GBA Logo horizontal Facebook LinkedIn Email Pinterest Twitter Instagram YouTube Icon Navigation Search Icon Main Search Icon Video Play Icon Plus Icon Minus Icon Picture icon Hamburger Icon Close Icon Sorted

Community and Q&A

Help with windows choice

Wiscoguy| Posted inGeneral Questionson

I have really been struggling choosing windows in my area. I don’t have many windows and I prefer casements everywhere over tilt turns.

我已经引用impervia斗篷,duxton, and that’s all. I live in Wisconsin amd I’m looking at triple pane windows. I don’t care if it’s the top of the line I did get a quote from alpen amd Zola and while they are great windows I simply can’t afford those. I just want a dependable window with good ratings. Every company has one or two bad reviews. Also serviceability is a big thing for me too. Like some of the Canadian companies I wonder how they would service wi does in the US.

Appreciate any thoughts on the subject this is really my last major decision to make and it’s driving me nuts to be honest.

Thanks, Tom

GBA Prime

Join the leading community of building science experts

Become a GBA Prime member and get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.

Replies

  1. arcticenergy||#1

    Have you considered H Window Company?

  2. Wiscoguy||#2

    I’m sorry not familiar with h window company.

  3. Wiscoguy||#3

    I’ve also read the article suggesting many different manufacturers all of them have recent bad reviews. I keep wondering if it’s more of a situation that was more related to bad install.

  4. arcticenergy||#4

    You can visit H Window Companyhttps://www.hwindow.com/and always ask for a quote. Norwegian design, high performance, and in our experience, extremely cost competitive.

    1. Wiscoguy||#9

      Thanks for the tip.

  5. Kyle R||#5

    I would look at Comfort Line, they are out of Toledo, OH. Nice fiberglass windows, not full 1 1/8” triple pane, but the skinnier 7/8” I think. You can get any Cardinal glass package you want. They were very reasonable when I bought mine a couple years ago.

    1. AnonymousUser||#6

      Yes! I highly recommend ComfortLine Fiberframe. In the last 2 yrs, we purchased windows from Alpen, Inline, Paradigm, Ventana. Customer service and pricing were poor. But ComfortLine Fiberframe has been a joy to work with. Our sales rep was Tom Mehrman: very responsive and helpful!

    2. Wiscoguy||#10

      Appreciate it I have a quote going with them currently but I was looking for some more options.

  6. GBA Editor
    Martin Holladay||#7

    Wasco Windows is in Wisconsin. They do a lot of triple-glazed windows.

    Contact info:

    Wasco Windows (not to be confused with Wasco Products)
    5070 N. 124th Street
    Milwaukee, WI 53225
    414-461-9900
    800-558-2882
    http://www.wascowindows.com

    1. Wiscoguy||#11

      Thanks I have reached out to them and I’m working on trying to get some costs now.

  7. Cody Fischer||#8

    I'm in MN currently building an apartment building and was looking for cost effective fiberglass windows with a sub 0.18 u-value. I got quotes from Kolbe (Wisconsin), Duxton (Canada), Inline (Canada), Zola (East Coast), Alpen (Colorado), and EnerLux (Nebraska).

    EnerLux came in as the highest performance I could get within my budget. Kolbe couldn't hit the spec I had. I think all of them make great windows. I can't speak to EnerLux's performance in the field, but the level of data available on their website made me feel comfortable in the decision.

    1. Wiscoguy||#12

      Very interesting I feel like our weather is similar I also had looked into duxton. Would you mind letting me know your thought process other then hitting a spec was price a big deal or customer support long term warranty. Just curious because I have been leery about Canadian companies due to lack of support in the US. Also price comparison on different co packed and support are my biggest concern really.

      1. Cody Fischer||#17

        I made my decision on price, spec and time to delivery. Attached is my price and spec comparison data.

        My builder was also worried about not having a local rep to demo installation details in the field and inspect. Inline has a detailed install manual and offered to do a video con to walk through the details for the installers. In the end, I decided the team I have in place (along with my neurotic micromanaging of details I'm learning here on GBA) is strong enough to make sure we get the window details right with remote support.

        I can't speak to warranties, but I presume all the ones listed meet the market standard. My intuition is that any brand with decent market share targeting the high performance segment invests heavily in manufacturing quality control and quickly addressing defective windows that make it into the field. They wouldn't last long in the segment if they didn't.

        I didn't want to spend a bunch of $$ on high performance glazing and put it into a vinyl window that will get leaky and need to be replaced in 10-15 years. That meant fiberglass and going further afield to brands that unfortunately don't have much physical footprint / support in MN.

        I'd rather have a great window with a thin warranty/customer support that I never use, than an average window with great local support that I have to use regularly.

        1. Wiscoguy||#18

          Thank you for responding and your insights on the matter I will contact them hopefully next week and see where my windows land with them.

  8. Kyle R||#13

    If you aren’t opposed to vinyl, you could also look at Polaris windows.

    1. Wiscoguy||#14

      Thanks will look into those

  9. Wiscoguy||#15

    I’m wondering if we couldn’t get a post covid update on some of these window companies. Some lead times have ballooned to 6 months even more. I’d like to here if those same builders have adapted amd started using different windows then what were in the original windows from builders thread from 2019 a lot has changed.

    1. Cody Fischer||#16

      This is actually a major reason I ended up choosing EnerLux. As of last week, lead times to delivery on site I know were as follows:

      EnerLux - 6 weeks
      Duxton - 8-9 weeks
      Inline- 10-12 weeks, plus a week of shipping

Log in or create an account to post an answer.

Community

Recent Questions and Replies

  • |
  • |
  • |
  • |