I'd be interested if the quotes for the windows are from window dealers that are installing them. Those companies charge crazy prices for installation, and the homeowner has no clue as to the competency of the installation crew. IMO, the only way to go is to have a trusted finish carpenter measure and install windows and the contractor will be buying the windows from a builders supply company at a significant discount to what an average homeowner will pay for the same window. The most important aspect of the whole process is the quality of the installation. Lousy windows installed by a conscientious pro will last longer than top dollar windows installed by a schmuck. Any work done on a house that will come in contact with water had better done by the book or you'll be in a world of misery.

Would like to hear follow-up from those chosing either Andersen Renewal, Andersen 400 or Marvin Integrity on their projects, esp'ly interested in how your windows have handled wind and cold, plus your impressions of their overall appearance. We need to replace Vetter windows damaged in a 50mph+ hail storm in Aug.'07. We will switch brands--they've resized. We need to replace windows on 3 sides of our '97 built modern home which has several very large picture windows, casements w/ transoms, and finished oak woodwork. The only prob. windows now are 2 windows placed over the whirlpool tub on north wall & west walls. Renewals' interiors have a dif. appearance but the pitch about being built to last over 50 years sounds good. Andersen 400s are going into the model homes of our builder w/ exc. customer response in past 10 yrs. A contractor is evaluating Andersen 400s for sizing and is "close" on most; he is pricing the architectural series for windows set in the stucco front. The Andersen exteriors are darker than our existing but we are thinking the vinyl "permashield" inside wrap would elim. any future mold on the rim touching the glass. Renewals only have a thin veneer and the rep. could not tell us if that could ever mold. Marvin windows look closer to what we have, inside & outside and did fantastic in wind studies done by Cons. Rpts. last month but with the wood interior, will I be sanding and restaining due to moisture along the bottom rim where we have exper'd some mold on existing windows? We constantly run an air-exchange system and seldom have windows open. We hope to have a product that can handle the extreme weather, handle future hail since it's now occurring regularly, along with straight line winds & blizzards. Thanks for any feedback!

+1 Vinyl will probably not work in your situation as I mentioned above but a fiberglass with SDLs would look just as good, if not better, than clad wood. I had to laugh at this part of the study Fenestration.... A survey analysis shows that aluminum and timber windows can easily last more than 40 years. Al-clad timber being new on the market, is expected to have a service life well over 40 years. PVC windows, in most cases, are reported to have an optimum service life of 25 years. ....40 years...ummmm...not quite.

@WoW Washington Unfortunately I'm missing one storm window. The storms are fine. just needs to be painted. I might be missing 1 set of screens that got damage. Two windows sashes have damage panes, but I have replacements in the garage. theoretically this looks easy to switch. one of the balance tubes might need to be adjusted or replace to get it to close properly. the weather stripping all around looks shot. the plastic thing is so brittle . but replacement weather stripping will take about 2 min per window to change. and its dirt cheap from marvin. (5 dollars a window) ZERO wood rot. just needs a sand + paint job on the outside. The biggest issue is that they were just caulked into place and fiber glass + caulking was put in to weather seal them. There is no sill flashing. I know this because I had to rip out the frame on oen window that was hit by a tree. (i wanted to see the rough opening before ordering) Its in the back of the house with a good over hang, so I don't see it being an issue. But foam + full flashing all around would have been my preferred method. I still have room to foam them on the sides, but still wont be 100%, but good enough. The other thing is I could just go a head and get tilt pac replacements from marvin. Cuz what i realized I would have to buy new brick mould to match the previous look and pay extra to have that installed. I attached a set of pictures, looks like a dimond in the rough? Part of me still looking at high end vinyl as a replacement for all the windows. I'm about to pull the trigger on a elevate replacement for the window that blew out. but i also just came back from Windsor dealer And im thoroughly impressed. sorry for the long post again :)