> The window-replacement racket must be enormously profitable.

Anderson Renewal is actually a financing scam pretending to be a replacement window company.   Look at the fine print, it traps da poor people for years.

White vinyl “Replacement Windows” are the ugliest saddest way to ruin a nice house. Many old homes have been trailer-parked by the hideous scam of the replacement window industry.

Save energy! No maintenance! On sale naow!
\

wrote:

And completely ruins otherwise nice homes that aren’t protected from such scams.
Worse than Section 8 ghetto windows.

But they say ‘Andersen’
\

All that said, good quality window and doors do make a difference!   Refitting our San Francisco house made a BIG DIFFERENCE from day one.   

Same with our BOISE house, where we can get both 110 degree days and cold snowy winter nights.   The living / dining room replacements warmed the house last winter, even though we had no blinds at the time.   Big difference.

Now, I'm not sure when you get a payback with an Andersen window set --- small houses start at $70,000, and that is what we were told to US in BOISE and one of my sons, for a tiny Oakland house.

I’m in a nice brick home where the previous owner ripped out original wood windows and inserted hideous bright white plastic Andersen replacement windows Complete with grilles-between-the-glass plastic pieces sandwiched in where it’s not possible to remove them. Downgraded the house from Colonial Williamsburg to ghetto housing project instantly. Now going through and replacing every replacement window. The fake ass plastic shutters & yellow vinyl siding on some parts has to go too.

wrote:

A $55k house?
WTF

That wouldn’t buy you the driveway here.

Back in the 80s & 90s this was easily done.

A doublewide, maybe*






* fire damaged