I guess as the homeowner, the lumber yards and distributors are not too interested in dealing with me- I guess they don't realize I am paying the bill!! The GC will install what I buy. I haven't received any quotes yet on PGT! I just called another distributor, he also sells Andersen. He told me that vinyl clad wood is better than solid vinyl. He is suggesting Andersen 400 series. Said it is a more solid window than PGT and Simonton. I thought wood clad was not a good option for the cost. What are your thoughts? Thank you,

Thanks very much! I accidentally included pictures that showed the front of the house before we replaced the kitchen window and added a window to the left of the front door. The quick background is we renovated the kitchen during quarantine (because that is a fun project to take on with working remotely full time in IT and having kids at home 24/7 :)) and as part of that project we replaced the double casement kitchen window with one that has a larger, fixed center flanked by casement windows on each side. We took the old kitchen window and added it to the bedroom that is to the left of the front door. Previously, there was no window on that wall. This seemed like a no brainer at the time because the wall to the left of the door was begging for a window. We also ended up adding a 4 ft. by 5 ft. double casement window to a wall in the master bedroom that looks out onto the backyard. Against my better judgement I ordered the same window for a smaller bedroom that has the same orientation to the backyard as the master bedroom. My hesitation in ordering it was that this bedroom is smaller and has french doors that open onto our back patio, and I suspected the window was going to be too large for the room. Once it arrived, it was clear that I had made a mistake. However, I had an aha moment when I realized it would be perfect in the front bedroom (to the left of the front door). If you are reading along at home and shaking your head, I UNDERSTAND! SO! The window by the front door will be replaced with the new window. May I claim quarantine craziness?! I swear I'm usually much better at executing on projects.

For sure I would paint the narrow white strip around the garage door and the front storm door bronze. Assuming your chosen roof color, I would probably paint the gutters and all of the remaining trim bronze. The new windows should be bronze and they should have some kind of shutters because most of them are so small. I think casement windows in bronze would suit the house. A more horizontal style of shutter like the ones in the sliding shutter picture would be nice. I was up in the air about the soffits but perhaps someone could do a rendering showing them bronze as well to see if it all looks too dark.