{"id":380641,"date":"2010-03-02T10:33:19","date_gmt":"2010-03-02T15:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zillow.com\/blog\/?p=18259"},"modified":"2010-03-02T10:33:19","modified_gmt":"2010-03-02T15:33:19","slug":"let-uncle-sam-pay-to-replace-your-drafty-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/380641","title":{"rendered":"Let Uncle Sam Pay to Replace Your Drafty Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zillow.com\/blog\/files\/2010\/03\/chads-window-project.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-18265\" src=\"http:\/\/www.zillow.com\/blog\/files\/2010\/03\/chads-window-project.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"442\" height=\"668\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Is your house draftier than a wind tunnel? Does the sound of street traffic annoy you while watching <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zillow.com\/blog\/do-you-love-tvs-lost-own-a-piece-of-the-island\/2010\/02\/01\/\">Lost<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zillow.com\/blog\/jersey-shore-house-in-seaside-heights-nj\/2010\/02\/05\/\">Jersey Shore<\/a>?\u00a0 Does a hot day turn your house into an oven?\u00a0\u00a0 If you answered \u201cyes\u201d to any of these questions, you may want to think about replacing your windows.\u00a0 Most of us are hunkering down while the economic storm passes, but if you have a few extra shekels in your pocket and are sick and tired of drafty, noisy, ugly aluminum windows (I know I was), now is a great time to have some of your windows replaced with some sleek energy efficient ones.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why replace your windows:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Uncle Sam&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.energy.gov\/taxbreaks.htm\">Consumer Energy Tax Credit<\/a> goes through Dec 31, 2010 for installing new windows that meet the criteria of having a U factor &lt;= .3 and SHGC factor &lt;=.3 (these factors measure the ability of your windows to retain and block heat).\u00a0 Most new windows meet these criteria.\u00a0 How much is the tax credit, you ask?\u00a0 This is the best part, it\u2019s 30% of the cost of the windows, up to $1,500.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take it.<\/li>\n<li>Many municipal agencies, like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pse.com\/solutions\/foryourhome\/Pages\/rebatesOnAllRebates.aspx\">Puget Sound Energy<\/a> (where I live in Seattle) offer credits and rebates.\u00a0 These are generally based on the overall square footage of the installed windows.\u00a0 More cha-ching.<\/li>\n<li>The break-even on installing new windows may be shorter than you think \u2013 potentially saving hundreds of dollars a year.\u00a0 You\u2019ll start to realize your energy savings almost immediately.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Tips on getting your windows replaced:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s some practical advice about getting new windows installed, after having just done them myself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Pick a great installer.\u00a0 There are a lot of great window installation companies (and some not so good ones \u2013 caveat emptor) out there that carry a range of brands.\u00a0 The key is to find a company with impeccable references and who carry window styles and brands that fit your budget.\u00a0 Look for companies that employ their own installers and don\u2019t outsource the job to contractors as this could greatly impact the quality of your window installation.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zillow.com\/directory\/home-improvement\/\">Zillow\u2019s professional directory<\/a> offers a good start at finding a reputable installer.<\/li>\n<li>Negotiate hard and get competing quotes.\u00a0 Window installers have been hit hard by the housing slowdown, many have let go employees as a result and are now willing and able to sharpen their pencils to get your business.\u00a0 Don\u2019t settle for your first quote.<\/li>\n<li>If you are on a tight budget, like I was, just have some of your windows redone.\u00a0 Either the ones that are getting battered by the most weather (sun, snow or rain) or those that face the front of the home, so you can improve your home\u2019s curb appeal at the same time. As a professional bean counter, my advice would be to maximize your credit in 2010 by maybe re-doing half your windows now and then praying for an extension of the credit through 2011 so you can get the other half done next year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Personally, the tax incentives at the city and federal level paid for about 30% of my windows.\u00a0 Not bad, eh?<\/p>\n<p>One note, the process was extremely invasive so plan to cover up your electronics, sofa and anything else that you value.\u00a0 Keep your pets in a safe place.\u00a0 My installers did their best to minimize dust and debris but my house still got pretty dirty from the sawing and ripping out of the old windows.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty cool though to watch the process and see the transformation your home goes through.\u00a0 Now, I\u2019m enjoying a more energy efficient \u201cgreen\u201d home and street noise doesn\u2019t interfere with my TV programming.<\/p>\n<p>&gt; Read more about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zillow.com\/blog\/federal-tax-credits-for-energy-efficiency\/2009\/06\/10\/\">Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&gt; See <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zillow.com\/home-improvement-dueling-digs\/\">home improvement ideas<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/ZillowBlog?a=qO3PRwe2-o0:sG5g7MfLN9k:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/ZillowBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/ZillowBlog?a=qO3PRwe2-o0:sG5g7MfLN9k:7Q72WNTAKBA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/ZillowBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is your house draftier than a wind tunnel? Does the sound of street traffic annoy you while watching Lost or Jersey Shore?\u00a0 Does a hot day turn your house into an oven?\u00a0\u00a0 If you answered \u201cyes\u201d to any of these questions, you may want to think about replacing your windows.\u00a0 Most of us are hunkering [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6025,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-380641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6025"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}