Window recommendations

[jcos]

We are starting an addition project on our 105 year old home. We are having trouble deciding on which windows to use. We have looked at Kolbe & Kolbe, Marvin and Caradco. Also, we can't decide between wood exteriors or clad exteriors. We live in Houston, Texas where humidity and rain can take there toll on wood. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations on these or other brands.

Thanks, John

[Rich]

Can't really go wrong with Marvin clad windows - if you can pay the price.

[BobJohnson504]

I use milgard windows almost exclusively (in california) these days. They're great.

This site has pretty good prices and will give you a quote right away - http://www.thewindowstore.com/MyEstimatesWindowBuilder.aspx?frame=VINYL%20STD&type=PW

best,
-Bob

[Sweep]

If I'm not mistaken Caradco is not intended to be in the same league with Marvin and K&K
Jeld-Wen, in addition to making Caradco, also makes Norco and Pozzi which are their middle and highest quality respectively.

If you can afford it, use Marvin because the jambs look so good inside, especially if you want the wood to show. If not, try Norco or Eagle (but they're getting expensive too) Marvin has the narrowest mullions for historic work. K&K has a factory applied finish for wood that is incredible with a 20 year warranty (maybe it's 15).

I live in a 114 yr old house and design additions and renovations for older, sometimes historic, houses.

As for clad vs wood, I have a strong preference for wood frames (with clad sash if low maintenance is desired.) The adhered aluminum mullions with spacers have gotten better.

The biggest disadvantage of a clad window is that it requires the addition of trim in the field. (I have a sample corner of a Marvin double-hung window here in my office with a flat 1x4 aluminum trim which is magnificent but expensive - see photo) I find field installed trim to not look as good as factory trim, especially at the sill and it costs more.

Wood frames are simpler to install and waterproof because most of the work is already done: the trim is already installed with a factory water-tight joint (instead of a field-applied sealant joint on top of a narrow fin with holes in it immediately adjacent to the rough opening) and the sill overhangs the siding (instead of slipping under it.) A nailing fin is not a waterstop. Some manufacturers don't even seal the fin to the frame. If a sill is not added to a clad frame in the field, the bottom "non-sill" must rely completely on sealant which I have seen cause a major lawsuit. (see discussion at http://www.construction-resource.com/forum/ftopic2113.html )

I look at the installation instructions for clad windows and am amazed at how the industry has so totally accepted plastic tapes and self-adhering membranes as "permanent" primary waterproofing not to mention the use of sealant in ways not recommended by the manufacturers. A wood frame was originally designed to work without stick-on flashing or sealant therefore adding these materials creates secondary protection rather than primary.

I typically use 30# asphalt saturated felt and Eagle or Marvin wood windows with aluminum clad sash and historic cedar sills. I like W R Grace's sill flashings (recently a contractor insisted on using a lead pan which is even better.) The head flashing is copper. There are many places to save money in a house; window installation is not one of them.

I must attend seminars each year to maintain my license and usually choose the ones regarding building envelope design/failures and have read everything available on this subject. I would love to find a better way to build but so far I have found no evidence showing an advantage in using any other method of construction.

Good luck with your project. Let us know how it is going.

[Tom R]

Sweep, - - great stuff, - - you should consider writing a book, - - you are a wealth of knowledge. :wink:

[Sweep]

Thanks, it would make great bed-time reading.

[Animal AKA Will]

Sweep,

If more architects were like you there'd be a lot more sober construction supervisors. Not that I'd use poor design as my only excuse to drink.