Start with a tape measure, not a brochure
Nearly every double-hung versus casement argument gets settled by three numbers you can collect yourself in about twenty minutes. Do it before you talk to anybody, because it changes which questions you ask and which quotes you take seriously.
The three measurements that decide it
- Width and height of the existing sash opening, measured inside the frame at the narrowest point. Record both per opening.
- Sill height above the finished floor. Anything over about 40 inches with a counter, tub or cabinet in front of it is a reach problem before it is a window problem.
- Clear space outside the wall. Go outside and measure from the siding or brick to the nearest object a swinging sash could hit.
Running the egress math yourself
In bedrooms the numbers matter more than the style. Indiana residential construction follows the IRC on emergency escape openings: 5.7 square feet of net clear opening in most cases, 5.0 square feet for openings at grade level, a minimum clear height of 24 inches, a minimum clear width of 20 inches, and a sill no more than 44 inches above the floor. Confirm the requirements for your project with your local building department, since they are the ones inspecting.
Then do the arithmetic. A double-hung opens to the lower sash only, so the clear height is roughly half the glass height once the rail takes its share. A 32 by 60 double-hung opens to something like 30 inches wide by 27 inches high, which is 5.6 square feet. That fails, barely. A casement in the same opening clears it with room left over. This single calculation decides more window orders in older houses than anything printed on a brochure.
While the tape is out, note one more thing per opening: whether the existing frame is sound. Press a screwdriver tip into the sill and the bottom of each jamb. If it sinks, that opening is a full-frame job no matter which style you order, and that changes the price more than the style does.
Now go stand outside the window
Take the tape outside and look at the swing path of every opening you are considering as a casement. The sash projects 15 to 20 inches when fully open. Things that end the idea on the spot: a walkway, a deck, patio furniture, a driveway apron, a condenser unit, a downspout, a hose bib, a gas meter, or a side yard narrow enough that the mower passes within two feet of the wall.
Check the hinge direction while you are out there. A casement hinges left or right, and you want the sash opening away from the way people approach, not into it. On a wall with two units side by side, hinging them to open outward from the center gives you a scoop for a crosswind and keeps the two sashes clear of each other.
Write the decision into the contract
Before anybody orders glass, the contract should list per opening: room, style, hinge side for every casement, insert or full-frame, frame material and color, glass package, grille pattern, and net clear opening for any bedroom unit. Add a line saying the installer confirms the outward swing path on site before the order is released to the factory.
That last clause is worth more than it sounds. Casements ordered off a floor plan and hinged the wrong way show up six to ten weeks later and cannot be fixed in the field. Correcting it means reordering the sash, and by then the crew has moved to the next job.
Decide who has to operate it, and how often
A window that is hard to open stops getting opened, and a window nobody opens is a fixed pane you overpaid for.
A modern vinyl double-hung sash weighs somewhere between 15 and 30 pounds and needs a two-hand lift plus a working balance. That is a non-issue at 40 and a real issue at 75, or with arthritic hands, or leaning across a sink. A casement crank needs almost no force but does need clearance for your forearm and a handle that folds out of the way of a blind.
Ask specifically about three things: the rooms an older resident uses daily, the rooms where children sleep, and the one window somebody opens every morning out of habit. Those answers usually override everything else on the list.
Children, pets and opening control
If an upper-floor sill sits under 24 inches above the finished floor, ask about window opening control devices. They hold the sash to roughly a four inch opening until you release them, they release from inside so they do not block escape, and they add very little to the unit price. A double-hung also vents from the top sash alone, which is the simplest fall-protection answer in a child bedroom and one of the few things a casement cannot do at all.
Price both plans for your Crooked Stick house
Ask every bidder to price the same house twice: all double-hung, and the mixed plan you built from your own measurements. In 2026, mid-grade vinyl replacements typically run $600 to $1,050 per opening for a double-hung and $750 to $1,300 for a casement, installed. On a 15-opening house the all-double-hung plan usually lands around $10,000 to $15,500, and moving three openings to casement adds roughly $450 to $750 to it.
When the spread between the two plans is that small, the decision stops being financial and goes back to the tape measure. That is the whole reason for doing it in this order rather than starting with a showroom visit.
Compare labels, not sales sheets
U-factor and the ENERGY STAR zone your county sits in
Indiana straddles two ENERGY STAR climate zones, so the qualifying U-factor is not the same across the state. The northern zone criteria are the tighter of the two; the north-central zone allows a slightly higher number and adds a solar heat gain limit. Look up which zone your county falls in and hold every quote to that number. Both styles are available in qualifying glass, so this is not a reason to pick one over the other. It is a reason to reject a thin unit of either style.
Air leakage, DP and what they mean on a windy wall
Air leakage on the NFRC label is where the two styles genuinely part company. Casements commonly land at 0.05 to 0.1 cubic feet per minute per square foot; double-hungs more often at 0.1 to 0.3. Design pressure, or DP, tells you what the unit is rated to take structurally. On an exposed west wall, ask for the DP rating in writing rather than accepting a shrug and a brochure.
Match the elevation before you match the room
Older Crooked Stick housing stock
Pre-war bungalows, foursquares and cottages were laid out around vertical double-hung proportions, often with a divided upper sash over a plain lower one. A casement dropped into a front elevation reads as a mistake even to people who cannot say why. On a rear wall nobody sees from the street, it is fair game.
Crooked Stick subdivisions built after 1995
Later houses are more forgiving, and many were built with a mix already: double-hungs across the front, a casement or two in the kitchen and bath. Match what is there unless you are doing the whole house at once. If the neighborhood has an architectural committee, read the covenants first, because some of them specify sash configuration and grille pattern on street-facing walls.