My husband & I just had a discussion about windows yesterday. He said some days he's ready to just replace all the Pellas we put in our home when we built 11 years ago. Today I'm going around with my Liquid nails, opening each window to determine which pieces are falling off & gluing them back together. Ours are crank-outs, a designer series with the mini-blinds in the middle but not the triple-paned sealed variety. We'd had Pellas in our previous home with good luck & felt confident in our decision in '96 to put Pellas in the house we were building even though they only came with a 1 year warranty that year. That should have been a red flag. Recently we had to replace a window pane due to a lawnmowers rock chip. When I watched the guy replace the pane of glass I could see part of the problem. The metal cladding on the outside just clips off and doesn't fit real tight. It just wasn't sealed tight enough, plus they only spot glued parts of it so as moisture or air gets in, the glue gets brittle and the parts break down. That's my take on it from a non-professional, frustrated homeowner. Would we use Pella again - NO WAY!

Wondering why a "clad" product when you could have all vinyl... honestly the best choice for windows. Why choose vinyl? Vinyl windows have welded corners which are strong and leakproof. Be sure to look closely at the corners of products you're considering. If corners are screwed, stapled or glued, they will leak over time. You could not only have damaged windows, but a damaged structure, as well. Vinyl is so durable it resists fading, it's maintenance free, and it lasts a lifetime. In fact, our windows have a transferable, Limited Lifetime Manufacturer's Warranty plus the Good Housekeeping Seal 2-yr. money back guarantee. That's how sure we are about the quality of Earthwise vinyl windows. Although many don't realize this, vinyl is a sustainable product. Did you know the main substance used to produce vinyl is an abundant resource? It's salt! And vinyl is 100% recyclable. So why waste trees? Vinyl windows are some of the best in energy efficiency. At our company, we take energy efficiency one step further: We built our windows and patio doors to provide optimum performance for your specific climate. Forget the ads you're hearing now that suggest vinyl windows will warp - it's just adspeak. It's actually wood, composites, fiberglass and aluminum that warp over time. I hope you'll have a few minutes to look into the reality of today's vinyl windows because they're certainly very affordable. (Just our 2-cents worth...)

The biggest down side to the inserts is that you will lose a little daylight. Something around 1-1/2 inches in width. As for the appearance, if installed properly, you won't notice the frame in frame look. All of the units you mention have lots of options, including grille options, so you should have no problem getting what you want. Installation costs can vary, depending on the work that will need to be done. Be sure to inspect all of the existing frames throughly for water damage, or rot. If you have rot, the problem should be addressed before changing the windows. Pricing is tough to estimate, without knowing the options you want, where in the country you are, etc. I would get at least 3 quotes from local remodelers for installation. Their price should include insulating the weight pockets. The Andersen unit comes with a complete install kit, which is a nice plus. It also offers 3 different sill angles for the same price, while the others charge for optional sill angles. I would look at all 3, and get pricing from all of them. That way, you can make the best choice for your home.

Hi Telly, We did this research in '03 and it took 5 months to research various brands. You may want to also look into Loewen, a brand that we just saw recently at a friend's new house. They seem to do really good work. We had to decide on quality as well as looks. At the time, vinyl, fiberglass and other composite looked weird even when colored. The neatest look was Aluminum so we settled for Aluminum cladding and wood interior. Things may have changes since then. We compared extruded Aluminum versus rolled aluminum, how do they bake on the color and what type of protection do they use, how the cladding is mated to the wood interior, whether the wood is solid wood or veneer, locking mechanism, ability to adjust height and extension of operating units, quality of interior wood work, glass and wood options. Finally, we needed to know if they could do what we needed for our somwhat odd-ball opening. Pella offers Duracast and something called Impervia, some sort of composite material supposedly stronger than Aluminum. You have to go see in person how they look and whether they meet your requirements. Andersen also offers some sort of special glass coating and some kind of exterior cladding other than Aluminum. You need to see them and decide whether they work for you. If you decide to stain the wood, it will be important to look carefully at the wood work to see if the lines are appealing. Different companies have slightly different way of finishing the interior. If you intend to paint them, then that may not be so important. If you see a window showing poorly in one store, find the same window in another store. We saw an Andersen in one shop being shown with visible gaps in the woodwork and even frayed ends. We went to another shop and the demo window showed real well. The local Home Depot and Lowe's were just not good at all in showing Pella windows and doors. We had to go to a shop in another town. Nothing beats close-up touching and looking at the windows and doors in a good shop. We settled on Marvin becaus we prefer the Marvin woodwork quality but that is just our taste. Good luck.