PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - anybody replace windows in their house of late?

rwthomas1 · #37 12-22-2008, 10:09 AM

This seems like a difference in customer income class. Most of my customers are solidly middle and middle to upper class and in homes that are 30-50yrs old. Restoring a single pane from that era doesn't make sense. 95% of the windows I have done are Andersen. They have a great warranty, great customer service and they last very well. Currently I perform all maintenance/rehab work on a multi-million dollar waterfront condo complex. The place was built in the '80's with Andersens. With virtually no care in the worst possible environment, ocean exposure, the Andersens are now starting to fail. Not the weatherstripping mind you, just some of the double glass seals and tension strings. Not a bad run for a product requiring little attention. No way you could do this with a traditional single pane double hung wood window. The maintenance would be obscene.

The times I have worked on 100+year old buildings and restored windows the labor cost was quite high. It would have been cheaper to swap out to new customs if the hysterical society would have allowed it.

I have done 9-10 custom bay/bow window replacements from wood single pane to a custom build from a company in Maine called Paradigm. There is simply no comparison. I have a custom Paradigm bay in my house. The living room was unusable in winter before I made the change. Not that the old window leaked, it was well maintained, just radiated cold into the room. Paradigm can make any size you want and often the cost is quite reasonable in situations where the framing would have to be changed to accomodate an "off the rack" window.

Historical buildings are fine for restoration but I work on normal homes that normal people live in and they have no desire to deal with old style windows.

RT