Well, I was looking for ballpark figures, so if it ends up costing less, I can order pizza! 
All brick house! No siding to deal with.
Thanks for the great advice everybody!
The patio door is what really drove the price up on my last estimate; and that’s what needs to be replaced the most. No matter what I do, air gushes through there! It’s a huge double opening door, I’d estimate it’s 6 to 8 feed wide.
E3
A few small things you should know: since the replacement window fits inside the original jambs, the actual window will be a little smaller than the old one. For most things, that doesn’t matter. However, if your old window would barely open wide enough to hold a 20-inch box fan, it probably won’t fit in the new window.
The amount of neighborhood noise you can hear goes way down. My dog, who went nutso when he heard the mailman’s truck, no longer noticed it.
When it’s dark outside, the e-glass acts as a mirror. When you try to look outside at night, you see yourself.
I got my new windows done 3 years ago by L.J. Stone Co.
Disclaimer! Earlier this year, I bought 200 shares of Home Depot stock. So, if you buy your windows at HD, thank you. (Full disclosure, and all that)
Something to be aware of is changes in building codes when you replace your windows. You are getting a building permit, right? (check to see if you need one)
We put in replacement windows a few years ago, three months after new building codes were in place for fire/egress window sizes. We had to significantly bump up some window sizes in bedrooms because they were double-hung, and had to settle on sideways casement windows to meet other window sizes (on the back of the house). It was a significant addition to the cost of the installation.
After it was done, I look at the neighbors’ houses with their old windows and think I’m glad I’m not going to be stuck trying to get out of their small windows in case of fire.
OK, it’s official. I’m signing the papers tonight. Home Depot is going to do the work (you’re welcome, AskNott). I’m doing a combination of double hung and and single hung, based upon how big the window is. The windows in front of my house are 5’ tall. The sliding glass door in the back of my house is going to cost me a pretty penny. It’s 8’ wide!
Ahh, now to look into gutters, pulling the paneling out of one of the living areas in my home and replacing it with drywall, blowing more insulation into the attic, and finally, pulling out the carpet in the house and refinishing the floors.
E3 (who should change his username to $E$n$r$i$g$h$t$3$
Heh, I started looking into replacement windows the same time you did. Went with double-pane vinyl replacements - 15 windows, 1 sliding patio door. Started in mid-June, finished in two weeks. Only delay was that one of the windows had a measurement error and had to be sent back. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about how I will like the new windows, but the installers did a beautiful job. Hope all goes well with your job!
Nobody answered the old-house question, and I have the same one - I’m soon closing on a 77 year old house with the original windows, which mostly have the original cool wavy glass in them. I’m sure they are drafty but I don’t want to get rid of them. (Have one in each room openable, yes. Replace, no.) What can I do to keep the air conditioning and heating in? That plastic stuff you set with a hair dryer? Storm windows? Is it going to be so expensive to heat in the winter that I just replace them and cry over it?
As you can tell from the time span of this thread, I don’t make big decisions lightly. The conventional wisdom is that yes you’ll save a TON by replacing the windows. The thing is, you should be able to get replacement windows that have the same look and feel of the old ones (OK, with the exception of the ‘wavy’ glass). You can get wood sashes, old handles, etc. from what I understand. If your house leaks anything like mine does, it’s not hard to imagine how much you’ll save. I put the plastic stuff you set with a hair dryer on my windows last year. Some of the windows were so drafty that I couldn’t get it to stick long enough, there was a breeze blowing in the window that I could feel.
Anyway, if you’re willing to put up the plastic, and cover up the wavy glass, aesthetically why not go ahead and put in new windows at this point?
Typical of me… now that I’ve finally made the decision, I can’t get them in fast enough!
E3
Reglaze those drafty puppies. If the panes rattle or move, they might need new pointing and glazing both. Careful! It’s ridiculously easy to break old panes when removing the old cracked glazing. There are several glazing products that are applied like caulk, tho. So maybe you can get by with simply doing that. You’ll need to repaint afterwards. And possibly some weather stripping along the bottom edge of the lower sash might help.
Or, storm windows. There are loads of options for style and functionality.
Also, you can get new vinyl windows that fit inside the old wood window openings. Even have some faux wood trim options now, in addition to there being several different styles (even some that mimic the look of old style windows).
The tops of my windows are, I think, concrete? Poured? Does that make a difference if I’d try to replace them? Also, is there any way to guess how expensive period-look windows are? If I ever replaced them I’d want them to look identical - I haven’t seen any like them stock in Lowe’s, anyway. They’ve got four narrow panes vertically at the top of the upper part.
Ack, Zsofia! You’ve got the same problem I do – The Curse of the Beautiful Windows! I have an 1891 three-family house and forty-two of its 47 windows are double-hung, wavy glassed windows with four square panes at the top of each top section. Even with the (crappy, 70’s-vintage aluminum) storm windows, there’s a lot of cold infiltration. I had about resigned myself to simply replacing the storms with a better grade of exterior storms, when I remembered that a guy from the local preservation society had recommended, a few years ago, interior storm windows. I can’t really recommend a particular brand, but I’ve spent some time this week googling “interior storm windows” and I have to say I’m impressed by a lot of what I’ve seen.
They seem to come in various grades at various prices, but the basic concept is the seasonal installation of plexiglas, lexan, or acrylic sheets on the indoor frame of the window, using either velcro or clips. Frequent claims are that air infiltration is decreased in the 90-95% range, that the one-and-a half inches or so of space between the interior storms and the house’s windows is more effective as insulation than the half-inch or so between double panes in replacement windows,
and that noise from the street is significantly decreased. (I don’t know if that’s a problem for you, but the hip-hop around here makes it hard to watch movies, which I do a lot in winter.) They also appear to be rather unobtrusive, hence their use in “historic” buildings (including Faneuil Hall in Boston) and endorsement by preservation groups.
A somewhat serious downside, for me, is that when they come down in the spring, they’ll have to be stored fairly carefully; plexiglas and similar materials can scratch and even discolor over time. (Does anyone know which material’s more durable?) But, happily, they don’t seem to be very expensive at all, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to try some variant, and maybe a couple variants, in the front windows of the house this winter, where it’s typically coldest.
Additionally, once the exterior storms come off, the unique original windows (which I, like you, can’t imagine ever replacing) will be more visible from the street. They’ll require some restoration, of course, but I really think they’re worth it.