Marvin Integrity Window Review
Do NOT buy Marvin Integrity windows with grills in them. Although I feel that Marvin did a good job with the window itself, the removable, wooden grills were so poorly made that you will never be able to remove them once they are put in, if you can even get them in.
Two years ago I purchased many new construction M.I double hung windows with the wooden grills inserted from the interior side of the window. The windows I purchased are fiberglass exterior clad and wood interior clad. They are beautiful but the wooden grills that they made for these windows are "junk". First off, almost half of them broke upon their initial installation with some already broken right out of the box. They were made of cheap pine or some other softwood and made in pieces. Each piece is poorly glued to the other pieces and as soon as you apply slight pressure to them, they break. Initially installing them in your windows is a guarantee that they will break in so many places, even in places where there is no joint revealing how weak the wood itself is. I can't tell you how many times my expert carpenters, painters, and family have verbalized inappropriate language when installing and painting the windows on the inside. I found out that my neighbor, who has the same windows and purchased them several years earlier than me, had the same problem. They finally took the grills out and threw them away. Now there house doesn't look as nice. I like the looks of the grills. My house is a colonial and would look horrible without the grills in the windows. Sadly, I can't wash my windows unless I want to break some of them. From experience, I have found that you have about a 30% chance of breaking the grills when removing them to wash your windows. And that is with careful removal. In one particular window in my house, it broke into so many pieces that I now have a double hung window with a grill on the top and no grill on the bottom. It looks horrible next to the other identical set of double hung windows that both have their grills. This particular window has never gotten a chance to have a grill in it. It was broken in several pieces as soon as we attempted to put it into the window after it was painted. To remedy this, I will now have to purchase a new grill for this window; something I shouldn't have to do. Oh and all the glue in the world couldn't fix it. This is very frustrating. I am not sure what to do. I should have bought windows with the grills between the glass but with an upscale house, I wanted to purchase windows of fine quality and appearance. I don't understand why Marvin did not resolve this problem years ago. I can't imagine that they would not have noticed this in their initial project testing of the M.I. windows. What a shame that something as minor as grills can hamper the value and reputation of a window. The next time I build a house I will not purchase the M.I. windows because of this problem. I have seen other companies with grills that do not easily break.
I am not sure if this is the proper site to leave this comment so I will leave it everywhere on the internet that I can. I want to spare consumers the great disappointment in Marvin Integrity windows with grills that I have experienced.
BirchPoint