Everybody wants the best windows. But what are the best windows for homes in Florida? Considering all the different window types, manufacturers, features, and the unique conditions at your home, it can be tough to identify the perfect windows for each room of your home.
Rather than trying to identify a single brand or window type and say it’s the ‘best,’ it may be more useful to start with a set of guidelines for what you’re looking for in a window and what you need to have to be compliant with the Florida Building Code (FBC) and local ordinances for your home.
Finding the Best Windows for Home Installation: Create a List of Priorities
First thing’s first, what do you want from your windows? Everyone’s different, but most homeowners usually want one or more of the following from new windows for their home:
- Energy Efficiency. Many homeowners choose to replace their old windows with newer ones in order to achieve improved energy efficiency. New windows with better insulation, low-e glass, and other features can help you improve your home’s energy efficiency. Best set as a priority if reducing your energy bills or carbon footprint are important goals for you personally and you plan to replace all of your windows for the maximum improvement.
- Emergency Fix/Replacement. A common reason for installing new windows is because the old ones in their home are broken or worn out to the point that immediate replacement is necessary. For homeowners who have broken or worn-out windows, the speed of replacement might rank higher on their list of priorities than factors like aesthetic appeal or energy efficiency.
- Impact Resistance. For homeowners living near Florida’s coastlines, impact resistance can be what separates the best windows for home installation from the worst. It not only contributes to FBC compliance for homes in regions near the coast, it is part of a larger home safety consideration. If you’re worried about storm damage or intruders, impact resistance should be a high priority.
- FBC Compliance. This should always be a high priority for any homeowner, as noncompliance with local building codes can result in failed inspections, fines, stop work orders, and other consequences. Be sure to consult with a window installation expert to ensure that your new windows will comply with all FBC requirements.
- Aesthetic Appeal. For many homeowners, looks will always be a top priority. You probably want windows that will add to your home’s beauty and curb appeal rather than detract from it. Even if you don’t plan to resell your home in the future, having windows that look nice is a plus you can take pride in.
- Cost. Everyone should consider the cost of their window replacement. It is, after all, important to stay on budget. However, cost shouldn’t be your only concern. It doesn’t do you much good to save 5% on a new set of windows if they don’t meet FBC requirements or are installed so poorly that they practically fall out of the window opening or have terrible leaks.
These are just a few of the factors that you might want to assign priorities to. If you’re having trouble deciding which of these might be the most important to focus on, start by thinking about what you want most from your windows and put that at the top of your list, followed by FBC compliance as the other top priority.
Finding the Best Windows for Home Installation: Choosing the Right Brand
There are many window manufacturers out there—too many to list them all and give comprehensive breakdowns in a single article of reasonable length. Some brands focus entirely on providing the cheapest windows possible, sacrificing quality while maximizing affordability. Some brands focus on quality, obsessively testing their window and door products to ensure they can stand up to the harshest conditions the state of Florida can throw at them.
The top two window brands that Karoly Windows works with are Simonton and PGT.
Simonton is a top-quality brand that offers extremely reliable impact windows for a reasonable cost. They also happen to have one of the absolute best warranties in the industry. Not only is it a lifetime warranty, it’s also transferable, one time, to a new owner if you ever decide to sell your home. That’s a huge plus if you ever plan to resell your home.
PGT obsessively tests their products, creating rigorously-vetted and highly refined designs that are a staple for many Florida homes. They have a wide range of customizable features for their window frames and glass to make their products a great fit for a wide variety of homes.
Both of these window manufacturers are among the cream of the crop for Florida homes, providing a solid mix of durability, reliability, and aesthetic appeal that make them perfect for many homes.
Finding the Best Windows for Home Installation: Choosing the Right Style of Window
There are several different types of windows you can choose from for each window opening in your home. A lot of the time, homeowners just default to replacing like with like when it comes to their windows. But, when you’re replacing your windows, that can be an opportunity to mix up the style of your windows to enhance convenience and style.
Each type of window has its unique characteristics and charms that might make them more or less attractive as options for your home:
- Single-Hung. A vertically-opening window with a fixed top sash and a movable bottom sash. Very common in new construction homes due to their simplicity and relatively low cost to manufacture and install (compared to other window types).
- Double-Hung. A type of window that is visually similar to the single-hung window, but both sashes can be moved up or down, so the window can be opened and closed from the top or the bottom. When combined with tilt/pivot mechanisms for the sashes, these windows further enhance convenience by allowing homeowners to tilt the sashes inwards for easy cleaning.
- Sliding. These windows have a series of fixed sashes and movable sashes that roll side to side on rollers along a track in the window frame. Often used for especially large, wide window openings because of how the rollers make it easy to move the windows… Bigger window sashes typically get harder to lift in vertically-opening windows (Curse you, Square-Cube Law!).
- Picture. These are fixed windows that do not open or close. The lack of moving parts can make the smallest picture windows quite affordable. However, once the window size increases, the cost of picture windows also increases, and at a rate faster than most other window types. This is because picture windows have a single large pane of glass. As glass panes increase in total size, their cost increases, and past a certain point, the cost increase becomes exponential. However, these are among the best windows for giving you a clear view out of your home.
- Casement. Like picture windows, these windows tend to have a single large pane of glass. However, that pane is set in a sash that can be levered out of the way of the window opening on a mechanical armature (typically operated via a crank). These windows are among the best for maximizing air circulation in your home, as they can move the window glass out of the way of the window opening. These windows are popular for tall, narrow window openings in the home.
- Awning. Similar to casement windows in that they swing open on an armature mechanism. However, these windows swing vertically instead of horizontally. This makes them a great fit for short, wide window openings like what you might find over a shower in a bathroom.
- Bay. A type of architectural feature that projects out from the side of the home. Bay windows join several windows at angles to let in more direct sunlight throughout the day. However, installing a bay window is less of a choice than other window types, as they are architectural features and putting a bay window in an existing window opening would take a lot of structural rework. Can be heavily customized by using different window types in each of the window slots, with two casements and a picture window being a popular arrangement. Because they’re composites of multiple windows, bay windows tend to be the costliest windows during a home window replacement project.
Each of these window types have their own pros and cons compared to the others which may make them more or less attractive as replacement windows for your home.
For example, picture windows provide a great view, but they cannot be opened. This can make them wholly ineligible for use in some window openings, as the FBC requires that each sleeping room has at least one ‘egress window’ that can be used to evacuate the home in an emergency. So, a bedroom cannot only have picture windows.
Double hung windows are generally more convenient to operate and clean than single hung windows, but have a higher cost because they have more moving parts.
Casement windows provide a great view and air circulation, but because they have single, large panes of glass in a single large sash, their cost can be high relative to single- and double-hung windows of the same size (since they have two smaller window sashes per, making the cost to manufacture lower).
Finding the Best Windows for Home Installation: Get a Professional Opinion
Having trouble deciding between different window types, styles, brands, and even custom features to fit your needs and budget? Don’t worry, you aren’t alone!
Karoly Windows & Doors is available for a free window installation consultation. During the consultation, we’ll send an expert to your home to discuss your window options and preferences, inspect your window openings, and provide you with recommendations to help you get the best windows for your home!
And, if you choose to have our experts install your windows, you’ll know you’re getting top-quality installation work that is backed by a lifetime labor warranty! We’re so confident in our installers’ professionalism, experience, and consistency that we can provide that lifetime guarantee!
Reach out today to get started with a free consultation and quote for service!
