Spots be gone!

Yesterday we purchased an outdoor Windex product to clean the windows via the garden hose - no drying with paper towels, rags, or cloths needed! It seemed to be working great, I was so pleased.

When I went indoors to clean I noticed a lot of spots and dirt splatters. Ugh, I was no longer pleased. I returned to the great outdoors with proper tools in hand, only to discover that the dirt and spots were between the glass panels!

Arg, oh what to do? I may be "handy" but I wouldn't dare trust myself to reseal our windows, and I honestly don't even know if that is an option. When this happens, what is the best course of action? Replacing the windows? Sure, if we win the lotto.

I did a little bit of The Price Is Right price checking and golly... windows are expensive. I already suspected as much, but yowsers! And, as if that weren't enough, last year when On The Spot Blinds provided us with an estimate to replace/update our window blinds he measured all 13 windows and hardly any of them seemed to be "standard". How lucky we are to have "special" windows! I can't only imagine the cost of replacing them.

The handsome fella at Lowes explained that I could replace the windows myself... yeah, like that's going to happen. I'll pay the extra $154 per window to have a professional install it, if it ever comes to that.

Is a big box home improvement store the best way to go, or someone who only does windows? How do I know whom I should trust if I were to get estimates? Is wood with aluminum clad exteriors the best option? Pella claims that wood insulates 1,100 times better than metal, which makes sense, and I really don't want all aluminum it looks cheap and ugly to me (and it's what we currently have). That leaves vinyl, which is low maintenance, and I'm all for that! Also, vinyl is the middle ground; a little more than aluminum and a lot less than wood.

Pella offers the "Vivid View" screen, which in the brochure looks amazing, but in real life... I haven't a clue. Superior, which I'm told is just that, superior, is the ideal way to go when money isn't an option (oh if only!). There's Peach Tree, but whenever I hear Peach Tree I think of Atlanta drivers and I'm plagued with horrible visions. And, the cute dude at Lowes said that Peach Tree's quality didn't justify the big price tag. I know there are many, many other options out there, but again, which is the best?

Superior does offer Full Lifetime Warranty for as long as we own and reside in our home. This includes labor, glass breakage, glass seals and vinyl - pretty much everything is covered. So, if the neighbor kids get carried away and a stray ball finds its way into our living room, I just call Superior and they make it all better. Of course, that peace of mind costs an arm and a leg. I happen to really like my arms and legs.

Years ago when my folks replaced all of their windows they took out a second mortgage to do it. Um, hmm, we've only lived in our home for about 6 months so a second mortgage probably not an option.

Sigh, hopefully I'm making this into more of a drama than it really is. Perhaps it's not as bad as I fear. I admit, my knowledge of all things windows is very limited. Maybe there is a very easy and inexpensive solution to my dirty, spotted windows.