We have had experience with all wood and aluminum clad wood windows.

Wood window maintenance depends heavily on the "base" coat. If the base coat is done well, maintenance is easy for the next 10 to 20 years. If the base coat is done poorly, problems will occur. For base coat coverage, we take the view of when in doubt, cover everything as long as it does not impact operation.

If you buy from Marvin windows and you intend to paint them, you can order the windows with factory-applied base-coat to save you work. One then has to assume Marvin will do a good job with the base coat or take full advantage of its warranty. From then on, it is the painting that has to be done well. In general, two coats of good paint is minimal. Every year, check (visually and with fingers) the exposed surfaces and seams and cracks where water could enter for signs of water intrusion under the paint. If there is any hint of problems, don't wait, do what is necessary to fix the paint. If the first several coats of paint are done well, the annual inspection should be as easy as a good close look and finger probes.

If you find any problems, and it looks like simple sanding and repaint won't work, then make the effort to sand down to first coat of good paint or down to base, do it all over again with full attention to details like that of an old world craftsman. The extra work done right is often good for 10+ years or more.

Depending on brand and type and color and environmental conditions, one can expect paint to fade within five years or sooner. Whenever fading begins, it is time to repaint. The paint is not just for beauty, it is also protecting the wood underneath so we do it as soon as able. So far, our very old family house (my parents') still sport those old old wood windows.

In our own home, we have Marvin aluminum clad exterior wood interior dbl-pane, Low-E II windows and doors. We are in CA and just lived through a heat wave (5/16-5/17) where our exposed hillside location got up to 120-F (hot air + reflected heat) for an hour or so on Saturday. We were basking in 105-F heat for hours each day. Our summer highs can easily reach into an average of 90-F with peaks at 105-F. The double-pane low-E II aluminum clad windows and French doors have been able to keep us comfortable. If we do not run the AC, and we can use nighttime cold air to cool the house to near 65-F by sunrise, our house heats up to 85-F by sun down. If we run our AC, the house easily maintains 75-F all day with the AC cycling on for about 30 minutes and off for an hour or so. If the night air manages to cool the house down to 60-F and it remains that way until noon, then the house interior gets no hotter than 75-F by sunset without any AC. THis is with all doors and windows closed of course. Our house also has interior doors so that we can close off sections as we exit or enter during hot days. This lessens the impact of air exchange.

There is an exterior solar shade to shield windows that receive full late afternoon sun. There is an extendable awning to shield the French doors during hot afternoon suns. When it is at peak highs outside, with our exterior shades down and awning extended, our interior window wood frames is hardly warm while the interior glass pane is slightly warmer to the touch but just barely.

Hope all this helps.

The idea that aluminum clad is not appropriate for DC climate is bunk. Calbay addressed that.

No change in energy efficiency between and insert of full frame replacement. Full frame just nets more glass and is a necessity if your frames are beyond re-use or repair.

I would not want a wood window without a cladding on it unless required to do so by historical documents.

An energy audit is a great place to start. We recommend them for most customers and credit them back half the cost of the audit if they contract with us to do the repairs.

An audit is the most comprehensive and realist evaluation of the home.

Thanks for the great insight on going with new wood windows and aluminum clad in DC. Sounds like well go with aluminum clad since the wood ones will be a lot of work over time. I was thinking strongly about wood, in part, because we intend to change the color scheme of the home. Wood would allow us to do that. If we go with aluminum, well have to figure out our color scheme first before we move forward with the windows.

I'll definitely do the energy audit as well. I see lots of energy audit firms listed on the Resnet and MD energy sites but I know who to pick. I havent yet been able to find any user reviews on firms in this space on a site like Consumers Checkbook. If anyone knows of a site with reviews, please point me in the right direction.

Thanks for the advice.

MD Home performance is the certifying body in MD that does most of the training (via BPI) for MD metro area.

They have a contractor network. Any certified BPI contractor will do fine.

BPI is more aimed at residential retrofit construction which would be your application.