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Post by sweetpeamom25 on Feb 1, 2013 8:59:58 GMT -6
We bought our house in May of 2012 and since it's been so cold we've discovered that we need new windows, almost every window in the house is bad!  We had an inspection and everything looked fine, but after we moved in we discovered the inspector missed something huge in the basement that will cost thousands of dollars to fix, and now pretty much all our windows are bad. Most of them have a ton of frost and condensation on them, then it melts and damages the wood window sill. We have a humidifier on our furnace which we have turned off, thought that would help with the condenstaion, guess not. We noticed water spots on the window sills when we moved in and thought 'oh, they left the windows open and it rained or something.' Now we know where the water spots came from--bad windows with frost that melts. It just makes me sad, windows are expensive! The house was built in the 90s and even has a couple windows from '01, guess they were just cheap windows...  I just wanted to vent/whine a little bit....  Anybody know where to get a good deal on windows?! Or if there is a magic fix I don't know about, please share!  |
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Post by onlyoneboy on Feb 1, 2013 9:51:58 GMT -6
Have you put plastic over them on the inside of the house?
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Post by ReneeW on Feb 1, 2013 10:08:52 GMT -6
I feel your pain -- when we bought our house 10 years ago we didn't look closely at the windows, and then discovered they were rotting on the outside. We've replaced half of them so far. From what I understand, the biggest problem would be if they're rotting all the way through--you don't want water damage to get into your walls. Depending on how bad the situation is, if it's only the interior wood and a little discoloration, you could try to sand down the windows and re-stain and put polyurethane/ varnish on them to protect the wood and prevent future rot. If it's going down into the actual components of the window and rotting through, then you'll need to replace the window.
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Post by ReneeW on Feb 1, 2013 10:10:59 GMT -6
Windows are very expensive to replace ... at least the good brands. Plain vinyl isn't good for MN climates (it warps when it gets cold, like today) but getting some sort of maintenance free / can't rot version is a good idea because wood will rot ... high-end companies usually have something that's maintenance free but isn't vinyl.
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Post by sweetpeamom25 on Feb 1, 2013 10:26:55 GMT -6
We do have plastic over a few of them, and it's helped a little bit, but not a ton. Also, over one of them the blinds are down so I can't tell if there is still frost on the window or not.
The windows we have must be vinyl or something, because I guess it's not the window sill, but more the wood window ledge. The condensations runs down the window/window sill and onto the ledge. And since it sounds like vinyl isn't good, maybe they have warped and that's why they are so drafty....?? Thanks for the info.!
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Post by smalltowngirl5 on Feb 1, 2013 10:42:30 GMT -6
I would also suggest the plastic on the windows and make sure to heat shrink for a tight seal. Also, if you have window coverings (blinds, shades, etc.) don't pull them all the way closed tight to the sill, this way air will get to the windows and help with some of the condensation. We tend to leave a small part of the window exposed and it does help. We did replace our windows with Renewal by Anderson and yes they were expensive but we were able to do it phases and helped a lot.
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We had an inspection and everything looked fine, but after we moved in we discovered the inspector missed something huge in the basement that will cost thousands of dollars to fix, and now pretty much all our windows are bad. 
