My whole house is Milguard woodclad and I wouldn't install these again if they were free. First of all the customer service is crap. Secondly, these windows leak air, have junky hardware and are just plain trash. I am a builder and have used much lower end windows with a lot less problems...run away from those windows!

berryanne,

Is that true of all the Milguard windows? I just got a quote for either their vinyl or aluminum.

Thanks!

Wow...I only have one of them but I didn't have such problems with it...what happened with the hardware? We have a horizontal slider. What style do you have?

I hope someone professional replies to this, because we're needing a patio slider door right near that one window and I was hoping that the Woodclad would be good enough we could just go and replace everything with them eventually, including the slider...

I'm wondering if perhaps the air leakage berryanne mentioned could be due to bad installation? Hope berryanne can come back and give some details...

If you really like the wood look and feel and who won't, it really pays to get good quality wood interior. I would suggest looking at Marvin Integrity.

We replaced our vinyl windows 2 years ago and looked at Andersen, Milgard, Pella, Marvin Integrity and Marvin.

The Milgard Woodclad wood simply looked horrible cheap. It looked like someone just picked up a veneer and glued it to the frame. Compared to Marvin Integrity, the quality difference is night and day. The Integrity is in a whole new class!

Our Woodclad with VG fir doesn't look cheap...it looks pretty nice, IMO...

The problem with the Integrity for us is that it's only oak, as far as I can tell, for the door. We are going for fir.

I have used both the wood and vinyl series of Milgard windows and have hot had any problems. I can tell you if there is an air leak in the window (most likely a bad installation)that Milgard will come out and fix it for free. They have the best warranty in the industry and will guarantee against manufacturer defects. For more info and prices you can go to this website that sells them online: www.thewindowstore.com

I agree with CalBay about the Marvin Integrity series windows. They look sharp and are very cost effective. However, they only come in standard sizing and that just doesn't work for most retrofit applications. If you are willing to rip out your old windows and reframe the openings then I would definitely suggest looking at Integrity windows. They also have a good warranty.

Best of luck,

Bob

We have Milgard vinyl and had over 18 windows that leaked. Yes, they came out to fix them immediately every time I called. But, I have had to have them out numerous times before the leaks stopped (and I'm not sure they have stopped -- we just haven't had anymore rain). Their "fix" is unsightly. They just put some caulk on the spots on the window frames where they found the leaks. The caulk looks like a wad of chewed gum and it has now collected dirt and is brown (on my white frames). It is also starting to peel off and will not hold up much longer. We've also had several windows get those diagonal looking lines in the glass and they have had to come out and replace the glass because they said they lost the seal. So, they do honor the warranty if you are willing to put up with numerous service calls. I would never use them again. I think there are much better quality windows available. Also, if you read their warranty it says that they cover the repairs (leaks) but nothing damaged by the leaks (ruined drywall, carpet, wood floors, etc.)

Dlynn, were these new construction type windows or retrofit? I am looking at Milgard and to date have only heard good things about their vinyl series. I am doing new construction.

We are building a new home right now. I am think about Milguard wood clad before I found this forum. But my GC wants to use Peachtree, which I believe it's belong to Wheathershield right now. Could anyone give me any suggestion or fddeback on these two brands? Thanks.

I have installed several of their product lines and have yet to have any problems. They recently re-designed their fiberglass double hung but their wood clad fiberglass series have all performed well for me to date with no service calls. None on the vinyl either. Might be an install issue.

Anymore opinions on Milgard WoodClad Fiberglass windows?

I worked at Milgard Woodclad for 2 years making the fiberglass painted and woodclad product line. I made the fiberglass portion of the window as well as I know little bit about fabrication of the window. I am also familiar with the Vinyl windows since I dealt with the product with coworkers and had them in my old house. I will just list a bunch of points about Milgard Woodclad and Vinyl windows and doors. Some of my comments are true about any manufacture.
1. Milgard is a very good manufacture of windows in general
2. Milgard like other manufactures have poorer quality line of windows so you can't look at it as a whole. You have to look at every line individually. Here are my thoughts
3. Woodclad Picture window
4. Woodclad single hung
5. Woodclad casement
6. Avoid Woodclad Double Hung, until the perfect the assembly
7. Woodclad is very good looking window, I would go with Bronze for the outside color
8. Vinyl sliders are OK, but the are perfect all other lines are OK, but I am not a fan of double hung windows, too many chances of failure
9. Milgard Woodclad Doors are very nice, but have water infiltration issues, not recommended for north west locations on the house. Sliders are better than French
10. Their Vinyl window and doors are Gold labeled AAMA certified, they Woodclad window and doors are Silver labeld AAMA certified and fully guaranteed. Not much difference from silver to gold except more quality control in the raw materials.
11. Milgard installers are better than certified contracted installers, there is a difference in training.
12. Probably the worse thing about Milgard windows is that they have a very high turnover rate of employees, like 50% overall. That means their quality can be unstable.
13. Personally I would consider Milgard Windows, but you have to look at the construction of each style of window and door you want and look at it very closely. Ask and look at weeping design of water. How a window is glazed and sealed. Look at spots were air can come in. Look at how much weather striping is used, it is a clue on how sound the construction is. Bottom line, look at the quality of the windows you get once they are installed and be picky.
14. Milgard will stand behind their window and doors, maybe not the contractor but Milgard will so talk to them directly if you can.
15. Another tidbit, the majority of the Woodclad windows are made in Tacoma WA, a few in Simi Valley, CA. But there are 14 sites that make Vinyl windows. The Vinyl window manufactures distribute the Woodclad windows, so alot the locations that sell the windows don't know a whole lot about the Woodclad windows.
I am currently making product for a bunch of small WI window and door companies. I have one those companies windows in my new house that I am buying, they are Kolbe and Koble double hung wood with aluminum clading. I didn't pick them. but they look pretty well built and good looking. We will see how they work out. Buyer beware when picking out windows.

I bought my Milgard windows at www.1stwindow.com and everything went really well. I got them at a great price and would highly recommend checking out their website!

Here is a link that might be useful: www.1stwindows.com

To addon to what ojoy stated up above:

I too worked at Milgard as an outside rep. No matter how much confidence you see out of their reps at trade shows, dealers, etc--privately we all knew the Woodclad/Ultra product was crap. We used to joke about how much the Milgard name influenced people's buying decisions. To be blunt, we were aware that:
a) the double hungs leaked like a sieve
b) the color of the sills changed in between two different colors without warning to us, so we were unable to warn customers (no, not inswing vs. outswing)
c) woodclad product that was damaged in our warehouse was knowingly shipped out to customers, and when the defects were pointed out a few weeks later, we were told to engage the customer and tell them that we would not take it back because they had signed for it
d) The mitering of the corners was God-awful in a lot of cases, but, again, we were told as reps to fight it out with the customer
e)The inswing and outswing doors are notoriously bad for water infiltration. Again, we were trained NOT to be forthright with customers and advise them not to use them in coastal environments--just get the sale at the expense of good, honest customer service
f) The Ultra and Woodclad sliding patio doors have not been engineered with an offset weep system. What that means is that water has a straight path through from the exterior to the interior of the door and onto the floor once it fills up the sill. If you are in Palm Desert--no problem, but up on the coast where the rain comes in sideways sometimes......look out. (put a small stick in the weephole on the exterior of the door and watch where it goes if you don't believe me!)
g) Marvin Integrity, Kolbe, Weathershield, and even Lincoln and Andersen had a much better product at a fraction of the price

There were a myriad of other issues with that product line. The vinyl is OK, but just extremely overpriced. If you have a large job, try purchasing your windows from a different dealer slightly out of the area. Local reps move their pricing around a lot.

Good luck!!

By the way, no, I wasn't fired from Milgard, I left on good terms and am in the photography industry now!! Much more gratifying than being forced to lie to the public!

Our Milgard window/door purchase was the single biggest mistake we made to our home. We baught thier high end products only to have many issues and absolutley no customer support. It has been a horrendous experience and we spent over 20K.

Do not pay attention to the poster above.

I ordered windows from 1st Windows and they completely screwed up my order and are refusing to fix it. Now I am stuck with the windows that are incorrect and already having paid thousands of dollars for what is bad product.

DON'T DEAL WITH 1ST WINDOWS.

BUYER BEWARE