Hello my name is Tim O’Sullivan and I am the CEO of Your Windows Expert here in Billerica Massachusetts and today I’m going to be giving you buyer’s tips to replacement windows. My goal is to answer the most common questions we get from first time lookers and people are interested in two replacement windows. So behind me I’ve got the two different products, here I’ve got a Mezzo vinyl and a Mezzo wood clad option and let me first go over some of the counter features between these two so you can get familiar with them.

Both of these products are going to offer the same features and options so you know you can eliminate that now and pretty much put your choice back on you. Knowing which one of these two is going to be best for my house so we’re both going to have either double-hung or single hung. Casement hopper awning styles are going to come in all those options and you know what double-hung is we’re both sashes move independently can tilt out for cleaning single ongoing the bottom moves casement is a crank out, opens out, you’d see these over sinks a lot.

Hopper opens, awning opens and all those options are available plus they’re going to come with different grill selections, different hardware selections and of course a variety of colors. So you know you can rest assured you’re going to find the right match for your house and what you’re looking for. And now both of these are going to be counting different energy factors as well. You want to find a window its energy star rated because if it’s not really a cut rate window and it’s way below code for today’s standard.

Having said that neither one of these is going to be more efficient than the other. So people always asking me which one’s better, which one’s going to save more money. Unless you’re going to upgrade to like a triple pane thermal insulated window which were really jumped the cost you know these both are going to come in an energy star grade, it’s going to be a minim qualification to meet that. Its installation insulated factor is based on our value or in this case a u factors that’s a little too technical, but they’re going to be on the same plane of energy efficiency. They’re going to provide that same amount of insulation and they’re both built that minimum standard, so you’re good there.

Durability and obviously the vinyl product was engineered to withstand a lot of weather, and you know now the wood product is a wood clad product, which is this aluminum wrap that goes over the wood and it protected from the exteriors. So durability is there as well a lot of times people ask you know are my windows standard size. I don’t want to buy a custom window size. So keep in mind and all windows are custom-built from the factory, and they’re all made to order so you know that there’s no such thing as a standard size, even the windows that you buy or see in the big box stores. Yeah those are over runs or runs they think are common.

All windows have to be custom ordered, so there’s really not a big price break. Now there is a chance for you might have a price increase on a very large window, so you know that’s just materials. The installation process for both of these is very similar. Some contractors have a little bit of an up charge for your wood window and just to make sure that all the trim work is installed properly, and a lot of carpenters including us we really recommend upgrading to a window rap on the exterior house. Especially if you’ve got an older house that has a rotten wood a rotten still. This aluminum maintenance free rap protects the window, hides the damage and it’s maintenance-free, a great add-on to consider in the future.

Let’s go ahead and jump to the price point of these which is the next question everybody asks. Typically your wood-clad to get it installed is going to be double the price of your vinyl. That’s obviously one of the big factors, if this is $300 then your wood clad is going to be $600. Majority of that’s in your material costs, let’s take this a step further and ask, what should help in your decision. 2 things

Brand and what I’m going to outline are principles for choosing the right window for your house, your unique home. So brand, if you’re going leaning toward wood you want to choose one of the top four manufacturers in our area, and that’s Anderson, Pella, Marvin and Mezzo, they’ve been around for a long time. They produce quality wood products and if you pick an off-brand wood product, you’re probably not going to get what you’re looking for in a window. It’s really not going to help in the long run.

Now vinyl there’s lots of other manufacturers out there and almost every manufacturer makes a vinyl window. It’s a very competitive industry. You’re going to get a very similar product between all the manufacturers. So you’re choosing one over the other really the material or the product is going to be better. Sometimes you need to choose on brand, you need to find a brand that’s been around for a long time that can live up to their warranty. We chose to become a Mezzo certified contractor because we liked their warranty scenarios. We liked how they help customers after the service, we also know that they’re debt-free so they’re going to be around for a long time, servicing your 25 year or lifetime warranty on your product and they’re going to with no trouble. So that can help make your decision on your windows.

Let me tell you why the principles behind choosing windows for your unique home and it basically comes down to comparables in your neighborhood, Now comparable is a term an appraiser uses and what you want to do is purchase a window that’s going to be very comparable to your neighborhood. If all of your neighborhood has wood-clad windows you should heavily consider the wood clad window. If you’re the only one has a vinyl window an appraiser is going to look at that as a demerit to your price point. And likewise the other way around, if everybody has vinyl’s and you decide to upgrade to the wood clad, it may help your house sell, be more attractive to the buyer, enticing to put an offer in. But when the appraiser goes to put a value to it he won’t give you that increased value that you’ve invested in your home and therefore the bank won’t lend on it.

That is probably the most turning factor and why you should choose one of these two. Now if you’re in a situation where your neighborhood has a mix of vinyl and wood windows then you need to look back at why you want windows and define your goals. Are your windows bad, is it just a shelter issue? Or are you wanting to upgrade and make your home be more appealing, look better. So if you can define yourself into those roles you’re kind of pushing yourself one way or the other. This is a much more reputable product, people like this, you’ve got endless color options on the interior. It’s a nice wood stain finish if you want it, and this product is going to provide you a great window.

But you know you’re not going to get and the feel of a classic wood. While they both have great attributes and provide a great service you know defined yourself. There are many different reasons why you would choose one or the other but defining it based on knowing the value of you’re putting into your home and your goals and desires. It’s going to really help eliminate a lot questions later on. so if you can get through both of those, you’re one step closer to making your purchase for replacement windows.