We just got Soft-lite windows and sliding doors installed for our "new" ICF house. I say "new" because we've been building for 2 years now but that's another story. I thought I would share some pictures with all you nice people.

We ordered windows and doors for 50 openings but some of the openings involve multiple pieces so there are probably about 55-60 pieces. They haven't all been installed and they're just staked in for insurance purposes, so the final insulated installation will be a bit cleaner.

Some of the windows are static and others are casement. Here's the NFRC sticker for the casement windows. What's not shown here is that Soft-Lite advertises a 0.02 cfm air infiltration rate, which is very, very low. We just got a double glaze to provide a better VT.

The windows are vinyl and the inside of the sash is foam filled. They also use a non-metallic spacer between the glass to reduce thermal conductivity. The seams are fully welded without extraneous screws and brackets.

Cranks are all Truth hardware so if replacement is required, it will be easy to obtain parts. The cranks fold well into the crank body shell. The mechanism opens and closes very smoothly and with little effort. The crank rotation to window opening speed is pretty high, which probably contributes to the ease at which the windows can move.

A single lever is used to lock the entire window. The lever actuates a metal bar that has multiple locking points. This allows the window to be captured in more locations along the edge, creating a better seal. Speaking of seals, there are three weather seals on every edge, two on the sash, as shown here, and one on the window. The locking lever is between the second and third seal so even though it penetrates the sash, it's still behind two seals.

Here's the metal locking bar and two locking lugs. This window is only 24" tall. The taller casements have 3-4 locking lugs. The bar is held with a HDPE bracket, which is generally self lubricating so I don't anticipate any binding.

On the other side of the window, there are multiple mating, latches that catch each other as the window is closed. This allows the non-latching side to have positive latching properties to create a tight seal.

We have three custom eye brow windows two oval windows, one round, and a few large arch tops. This eyebrow was created from three panels and mull material was provided to install between the three. All the window mullions are internal and contoured on both sides so you don't have that "stick on" look. The differently constructed windows have slightly different NFRC values, but are close enough to not consider.

Two of the windows were delivered with some damage and are being replaced immediately. They come with a 10 year warranty against manufacture defect that includes some kind of glass break warranty as well. I'll have to look more into it.

We considered all the big window companies (Pella, Andersen, Marvin) but landed on Soft-lite because it was one of the only high efficiency vinyls available in my state. I'm pretty pleased with the construction quality and appearance so far.