We are about to complete construction of our whole house renovation. We have an entire house of new Sierra Pacific windows and doors (25 windows of various sizes and 2 doors). These windows and doors replace 8 year old Andersen 200 slider windows, Andersen 400 french doors and Andersen 200 sliding door. We looked at various brands - from Marvin, Pella, Andersen, Kolbe, etc. We ultimately went with Sierra Pacific for a variety of reasons - our contractor, who used to build high end home developments, put in a lot of Sierra Pacific windows, and had overall positive experiences with them. Our architect, who designs mainly high end homes, specs out a lot of Sierra Pacific windows and has SP windows in his home, and had no problems with them (except for the handles). Ironically, our architect did spec out Andersen 400s in our house (that was when we were going to reuse the Andersen 200s in the back of the house). We were able to get the look that we wanted (simulated divided lights) in the grid pattern that we wanted, at a budget that was workable for us (given that we are now 15% over budget on our construction, I'm glad we didn't spend more for the windows). Finally, when we compared window performance against various brands, they were within range of each other, and they were going to work ok in our relatively mild climate here in the SF bay area. I also stopped by the SP showroom and customer tech support center one day and talked to a lady who handles some of the customer calls. She told me that in general, most of the calls she takes in are for customers who had issues with the handles, weather stripping, etc. or minor things (of course, take that with a grain of salt since she works there and can tell me whatever she wants to disclose). However, her comments, along with my home developer turned contractor (in the recession) experiences in installing many of these windows, have helped us feel comfortable. The windows are in our house now, although we are still a few weeks away from completion. Some things in general about the windows from my personal experiences 1. on the doors, handle operation felt different that with my previous Andersen 400 french doors. It wasn't as smooth, and had a more clunky feel to it. The same was observed with the operation of the locking mechanism. It wasn't a rough operation, it just didn't feel as "substantial" as my old Andersen. This is not a comment about the quality, longevity, but more about the feel as compared to my old Andersen. 2. We had casement windows and awning windows (no sliders). We never had casement windows before, so I have no basis of comparison with our old Andersens. The crank operation was easy and smooth, although I wasn't crazy about the handle design. It also was very easy to latch the window shut once the window had been closed. the handles were not all solid construction, but rather metal sheet that has been rolled and formed into a handle. That may be why the tech support person said handles was an area they get calls on. 3. One thing I wasn't sure about, and it seemed a little suspect to me, was their "leaf" weatherstripping at the bottom of the window. It didn't seem to me that it could keep out the drafts, as it looks rather insubstantial... I realize with the windows latched shut (especially with casement windows), you would get a pretty solid seal against the elements, regardless of this leaf weatherstripping. That said, I don't know have any first hand experience with this potential area (since we haven't moved into the house yet). 4. at the corners where the aluminum cladding comes together, the joints were in general well done. I noticed a couple of windows where it wasn't as nice and clean looking as the others, but it does seem to be well sealed. 5. a little bit of a nit, but in most of the windows, the mounting flanges were powder coated just like the aluminum cladding on the window frame. There were a couple of windows where in one section of the mounting flange the powder coating was thin or not there. The mounting flange is going to be hidden and covered by the trim boards, so it doesn't matter anyway, but I would have expected the painter to just paint it so that every square inch of the cladding, whether hidden or not, is coated.. (that's just me). 5. Overall, the windows seem well built, although I can't comment on the design. So far, I'm relying on my architect and builders experiences on longevity and it seemed to be working ok for them. 6. Although SP offers a lot of different color options for the aluminum cladding, I found that in our case, we weren't looking for a radical color and that we could have found something similar with the other windows that would have worked for us. I think for us, it came down to how much more we were going to get for the additional cost of going to Marvin and whether that would be worth it to us, versus spending that money somewhere else for an upgrade. Ultimately, we felt that given our climate and the window design we had, the SPs were good enough and that going with other windows wouldn't have given us a noticeable increase in value. Hope this helps.

Well I'm done with the first part. I don't want to say too much in case someone from the firm reads this forum. But I could have definitely gone casual -- I was immediately shown to a conference room and given the test. The only employee I saw was a guy wearing a t shirt and cargo shorts who met me at the door and handed me the test and collected it at the end. And the test was surprisingly hard given the level of position I applied for so who knows if there will even be an interview. Oh well -- even if it nothing comes of it, it was definitely an interesting way to dip my toes in the job market.

Feel free Lori. It was on the rear of a restaurant in Newberg,Oregon and faced the West. They had used Hardi-Plank on the front of the building during a remodel, but tried to go cheap on the rear by painting over the old vinyl siding. Had they just painted it white or some medium shade of green, they would probably not had the problem. If you have ever seen vinyl siding before it is mounted, it has nailing slots which are about an inch wide. The nail is supposed to be placed in the center of the slot and not firmly nailed down. If the siding cannot move freely, it will buckle. In severe cases, as shown in the pic, it will buckle anyway as it will expand more than the room available in that slot! I am not a big fan of vinyl for the above reason. Also, in very cold climates, it becomes brittle. A stone thrown from a snow blower will cause holes in it, as my brother found out on his home.

Wouldn’t the warranty kick in then? No product is perfect. But most have a way out. Read the warranty carefully because most of them state that if their is a problem and it's not caused by 10,000 different things, they'll replace the product. However they won't pay to remove the bad product or pay to put up new product. Basically most warranties are almost useless. Primed hardie with the intention of painting defeats the purpose of hardie. It’s a fabulous product and I don’t regret it at all Yes it's also fine as long as you are happy with their limited choice of colors.