Transoms-----Mulled or not

10 years ago

We finally broke ground this week!!! So exciting to see a big hole in the ground. So, we are now making some final decisions on what seems to be going on forever!

We are getting Andersen 400 series casement windows and some of them will have transoms. I'm still over budget with the windows and am looking at the mulled option. On our last build we had them mulled together at the factory. Now I'm wondering how it would look to not have them mulled. I remember a friend's home that did not have them mulled and they had a gorgeous window treatment that went between the window and transom. So, I was trying to picture some aesthetic pleasing options.

On the plus side for not mulling them...

-window treatment options

-cost/savings

-have the windows appear to be "taller"

-could make for some nice trimwork b/w window and transom

On the negative side...

-Loose a nice all-in-one look

-Less window view at the higher part of the window

-Installation

Please, give me your feedback and if you could...pictures would be wonderul. Also, would it look ok to have some mulled and others not. For example I have an 8 foot wide window above a counter in my kitchen & I'm thinking it would be best to have this one mulled.

Thanks for your help!

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Comments (4)

minneapolisite
10 years ago
Correct me if I'm wrong..

[Mulled Transom on the left] [Not Mulled Transom on the right]

If I'm wrong, you can ignore the rest. :P

I MUCH prefer the look of a mulled transom. To me, unmulled transoms look like office conference room windows. And unmulled transoms make the windows look SHORTER because they add a big horizontal line across the window. Mulled windows make each opening vertical, which tricks the eye into perceiving more height.

My house will have an unmulled transom (windows were already ordered for our semi-custom build when we came onto the scene) and one of the first projects on my list is to replace it with a mulled window, leaded glass window, or stained glass window. Anything but leaving it the way it is.
millworkman
10 years ago
Mulling the transoms will not add a significant amount of money to the job and I believe they will look much better mulled than frames in a separate opening. The cost of the window treatments, window trim for interior and exterior will far out weigh the cost of the mulling in my opinion.
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The doors/windows in the inspiration pic are a custom set of 4 patio doors mulled together with only the 2 inner ones operating all from the same manufacturer--likely a Pella, Jeld-Wen, Andersen or Marvin. We had something similar specced at one time and the cost was $3-4K with grids between the glass if I remember correctly. The cost skyrockets from there if you want simulated or true divided lites/grids. It is not easy to duplicate the look in the inspiration pic when you're using components from different manufacturers and mixing & matching windows and doors to get the effect you want. What you have appears to be the standard box store style patio door set with a transom mulled above flanked by 2 double hung windows. The problem with these style doors is that they will not look flush like the windows as the glass is held in by a chunky plastic frame that screws in place on the inside and outside of the door. The window will never have that look. You can get closer to the look in your pic by using flush glazed patio doors which more closely resemble the window design for uniformity. Changing the side windows to non-operational windows will also help achieve a cohesive look with the glass in the doors. I've linked to another thread that talks about flush glazed doors & mixing windows and doors below. If you need to use the pics in the thread to explain anything to the builder, you are more than welcome to do so. No matter which way you go, make sure the glass sizes match up in the transoms across the entire wall and not just the height of the overall transom. (you'll see in the link what I mean). Hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: Flush Glaszed Patio Door Discussion w/ Pics
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Inserts are fine if your original windows were installed really well and there are no air leaks etc. around the old frames. In my case, I'm dealing with a 100 year old home. 30 odd years ago someone came along and did aluminum insert windows. So they hauled out the double hung sashes and slapped aluminum inserts in the cavity. What they of course missed was the fact that the original wood windows were installed with little to no insulation around the rough framing and the brick walls, and the wood window frame itself just sits nailed into the rough framing with little to no insulation (no spray foam in 1910). Plus, there are massive cavities on either side of each window where the counter weights still reside. Nice big open unsealed uninsulated cavities. On top of that, the lathe and plaster construction on the interior of the solid brick walls is such that there is a 1 inch cavity behind all the plaster (vertical strapping on the walls to which the horizontal lathe is nailed). So, all the nice cold air comes in around the old window frames and permeates the walls. Runs into the floor and ceiling joists and continues its journey putting a chill through the house. Factor in a 3 story house with very tall 5-6 foot windows and you get a ton of heat loss. In this case, a full tear-out is the only thing worth doing. Interior trim is all going, the counterweights will come out, loads of spray foam will go in around the rough framing to seal to the brick walls, and the new windows will be installed properly in the rough framing sealed up with more foam. Fresh trim inside and out. Expensive yes, but the only reason to do this is to make the house more comfortable. The few dollars we might save in heating and cooling costs are irrelevant. So again, if the current windows are installed well and you have no heat loss around them, inserts are fine.
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Thanks y'all for the kind words! Laurensmom, the ceilings are 12' in this room. We have a mixture of 12 and 10', which I think helps define spaces in our open plan. I really have no idea on the manufacturer. We sourced the doors and transoms from our lumberyard; they're just pine 8' doors and the transoms were mulled on site to try to match the windows. The windows are clad, and they came as a unit with the transoms.
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mommyto4boys
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the quick feedback. I loved the look of the mulled windows we had in our previous home. I have realized that I would regret this decision. So a mulling it will be. Now I must sit down and finalize my windows...wish I could find a few grand there.
nikinikinine
10 years ago
our builder, whom I adore, tried to do custom mouldings for all of our windows and transoms. It would have created a (roughly) 5" separation between each window and window/transom. Yes, it is a much grander look, but I didn't like how spread out it was. And I wanted to see more of the outside, not more painted wood. We opted back into mulled units and I'm so happy we did. I pinned a bunch of images with wider framing, this one in particular is a decent example of a non-mulled transom.

{{gwi:1451979}}

Just in case Pinterest is up to its blue box shenanigans again, here's the direct link: http://pinterest.com/pin/152489137353481135/

Here is a link that might be useful: My Pinterest Boards

Transoms-----Mulled or not

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minneapolisite

millworkman

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Transoms-----Mulled or not

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minneapolisite

millworkman

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