I have a 1925 Tudor house which had the screens of its porch replaced with glass about 35 years ago. Over the years the wood has rotten, the glass seals haven broken and many of them are fogged up. At first I looked into replacing the porch windows and doors with aluminum clad versions but the quotes I received were very expensive. I have found someone who specializes in replacing glass and repairing wood rot and this seems like a reasonable approach for this porch. I should add that most of the windows are original to the house (except for an upstairs addition in the back with Low E 366 windows) and when we moved in 20 years ago we added a V-Kool 70 film to the south facing storm windows covering leaded glass windows.

Should I replace the glass with clear insulated tempered glass (which is what I believe I currently have) or go with the Cardinal Glass Argon filled Low E 272 that he suggests? I'm concerned that using all Low E will darken this room and give it a greenish tint. One set of French doors faces the north and six large windows face east. It's the south set of doors that gets full on sun. Would using Low E 272 on the south facing doors and clear for all the rest be a good compromise? The installer seems willing to do whatever I want.

My other concern is wood rot. These windows are low to the ground and sometimes we can get a foot of snow or more here in Kansas City. Modifying the window height isn't something I'd like to consider. The installer says maintenance caulking is the key. Besides that, is there a good wood to use for the trim? Others have suggested Azek/PVC, but does that come with its own share of problems? On the inside, some windows sills have rotted too. I assumed it was from water leaking in (lack of maintenance on my part) but now I wonder if some of the rot isn't the result of inside condensation on the glass. To be honest, we don't use that room too often for me to notice. And, if that's a possible issue, would that be another reason to replace all the glass will Low E 272?

Here's some pictures: