Anyone deal with Capitol Home Improvement in Tacoma? I called for an estimate for vinyl windows and they quoted me a good price over the phone with no high pressure sales or bs. They use Empire Pacific windows. Or any other good experiences?

I havent dealt with them, but on Monday night this week I had Evans Glass come over and provide a quote for replacement in my upstairs and a spearate quote for the whole house. They make an excellent window but are priced way to high. They started at 38k, then went to 23k, now they want to go lower. YIKES!

Do some research on what they reenforce the header with ( should be steel or titanium) and make sure they use that anti-bacterial/microbal blocker in the plastic.

My Father in law just had 11 windows replaced last week with Penguin glass (in Tacoma), they have a great triple pane that's comparable to Evans glass. They look killer and are very well made.
They Use Krypton/Argon gas mix like Evans does as well. I'm going to be in touch with them next as I feel like Evans is trying to stick it to me. Hopefully none of you who read here work at Evans

Whatever you do don't go with cheap vinyl's. The installer I spoke with said alot of thier jobs right now are vinyl replacement from within the last 5-7 years where people went with a checp product ( discount, home depot windows, etc) and they already need to be replaced due to sagging and mold.

S-G,
I had Evan's do my entire house a few years ago. They do make an excellent window and I've had zero problems. I don't have a huge house, but I paid nowhere near what you've been quoted.
Sounds like you have a saleperson who wants to hit a grand slam.

When having your windows replaced make sure they use windows with the flange on them. If they do a quickie no flang job the only thing keeping water out around the perimeter is a bead of caulk. The windows with flanges on them require extra work and new exterior trim to be installed. This takes longer/costs more, but is a much better product that will last longer and require less vigilant maintenance.

Ryley, give me a call if you want.

Major pain in the ass. Just finished doing that very thing.

I have done it on a number of projects. Definitely worth it. Quality product. Peace of mind.
Sol, What brand of windows did you use?

I put in some nice double hung windows in my house about 10 years ago ( to match other windows already there). The thing that impressed me with Evans was the owner came by to do the quote. He said he didn't have any other sales guys available and that he lived near by. Nice dude but told me doing 4 windows wasn't worth it for them and gave me some other recomendations.

Fishranger,
I have a complete brick house with no wood trim outside on the windows, so there is no obvious way to get a flange installed. Do you have any recommendations on this?

Krijack, With brick, usually the windows are inset abit and a good seal can be made with caulking (make sure to get some that is for masonry as some won't adhere well), and as brick is a bit more stable than wood it moves less with the heat, cold and moisture.
Wood moves a bit with the varying conditions and it can be hard to get caulk to hold between the wood and the window.

Krijack,
I have a similar situation yours, although just the front of my house has a brick facia. I chose the flangless windows for two reason. The brick being the first and not wishing to cut into the siding to accomodate the flang.
My house has nearly 60 year old cedar siding with hardly any knots holes in it.

If they had cut the siding, I had two choices. One was to replace the siding to cover the flangs. The cedar siding that is on the market today is a bunch crap. Good luck trying to find good clear cedar these days.
The other option was to trim out each window to cover the flang. I personally don't like the look of this.

I watched them install a few of the windows. They are screwed in from the sides so the window isn't going anywhere. I believe they used three beads of caulk during the installation. One on the outside, one in the middle of the window and one on the inside. I've washed them numerous times with a hose had never had any problems with water issues.
I think in your case with the brick, a flangless window is your only option. If installed properly, you've got nothing to worry about.

stonefish, the flangless installation can be done well (I have had to put some in that way myself and have had one leak), the main issue I have is that it is a bit of a crapshoot getting it done right unless you are willing to watch the crew the alot while they are there. Alot of the crews I see out doing window replacement, I wouldn't let wash my driveway.

Oh yeah, get referrences and call them all, find out who the lead was on the job and if they did a good job request them on yours.

Thanks Fishranger.

Fishranger,
No doubt having it done correctly will save a lot of pain in the future.
Good suggestion on calling the references. I spoke with a few folks plus went and looked at two houses they had done in my neighborhood.
I was there the whole time as they took out all the old windows. I wanted to make sure that when they collapsed the old frames they didn't mess up the drywall or original interior woodwork.
There were two older guys plus a young kid on the installation. The older guys did all the install work and basically bossed the kid around like a gopher. I had someone at the house the whole time during the installation and felt really comfortable with the workmanship.

I had a Penguin salesman here a couple weeks ago give me a quote on replacing 9 windows, 1st quote was over $12K, told him we just bought the house and didn't have that kind of $$$ to spend at that time, he says, wait, let me recalculate this, couple minutes later he gives us a quote of $10800, I told him we had to think about it and we would call him back the next day, he reluctantly left then called us an hour later with a $10K quote and he forgot to tell us this would be interest free for a year. All of this after telling us he doesn't work on commission. We plan on replacing these windows with income tax refund but I'm definetly getting 2 more quotes before I pull the trigger on anything.

Get a quote from EVERY single outfit in the Yellow pages even if they are 50 miles away. Write them all down then start back again at the top, quoting your lowest 3 bids.
Repeat, about 2-3 times and you'll save $$$$

I called PSE for referrals. The first one I called quoted me 4495 minus 500 rebate totalling 3995+tax for 7 windows and a slider. That's to come measure, have the windows made, come back and install, haul away old ones, lifetime warranty. I'm sure that is the lowest bid I'll get so I'm doing some homework, researching the manufacturer. I can't afford the 10,000 ones.

A couple things about windows, My company does window installation on every single project. We don't do window replacement . There are a couple of things we consider, sealant joints are never used as a primary means of preventing water intrusion. Confirm compatibility of sealant with everything the sealant comes in contact with. On a Project I recently took over the compatibility issue was not addressed and the contact of the sealant and the soft flashing behind it caused a chemical reaction that caused the membrane to liquefy... I'm guessing the repairs on the building will run 50k. None of this may apply to window your replacement. If I were having mine replaced, I would get a copy of the manufacturers installation instructions, confirm they are being followed and test the windows upon completion of work... Window testing standard testing values should be available on the Manufacturers website. Dont just blast them with a water hose...... good luck