I would never recommend Pella, as their thin roll formed aluminum cladding is inferior to Marvin, Kolbe, and even Andersen (E series) - all of whom offer thicker and stronger extruded aluminum cladding. Marvin’s Integrity (wood/ultex) would be a great alternative with a lower price tag.

A bronze or black aluminum would look great, IMO.

Exactly what ^^^^^^ said!!

We are in the process of getting some quotes for Marvin Ultimate, Marvin Integrity and Sierra Pacific. We see some homes in the area being remodeled with Jeld-Wen windows. Should we look into that as well?

My husband does think aluminum might really look nice. We already like the bronze color. Black sounds interesting as well. What manufacturers would you recommend? I assume Fleetwood is a good choice?

Thanks again!

Jeld-Wen is not highly regarded by window professionals, and isn’t in the same league with Marvin, Kolbe, or Andersen. Builders like them because they’re typically available from multiple lumber yards, and they will get aggressive on pricing when it’s one part of an overall package that includes the lumber and/or trim for the entire house.

I’m not sure what aluminum manufacturers are available in your part of the country, but Milgard would be one option.

And please stay away from Sierra Pacific, they are not well regarded either.

I think Aluminum could work there for a bit more modernized look. I absolutely love the home and the setting.

Thanks for all the feedback. For aluminum clad, I don't think we have seen Kolbe in any of the local showrooms. Should we look into Anderson ( E Series ) to compare with Marvin? As for aluminum windows, are there other well regarded manufacturers in addition to Milgard and Fleetwood?

We would love to put in a large glass door system to open up to the backyard. We are thinking of creating a 16' to 20' opening. The house faces south, so the opening will be on the north side. This will definitely be a splurge, so we want to spend our money wisely. Currently, we would like to go with multi-slide glass doors. Or, maybe bifold doors. What do you think? Would multi-slide doors or bifold doors be a better fit for the home and the setting? Our fallback position would be going with large sliders if things prove to be too expensive. What would you suggest as well regarded manufacturers for this? Thanks again.

lkbum_gw, thanks for the pic. We will definitely keep that in mind moving forward.

Hi lc, what a beautiful project you are planning! Thanks very much for including Marvin Windows and Doors and Integrity Windows and Doors as you consider the right products for your home. We often find that a mix of Marvin and Integrity products can best suit an overall home design and budget - we'd be happy to connect you with a product expert to answer any questions you may have about blending the two product lines to best meet your home's overall needs. Feel free to message us anytime on Houzz here.

Any further recommendations regarding aluminum windows and doors manufacturers?

Other than Marvin and Integrity, any other aluminum clad manufacturers should we look at? We will likely be getting the preliminary quotes next week. Thanks.

Kolbe, Loewen, Lepage. Other than those none that I would even consider recommending,

millworkman, thanks. I will have to arrange to visit Kolbe and Loewen showrooms. Looks like Lepage is only sold in eastern US and Canada?

Crap you are correct forgot the S. Calif thing.

Will visit Kolbe and Loewen showrooms this Sunday. We are also putting in somewhere around fourteen interior doors (some will be pocket doors) and two exterior doors (one will be the front door). What are some quality manufacturers that won't break the bank? Thanks.

Paint, Stain on the interiors? Wood, Steel Fiberglass, Paint, Stain on the exterior?

Andersen’s E series is worth considering, IMO.

millworkman,

For the interior doors, we are probably leaning toward stain in keeping with the mid century modern look, something simple and clean.

For the exterior doors, since we already have so much wood siding, we probably don't want wood. Not sure though. For the front door, we want a wider door, probably at least 42". For the side entry, we have not really thought about it too much. I guess a standard sized door that is simple and clean.

Simpson, Lemieux, Rogue Valley, Jeldwen for interior. Smooth fiberglass, Provia, Homeguard, HMI for exterior

We never knew home renovation demands such patience. Still waiting for plan approvals. In the meantime, we have refined the windows and doors schedules. Getting quotes now that should be close.

Marvin: $89K

Loewen: $70K+

Fleetwood: $62K

Milgard: $20K+ (no swinging doors)

First two are clad, second two are aluminum. Marvin might just be too expensive for us. Rep told us that Milgard does not make swinging doors, so the estimate does not directly compare to the others. Since Milgard aluminum was recommended, I assumed it might be lower than the others, but I did not expect such a big difference. Would we be making a mistake if we went with Milgard?

Our architect suggested that we might want to consider wood windows instead if we wanted to maintain the look and wood windows being more economical. Should we consider that route? What might be some recommended wood window manufacturers? It is just so hard to choose. Thanks in advance!

Fleetwood makes a much heavier duty product than Milgard, which explains much of the pricing disparity. Fleetwood is very popular in high end homes, and they command a premium price to be sure.

Wood windows generally aren’t significantly less than clad wood windows, in my experience. Marvin is the very best, and Kolbe is a very close second. I’ve never used Loewen, but they are generally well regarded in the industry.

Have you looked at Marvin Integrity wood/ultrex (fiberglass) as an option?

Loewen 19K less than Marvin!!!? id jump all over that ..look carefully at their quote they may be missing units in their quote

Ultra Windows, we are waiting for an Integrity quote. Other than Fleetwood and Milgard, are there other aluminum manufacturers we can look at?

christianatqwd, I went thru the quotes pretty carefully. The first three manufacturers have the same number of windows and doors. Of course, the configurations might be slightly different. I am confirming the quote with the Loewen rep.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many decent aluminum manufacturers. Ram Industries here in Houston makes nice products, though they are very pricey. Western Aluminum is another option you might check into.

Gerkin makes a decent aluminum window if they are available. It wood not be uncommon to see a price difference of 20k even between 2 Marvin or Loewen dealers. A job that expensive may be worth your time to get more quotes than usual.

Got another Marvin quote from a different dealer, also $89K.

Just got the Integrity quote, $79K. I guess some of the windows and doors are too big, so the quote is a mix of Integrity and Marvin.

Are there manufacturers that are more budget friendly without sacrificing too much quality? Thanks.

I would definitely look a the Gerkin option as well.

Still waiting for plans to get approved. I contacted Gerkin, but they don't have any resellers in southern California.

Got Anderson E quote. So far, Fleetwood and Anderson E are similarly priced with Loewen a bit more. Are there any good brands that can be in $40-50K range instead of the $60-70K with Fleetwood, Anderson E and Loewen? I guess Milgard is still the fallback option, but it sounds like it is a relatively big quality drop from what I read here.

I also received a TM Cobb quote for wood windows just to get an idea. I was surprised to find the TM Cobb quote just as expensive as Marvin's.

I am hoping we can narrow down the right choice soon. Would it be strange if we order a mix of manufacturers? I our case, we can save some money by getting Milgard windows for the west side of the house. The west side faces the neighbor's wall and is not visible from the front or the back.

Weather Shield

lc, would love to hear what you ended up with. We are in SoCal too and are also looking into an all aluminum option

Still have not decided. Stopped posting because the permit process dragged on forever. Finally, got plans approved late last year and just started renovation. Waiting to get updated quotes from the same manufacturers. There just does not seem to be well regarded manufacturers in our preferred price range.

Yikes - thanks for the response. This is a little terrifying to hear as we are really trying to get through this rebuild in 6-8 months!

This is our first reno. Thought it was going to take 6-8 months going in. Maybe a year. Our realtor and architect both gave us that ballpark number. We are in LA county and it took almost two years to get the plans approved after submission. Maybe your area/town is faster

Thanks lc- we're lucky we have our plans approved already. I just want to order windows and doors so we can project our start date according to anticipated arrival date of our increasingly-impossible to find windows! I can't believe there isn't an all-aluminum option with a low enough u factor. I respect CA's devotion to the environment but ...

See if you can apply for a variance or if you want, get the window U-factor numbers and see if they will approve on that basis.

It is really quite silly to mandate a certain U-factor in a climate like Southern California but I don't think anyone would be surprised with the idea of regulations being a bit Draconian in California.

There are so many things that are not allowed. We had looked into getting a variance, but county planner told us it is very unlikely to get approved and we did not want to take a $9K gamble.

Because everything took so long to approved, we just need to comply with the 2013 building codes. My architect told me the 2016 building codes are even more strict. I think the prescriptive requirement for all fenestration is 0.32 U factor.

You're right about 2016 codes and the new U factor.

Just checking in to see what windows you ended up going with... we are in LA and am debating between some Fleetwood Aluminum windows and aluminum clad Wood windows (kolbe, windsor... whatever else I can dig up). I was hoping the the aluminum clad windows would come out lower priced than the Fleetwood.

We’ll probably use a lesser priced vinyl window in the back of the house to save money. Milgard Tuscany or Simonton.

I love the look and setting of your house!! I hope the renovations went well!!