When looking at my house from the street, the main focal point is a large, 82in x 93in floor-ceiling window. It's orginal to the house which was build in the mid-50s. It's current configuration consists of 4 panels, two large double-pane sections at the top with two single-pane aluminum sliders at the bottom. The entire window needs replaced.

Living in NE Ohio, this is the first time I ever had to replace a window as all of the windows in the house were replaced before I moved in.

I received four quotes, all between $2,000 and $3,000 to replace the window with a 3-panel (25/50/25) tempered vinyl (in and out) casement.

Here are my questions:

1) Is a casement window a good choice for this situation? I'm trying to avoid a vertical beam down the center.

2) What brands/models of casement windows should I avoid? The four installers recommended an Alside window, but they have access to other makes/models. When asked, they can install Soft-lite and Sunrise as well as Polaris, which they didn't recommend due them being "outdated". Are there major differences between different brands? I would like to keep the total cost around $2,500 or less.

3) Do you recommend any particular installation companies? I've heard many horror stories about the largest local installer, Window Nation.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

This post was edited by sruchris on Thu, Sep 12, 13 at 15:05