Txdigest.com

This article says to use inserts--cheaper and insulates just as well.

http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/save-your-windows-and-your-money-indow-window-inserts.html

Generally, the aluminum windows on newer houses are crap and should be replaced. They are weak and as the house settles, they will bind. We can only open about half of ours. They may loose their seal and moisture gets inside and they look dirty all the time. The better windows have a gas inside that blocks the heat but lets the light in. The cheap ones don't and will heat up the room in the summer.

In my experience the article makes sense.

Modern Windows are not what they are made out to be.

Yep

replacing the old alum. windows with
double pane vinyl saves dollars and cuts noise

planosteve wrote:Generally, the aluminum windows on newer houses are crap and should be replaced. They are weak and as the house settles, they will bind. We can only open about half of ours. They may loose their seal and moisture gets inside and they look dirty all the time. The better windows have a gas inside that blocks the heat but lets the light in. The cheap ones don't and will heat up the room in the summer.

The house we replaced with our current one has such bad foundation issues that one of the aluminum windows was literally bowed out from the frame about 4 inches. 90% of the windows didn't open. Those that opened wouldn't stay open without a stick holding them up. The previous owners had purchased storm windows which were essentially another set of windows outside the original. The storm windows were also aluminum. They were just about worthless. I really worried about how we would get out of that house in case of fire.

When I designed this house I included foam insulation (purchased from one of my web design clients), top of the line vinyl windows (also purchased from one of my web design clients), and radiant barrier in the attic. Our utility bills dropped by 40%............and we have windows that open and close.