Hi,

When we built our house we used a mix of windows from different maufacturers. The key is to get them to match. We used Anderson for patio doors. For most of the house we used a cheaper line of windows. I think it was a Jeld Wen divison. Did not remember the exact brand. We also used a specialist custom division of Anderson for some of the circular and curved bits.

One tip is for the divided lights etc. we ended up using the most thick ones. This we found gave the house a more solid feel. Also have wood or vinyl surounds on your windows. Again you have a solid looking suround by making it thick in width.

Note for wood interiors, you need to specify a stain / varnish grade wood stock for your windows. This will have less knots / weird smudges etc.

As for window manufactures my order of preference is:

1) Duratherm -- cost is ridiculous, but absolutely stunning. Solid mahogany, and the largest double glazed units available anywhere.
2) Marvin. We found these to be 1.5 to 2x the cost of Pella, Anderson / Jel Wen.
3) Anderson, Pella, Jeld Wen. (The big boys)
4) The rest. We use one of these "REST" windows for maybe 90% of the house. For bits that have more wear and more complex e.g. sliding doors, we went for Anderson.

The house looks lovely. Good luck with your dream home.

Warmest regards, Mike.

We have been very happy with Marvin aluminum clad windows - SDL stain grade interior on a similar style (Georgian) home. In place two years and we have just about every configuration: double hung, casement, awning, transom, french doors, sliding (french) doors and exterior doors with windows. The aluminum clad is really low maintenance and we have limestone sills outside so no painting at all around our windows.

Here is a link that might be useful: Marvin Clad Colors and Casings

Wow, am I writing this? You sound exactly like me --- NC (north of Charlotte for me) looking at windows, same brands, etc. etc. Then, I scrolled down to see the house and it was one of my very favorite inspiration homes. Only problem, our property has a road nearby with that house - it is REALLY pretty. Our house will be a farmhouse now, I am really excited. When are you starting?

I looked at the Windsor and Pella architectural line. I loved the Pella, it felt sturdy to me. Our quotes between the 2 were maybe 5-6k different (windsor being less expensive). Apparently Windsor is manufactured in NC (and Iowa) so there may be a small cost savings possible as it is local.

Anyway good luck with the window decision --- I'll be interested to see what all of these great experts tell you as it helps me too! Rachel

A big thank you to everyone who has responded so far.

Stinky Tiger- Those Duratherms are beautiful! Just don't know that the price will go over well on the budget.

Betsy Anne- Thanks for the links to Marvin

Energy Rater LA- Thanks for all your input especially the installation & rating info. The best window in the world isn't worth anything if not installed properly. To answer your questions: hurricanes are generally not an issue as we are pretty far inland (about 3-4 hours to the coast) but we are sometimes within the outer edge of the hurricane path. The french doors are supposed to open inward on the front of the house & outward on the rear of the house. Do you have any input on vinyl exterior vs. aluminum clad as far as durability, warping, expansion & contraction? Your client who spent $60K on windows for a 2200 sq ft house--was it a house of windows? My goodness!

Rachel- It's nice to know I'm not alone out there! Where are you building? North of Charlotte is a huge area--I'm north of Charlotte too in the Triad area. Glad you found an alternate house that you love. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on you look at it), once I saw this house in Southern Living & then went to tour it in Savannah, I was in love. It's been 6 years and I still love it and really have not been able to be swayed to any other house. Hopefully, we'll be able to pull off building this house without breaking the bank. Will keep you posted!

Anyone else with experience with any of these windows, please continue to respond.

Thanks!

My quotes for Pella Arch with GBG and SDL for about 40 windows was $42,260 --- YIKES! The Windsor was $39,032 ---also YIKES! Neither included the front door (add a few thousand). They really seem ridiculously expensive, don't they? After reading Energy Rater's info, I think maybe I should get Jeld-Wen quoted as well. He gave so much detailed, helpful info, thanks for sharing!

Let me know if you happen upon any great windows / prices, our specs sound very similar! We are north of Charlotte in the Lake Norman area -- in Davidson.

The house you are building that is right by my property --- they have it reversed, garage on the right. The porch is really beautiful and the windows are such a focal point of the house. Wish I knew what they used --- If I see the owner, I'll try to ask as there are some specialty windows (the arches, etc) that maybe they have some ideas about materials that might help you. When will you start building?

Do you have any input on vinyl exterior vs. aluminum clad as far as durability, warping, expansion & contraction? Your client who spent $60K on windows for a 2200 sq ft house--was it a house of windows? My goodness!

vinyl seems to hold up well, problem is getting it stained to look like wood. some folks use a jell stain (gell stain??) that looks great.
metal doors imo look like metal doors. Not a bad thing if
you don't try to make them look like wood. keep in mind that they do dent and use an over the door hook for your xmas wreath! They look ok when painted colors.
both seem to work well, much much better than wood doors
not too much expansion and contraction or warping as with materials other than wood.

oh and the house 2200 sq ft..not so many windows..just very high cost windows. most were covered by window treatments to interior, so $$ for wood interior seemed to be a wash to me.

best of luck with your build.

I recommend Monarch wood clad. It is less than Marvin, and IMHO a better product. Of the non-ultra priced windows that I have tested, the Monarch is the easiest to open. Marvin and Kolbe make a gravity balance window that is exhorbitantly priced (like $2K for a standard sized window!) that is very easy to open.

Swampwiz- Thanks so much for the info on Monarch. Will check them out.

Energy rater la- Thanks again. A couple more questions if you don't mind. My DH and I had our apppointment with the building supply co that carries Windsor in our area yesterday. After seeing the windows & hearing the info on all 3 lines, the aluminum clad with wood interior & GBG sounds like the way to go for us if we do Windsor. They also had some Andersen displays in vinyl with wood interior. This is probably one of the very few vinyl exterior windows that I liked. What are your thoughts on Andersen? They recommended the 200 series & I brought up the 400 series. (Haven't done alot of research on Andersen--name is popular but just about everyone we've talked to has volunteered the info to stay away from Andersen without us even asking.)

As far as the white vinyl clad wood windows vs. white aluminum clad wood windows, have you seen or heard of yellowing, sagging or warping at the level of quality we are using? The wood on the interior will be painted white as well. I plan on this being the last house (we're in our 30's) and I really want to minimize the chance that we will have to replace windows during that time.

Lastly, hoping you could clarify something for me: low e2 is high solar gain (use in predominately cold climates), low e3 is moderate solar gain (use in climates that are pretty equal with hot & cold months), and low e4 is low solar gain (use in hot climates)-I know I probably have 2&4 mixed up, please correct me if I do. Considering that the front of our house (formal living room & dining room & kids rooms) faces south, rear (family room & kitchen & bonus) faces north, master and garage faces west and outlaw suite faces east, should I use a variety of low e2 & e3 or would you just triple pane the north & maybe west sides? (Keeping in mind that the rear of the house has a 16' covered porch & is almost completely windows on both levels to take advantage of the awesome views & the front of the house also has a 10'covered porch). Thanks again for all your help!

Mythreesons- Our Pella Arch quote was $55K for SDL, $43K for GBG with similar # of windows. Jeld-Wen was $44K SDL & $37K GBG. We're waiting on the quote from Windsor. None of our quotes included the front door system either, but they did include 2 sets of double operating aluminum clad french doors & 1 single aluminum clad french door.

We're building in northern Randolph county about an hour or so from Charlotte. We plan to break ground as soon as another property we own sells (know anyone interested in 46 acres in central NC?). I'm excited but I'm also scared to death!

If you see the owner of the house like mine, please ask about the windows. If you wouldn't mind, would you please let him know I'd love to talk with him about any changes he made to the original floor plan and what he has found works really well about the house & what he would change. My email is lroberts72@triad.rr.com. Thanks for offering to talk with him if you see him!

Anyone else out there with opinions on windows, please post. Thanks!

mydreamhouse,

There are two types of LowE coatigs, hardcoat and softcoat, and within the two types you have low solar heat gain, moderate solar heat gain, and high solar heat gain.

LowE2 refers to softcoat with two layers of silver in the coating. LowE2 is considered to be a moderate solar heat gain coating.

LowE4 is specific to Andersen. It doesn't refer to a particular LowE coating, rather it refers to Andersen 400 series windows that come standard with LoE2 coating, argon fill, Easy Clean glass,

LowE3 is low solar heat gain coating.

In general, low solar heat gain coatings are going to be more overall energy efficient, so that a window with LowE3 coating may be your best choice.

I would suggest that triple pane in overkill in your environment.

And off-topic...Hiya ERLA!

HiYa rat back at ya O!
your timing couldn't be better!!

Oberon is much better at explaining this than I.
and I have a question for him also if you don't mind
me derailing your thread for just a few minutes.

Where approx.does it become cost effective to go from double paned windows to triple paned windows Oberon?
I've never seen triple paned windows here in La.
Didn't see them in vegas either..but I wasn't really looking!

tia!

I know you are asking about windows, but I thought I would post an old thread about your dream home Abberley Lane. Maybe you can email some of those that have already built it to get some ideas or perhaps they will return to add some thoughts. Always loved the house, esp. the exterior.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Abberley Lane Thread

ERLA,

That is an interesting question because some folks will suggest that triples are always better than doubles and some folks will suggest that triples are more of a gimmick and that the perceived energy performance advantage isn't worth the additional cost.

You have seen the rather long write-up I did on window efficiency versus wall insulation on the "Energy Efficiency - Don't Forget This!" thread. In that post I did compare triple with LowE and argon, to dual pane with LowE and argon, to clear glass dual pane. In that post triple did look like a pretty good idea.

To throw a few more numbers into the mix:

Assuming three different houses, identical except for window performance; and using the 200ft2 of total window area; and assuming windows in the three houses with U value performance of U.50, U.30, and U.15 or R2.0, R3.3, and R6.7 respectively.

If delta T = 10 (delta T = the difference between indoor and outdoor temps):

then (200ft2 / R 2.0) = 100 * 10° = 1000 Btu/hr
then (200ft2 / R 3.3) = 60.6 * 10° = 606 Btu/hr
then (200ft2 / R 6.7) = 29.9 * 10° = 299 Btu/hr

Considering the more robust delta T of 50° that gusfab used:

then (200ft2 / R 2.0) = 100 * 50° = 5000 Btu/hr
then (200ft2 / R 3.3) = 60.6 * 50° = 3030 Btu/hr
then (200ft2 / R 6.7) = 29.9 * 50° = 1495 Btu/hr

And a mind-numbing delta T of 100°:

then (200ft2 / R 2.0) = 100 * 100° = 10,000 Btu/hr
then (200ft2 / R 3.3) = 60.6 * 100° = 6060 Btu/hr
then (200ft2 / R 6.7) = 29.9 * 100° = 2990 Btu/hr

R 2.0 is the clear over clear dual pane
R 3.3 is pretty typical of a dual with Lowe and argon
R 6.7 is a very good triple with LowE on two lites and argon or krypton fill.

So again, based on numbers alone the triple looks pretty good - about twice as good as the double in this illustration.

But none of that really says when a triple may be become more cost effective than a triple.

Ultimately I think that it would depend on all the obvious factors such as location, orientation, insulation, cost of fuel, cost of upgrade, etc etc etc. With those numbers in place it could be possible to calculate the payback.

As a very general rule-of-thumb, I would suggest that if someone lives in northern New England, across the Great Lakes states, Minnesota, the Dakota's, Montana, higher elevations of Wyoming and maybe as far south as New Mexico and in any part of Canada, and Interior Alaska is a no-brainer, then triples might be a really good idea. My opinion only of course.