Windows in Boise take hard sun, cold nights, and foothill wind that does not care which street you bought. West glass fogs and pits. North glass whistles when the gust has a clear run. Smoke season and a winter inversion make a draft miserable because you cannot simply open the sash. Count the bad openings before one loud room becomes a whole-house order. Soft sills mean water has already been there.
Older North End wood and newer west-side frames fail differently and still share the valley swing. Soft sills mean full-frame work. Sound, square frames can take an insert. Feel the wood before you choose. A unit set on a rotten sill is the same leak with new glass, and a bead of sealant will not stop foothill wind at a meeting rail that misses. Ask how the sill sheds water.
Do not replace the calm side of the house because one wall howled during the last gust. Note which rooms face the foothills, the afternoon sun, or a canal-side exposure with no trees. Fog between panes, a sash that will not stay put, and a stool that stains are different symptoms. Say which ones you have. Whole-unit specs are a comparison, not a promise the house will use less of anything.
If a claim is open, photograph stained trim and failed glass before the screens are tossed. Brick and older openings punish a casual shim the first time the gust returns. Ask for a set that can be flashed and closed before the next freeze. A mild afternoon is not the install window when the night still goes cold. Leave the wall closed against the foothill wind. Say if the sill is already soft.
Say how many windows, which rooms, and whether the frames are soft. Name the part of Boise and which wall takes the sun or the foothill wind. Have the deductible only if the policy is already in the conversation. The next inversion will trap the draft in the room with you. Smoke season will do the same. Call the number on this page.