Thanks dibbit. Should have mentioned that there is a 4" high angle iron (galvanized) strip bolted to the barn slab perimeter that abuts the flat areas of the steel vertical paneling. As a result, the space that needs filling is 3" deep in places....enough for a curious escaped peep to suffocate in. This is also a space where litter could collect. Cannot figure out how plywood would work there-though aluminum window screen balled up might work. Did think that Bondo might work with screen. That is the fiberglass repair magic that I once used in an old car trunk. I will call the barn company and ask if the foam strip used is rodent/insect repellent. If so, I could stuff the scraps (have not gone to landfill/recycling yet), into the larger spaces and maybe cap with Bondo...or use Great Stuff with screen and cap with Bondo. Will report what method I use and if it works...do not look forward to sliding all around that barn floor! cella jane

Hmm, but do they last? I had not realized that the warranty was rather short. I just looked at the warranty on the Marvin site, and it has different time periods for different things, from 5 to 10 and up to 20 years. However, to pay all that money for a shorter, confusing warranty does not seem to make sense. I don't want to do this again in 10 to 20 years. Hopefully never again. So, I think I'm back to my Sunrise/Vanguard/Restorations questions. Is the Vanguard (http://vanguardwindows.com/doublehung_windows.html) window really better than the standard Sunrise (http://www.sunrisewindows.com/windows/double-hung.aspx)? Where do Restorations fit in? I did just get pricing for the Sunrise: 3 fixed picture windows, 1 casement window, 8 double hung windows, and 1 half round window. Sunrise Windows. Brazilian Pecan interior/Earthtone exterior. Glass is; Ultra U 12 with argon gas. Quote totals include all labor, materials, options, and all clean up. $10934 How does that sound? This company does not intend to replace the brick molding. Is that OK? (The house is 20 years old. From what I've seen, the brick molding looks OK.) My city requires a permit, but some contractors are saying not to bother or I should get it? What do you folks say is the best practice on this?

I am very dissatisfied with my purchase of Pozzi windows. I spent $30,000 for windows and doors in 1991 for construction of my new home. I was general contractor. These were premium double insulated low-e windows. The circle top double hung windows ran just shy of $600 each in 1991 and the palladium window ran $2000. Weathershield bid around $750 for the same direct set window. The workmanship and materials for the product was inferior. I'll start off with discussing true and square. The carpenters installed the windows using levels they referenced to the sills. I watched them check their levels before they started. They checked them many times to prove they read correctly when swapped end for end. Carpenters leveled each sill from the outside and then they set the right hand molding true level. From the inside, none of the windows were true and square. Many of them were so far out that the gasket could not seal. I put a level on the sill and sure enough it's perfect. I put a level on the inside and the inside box is not level and the jambs are not plumb. It fastening the outside brick trim to the window, Pozzi fabricators eyeballed the pieces instead of fixturing or measuring. Some are out by 1/4" or more top to bottom between inside and outside. The story gets worse as I investigated. And the carpenters were wondering why I was cutting the nails to windows they had just installed with perfect level sills to true them up. The top of the sash has a wood a different length from the bottom of the sash. The left hand jamb has a different length than the right. All four pieces making up the windows are mismatched lengths. This isn't obvious until you examine why they don't seal properly top and bottom. It becomes obvious when you try to set all four edges and two diagonals correctly inside. It can't be done. I cut all the nails and tried to true them, but of course when what is supposed to be a rectanglular box is really made with four different lengths of wood, there is no correct setting for plumb and level. I would have sent it all back for refund, but it took six weeks to custom order this junk. I couldn't tell the carpenters the project is on hold for six weeks, go on vacation. You can't shut the job down when junk like this is delivered. If I could have shut the project down, these would have been refunded and I would have bought some other brand after what I saw. Some of the circle tops brick trim pieces had bandsaw marks in the face. Pozzi sent service folks out who instead of replacing the sloppy part, sanded the front the the mold, thust sanding out the front profile details. While they were here, they reinstalled two doors that were made incorrectly, so they were doing them over. They failed to seal the sill extension with the result that my hardwood floors are ruined in front of these doors from rain leaking in. Every time it rained, water passed through the crack in the aluminum sill extension plate and into the house. The jambs are extended with strips of wood nailed on a standard unit. Those extensions are rotting out. These windows are assembled using finger jointed wood. The finger joints swell and crack. The paint cracks and water gets into the wood causing rot. At best, the finger joints show through the paint. Where brick trim contacts the sill, the windows are rotting. This is because Pozzi didn't seal the end grain of the brick trim. They just slapped it on fresh off the chop saw. They butted raw open wood grain against the wooden finger jointed sill. Water wicks in this joint where it then can't get out. Since moisture above 18 percent causes rot, the windows are failing. This moisture causes both the brick trim and the sill to rot out. Over half of my 40 windows have some sort of rot in them now fifteen years after installation. And it's all due to shoddy sealing of a wood window product. So I have at least twenty of 40 windows that require brick molds to be replaced or sills to be swapped out. Some genius ran a drywall screw through the corner miters at the tops. These screws are covered by brick after installation, so you can't get them out. The only way to remove the trim is to split it open at the miter with a chisle. That leaves the screw fastened to the other trim piece, so there is still a problem. Typically, the top trim gets damaged in the process of removing a rotted vertical trim part, so the repair grows in scope. The brick trim isn't a standard brick trim profile either. It has slightly softer radius edges than anything on the market with a standard WM molding number. So if you replace one stick of molding, you have a mismatch unless you replace all three. Operation of these windows is nothing like the display model at the building supply store. They don't pivot open readily for cleaning or service unless you have just sprayed them down with dry silicon spray. That only lasts briefly and then they are sticky again. Often when pivoted open, they tear a chuck of vinyl out of the brittle jamb tracks. The older the windows get, the more brittle and problematic this vinyl becomes. Now we'll talk about service from Pozzi/Pella/JenWeld. I emailed them on May 24th about my direct set paladium window that has water condensation inside. This window failed at around the fifth year with occasional fog at the bottom. This last year, both inside and outside glass are raining between the panes. They finally responded on June 19th by email to my May 24 inquiry stating they had tried to phone me. I'm home 24/7 and there were no calls. And I have caller ID so I know damn well no one called. So I call back the number on the contact email to talk about service for these windows that were advertised as having 20 year warrantees. I'm told in a round about fashion that there's no warranty on the labor to replace the glass, so I will have to pay the labor. Then a bit later I'm told there's no warranty on the glass either so I'll have to pay for the glass too. But they will supply the glass if my contractor will call them. After more questions, they explain they will fabricate the plate glass for the glass mechanic. I ask when their shop can come repair the unit. They have no one to do the repair. Pozzi recommended a glass vendor nearby, saying this is a vendor who has done a number of repairs for them. I call this vendor and he advises he does not do repairs for homeowners. He only repairs product he has provided major builders. So, I'm pretty well left out in the cold with absolutely no support, no warranty and a home full of junk windows that are rotting. Anyone considering Pozzi/Pella/JenWeld, give this extra research. As I talked over my problem with these windows with my carpenters, they said they had seen worse delivered to another job by Pella. This is 1991 and things change. It seems like service has change to zip.

I suggest getting a clad window with Douglas Fir as the interior wood. If the Marvin Fir price is too high, try getting a price for Loewen or Sierra Pacific. Make sure you paint or stain every square inch of the exposed wood, as the elements WILL find a way to damage the weak spots in the wood. My concern about an all-wood window is not necessarily the quality of the timber, but the quality of the fabrication. There are lots of one-man-shops who can build a beautiful-looking wood window, but what are the odds that a handcrafted window is going to hold up to the constant barrage of the elements? And do you think Joe Blow Windowmaker is going to give you much of a warranty when the wind and rain is blowing right through the cheap weatherstrip he installed? I don't think so.