I could not afford Impact Glass on the patio doors so I went with accordions. I was completely opposed to individual panels as is typical in Florida. A bit inconvenient and far cheaper but my father can no longer put his own up. I plan to be here a while so best to plan for the future.
So the big questions - Why Impact Windows, and what was the cost.The first consideration was none of the windows in this house functioned. Cracked glass, leaks sealed with duct tape, some did not open, of those that did, none would stay open without a prop, and out of 12 windows only two had screens. The cost of accordions for the whole house would have been less even if I replaced the windows with regular glass. I would still need to put panels on two as they were too small.
The windows I chose are double glass, with an inert gas between the panes. They reduce the light, and greatly reduce the heat. Also they cut the noise down considerably. For all the logical reasons - Impact Glass was the way to go. Will I save enough in energy costs to pay for them? Not a chance but every little bit helps.
So now about those cost considerations. This whole job was just under $20,000. I retired a year and a half ago and my payout went into two bathrooms. I had a few dollars left in savings but not even half. I priced out accordion shutters well over a year ago and was saving for that but it would have been a bad choice if I ever decided to change out the windows. I got a quick price on windows over a year ago and had sticker shock. Several months ago I had a company quote and because of the "This price is only good for tonight" hard ball sales tactic - I threw them out of my house. I looked into some local companies but I was finding mixed reviews.
Well two things happened. A near miss by hurricane Mathew prompting me to make a decision and a slight uptick in my stock investments for some strange reason helping me with the rest of the cost.
That's when I called Home Depot. John the sales person could not have been nicer or more laid back. He did the measure, showed me the specs, presented to me the windows I had already researched, set the price. I signed the deal. That started a flurry of contacts with Home Depot. An entire team of people doing scheduling, installing, and satisfaction surveys. Probably the most pleasant team of people I've worked with on a project this large.
Let's talk about the mess. It's loud, dirty, hot, but as far as a mess, my floor might have been a bit cleaner when they left. I had to do a little dusting but nothing more than a normal week. they covered everything in the house. The whole job took two days but had a missing piece not been delayed in arriving, it could well have taken just one. The missing piece actually showed up by the end of the day but the guys had knocked off at 3:00.
The accordian shutters had actually been done a few weeks prior, in about two hours. Those guys also swept up leaving my patio in perfect condition. Home Depot handled all the permitting. The inspector was out the very next day to pass my installation. My schedule is pretty open right now but a three day start to inspection project is far quicker than I was expecting.
I don't mean to be making an advertisement for a particular company but I have used Home Depot for a kitchen install years ago and I knew what to expect. They were actually a few hundred bucks more than Mr Hard Sell after the 5 "discounts" he was offering but since his "deal" was only good for one night only, I felt like maybe his warranty would be the same. I'll take my chances that Home Depot will still be around in the future. If you have any questions, shoot me a comment.
For a few more photos of the old and new windows [click here]
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