You set on a wood window interior? What other ones have you looked at?

No, I'm not necessarily set on a wood interior. I just know that we want black exterior. We briefly looked at Ply Gem and United Windows, as well as a small local company called Southwest. A family friend works for Pella, which is the primary reason for looking at them. I was always under the assumption that Pella is a good brand.

We had a really poor installation experience on our pellas. I’m talking 8 visits on one set....the installer at point insisting he couldn’t make it both level (to match counter) and plumb.....which defies the lies of physics of course....this conversation was 40 minutes of my life while my cabinet guy looked at him in befuddlement....) Then they mismeasured another set, so we had plywood for 6 weeks while they reordered. Meanwhile we had guys show up for service visits they never informed us of in advance. I could go on....and on....

Actually you may want to look at other manufacturers as none of those are truly know as a quailty brand. Although I am not familar with Southwest. What region of the country although I would assume the west coast? Maybe look at Integrity by Marvin or Milgard. If in a very hot climate the Don Young aluminum window is a good product as well.

I'm in Philadelphia

I am planning to get the same windows - white interior and black exterior. They seem like good value for the aluminum clad exterior. Also I have heard good things about Pella. I first saw these windows on this blog and they will suit our needs.

http://thefreshexchange.com/building-home-exterior-design-decisions/

Look at the Integrity by Marvin. Pella would be at the bottom of any list in my opinion (about the same level as Jeldwen).

How is the price of the Integrity compared to Pella?

Thanks for the link mollycrist. Nice house in the blog!

Should be quite competitive.

Pat, what are your weighted goals for the project? Appearance, performance, maintenance, warranty, projected service life, etc? It sounds like you are not set on a material quite yet. I'd assess which things you value more, then choose a material that best fits those goals (ie: if a rich appearance is at the top then wood is hard to beat, whereas if you are more concerned about function than form, vinyl may be a very worthy consideration). Once you've narrowed this down to the best material to fit your needs, then choosing a great window is easier, as is comparing one to the next.

On that note, I'd tend to agree with the others. My own experience installing Pella has not been good, and it is not out of the ordinary for us to replace those windows that are barely more than 10, 12 years old. The Marvin Integrity is very nice for a real wood interior. If you lean more to the performance/energy efficiency aspect, you have a great, high performance vinyl window maker in Okna right in your backyard as well.

Ideally, I'd like to have windows that look nice and perform well at a reasonable price. Other than that I don' t really have any must haves, besides a black exterior. I know that I don't want to be replacing windows in 10 years.

If max longevity is a concern, sticking with an inorganic material like vinyl or fiberglass would ensure that you never deal with deteriorating wood. It really depends on your definition of "looking nice". If a quality vinyl window is acceptable to you in the appearance, it would have the advantage in the other areas of high performance, and typically on price as well.

I don't think I mind the look of fiberglass or vinyl. I contacted the company Okna...let's see what they say.

I just recently had a Okna Bow window installed and it is a great window! Would highly recommend Okna.

Did you deal directly with Okna or go through a distributor?

Okna doesn’t sell direct. They may not even get back to you. You best bet is to search out a dealer of that window in your area and call them. You will have other great vinyl window choices in Philadelphia too, but yes Okna is very good.

Ok thanks. Any other window companies in the area that I should be looking at?

Pat D I used a local company that has been around for generations and have been using Okna windows for years. They do great work. I’m sure you will find some companies that work with Okna in your area that you can contact.