Both 1 and 3 are selling very solid doors.

The nickel option on the Okna door is not cheap and at $2,200 is probably nearer the middle-bottom of the price scale.

You can go wrong with either.

I meant to say "can't" go wrong with either. D'oh!

This post was edited by windowsonwashington on Wed, Dec 10, 14 at 22:22

I agree with WoW and would just add that ordering anything through the big box stores is asking for trouble as the employees usually don't know much about the products lines and since they haven't see the house and installation details, can't be of any real help in ordering all of the components that may be required.

Furthermore, since he's wanting you to purchase the door for him to install, it could be an indication that he hasn't been able to establish credit with manufacturers, which could be a red flag.

The pella door or anything at lowes is complete garbage. Both the affinity and okna are very good and made MUCH more solid than anything sold at lowes. Any contractor that just buys whatever you want or whatever is at lowes is a hack in my opinion. They are knows as " chucks in a truck".
2200 for okna is on the lower end of the price scale for that door.
2000 for the affinity is on the cheaper side as well.
Are you in P.A.?

I should clarify - the Affinity contractor orginally came in at $2,500 but I recently had a new deck built and he liked my back yard, so he offered a discount in exchange for them to stage and take pictures for advertising.

I called Affinity directly and they told me they know the installer and they are certified and trained to install their products. Affinity also mentioned this contractor does a lot of installs for them and they haven't heard of any issues back from customers.

Should that be sufficient? I asked for references, but let's be honest, it's not like the guy would give me bad experience references.

Sounds like you have a good deal.

+1 to the other advice, Okna and Affinity would be my finalists, with my ultimate recommendation going to the Okna with slightly better performance ratings and a significantly longer company history.

I think I narrowed it down to the Okna. I went to the showroom today and liked the door. I have a few questions though:

1) One thing I noticed was on the top right of the door, the diagonal weld looked rough and stood out to me. The installer mentioned that was normal and it's the "precision weld" - I would have expected a less visible more seamless connection point - is this normal?

2) I'm not sure which glass package I should go with.

I was quoted for the "energy savings package" but after reading the material I'm not sure if they meant with regular glass (u 0.27) or "super" glass (u 0.20). Is there a general preference? (NJ area)

Will 0.20 be noticeably more tint then the 0.27 option?

The deluxe version doesn't seem to have a lot higher specs and I'm not sure it would be worth any extra money - is that a reasonable assumption?

Thanks for any help!!

Edit - what about the foam filled frame? Worth the upgrade?

This post was edited by adgjqetuo on Fri, Dec 12, 14 at 22:00

The Energy Savings package is the double pane.

We don't sell many triple pane doors but if you are chasing that ultimate efficiency and the upgrade is reasonable, triple pane is nice.

The door is a bit heavy with that glass in it but not unmanageable. It will help build strong lat muscles...

Following up on your concern about the awful summer sun . Make sure that the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient(SHGC) number is low. That number will dictate how much heat from direct sun will pass through the door. For a sliding door I would recommend double pane due to weight of triple pane but get the best(lowest) U value possible with the lowest SHGC. Okna has a new glass called SUN SEAL that would perform very well.

Energyhound, you have'nt a clue if you think a low shgc is good for the northeast. You NEED passive solar heat gain in the winter months which means you want a shgc on the higher side, .24 or higher on double pane glass.

mmarse1-

Responding to what was Posted by adgjqetuo

Our backyard has awful summer sun and it wears on everything.

A lower SHGC might be better for this door.

mmarsel is correct that in most cases(in cooler climates) a low shgc is going to be detrimental to overall efficiency. A low shgc might be desirable for someone who wants to block that sun/heat at all costs, but there should be a bunch of disclaimers on that as this is not a common occurrence.
Most folks don't realize that a standard low-e package that still maintains a moderate shgc will block the vast majority of that high heat that the existing clear glass lets through. Essentially it makes that more livable, without a huge hit to efficiency by losing a bunch of free heat.... and you probably know all of that EH, just wanted to clarify for the sake of others that might have read your first post and misinterpreted it to mean that the lower the shgc is the more efficient it will be.

Can't comment on the other two, but I had Andersen windows and a sliding door installed when I bought my house. While I can't compare Andersen with anyone else, I would NOT go with Andersen again.

If i had a nickel for everyone that complained about andersen, i would pay off the national debt.

Yep, mmarse. I had to get the most expensive slider because it was the only one that came with the bronze exterior I needed to match all the other existing doors. Thing is a POS. Cold air comes in in the winter; it bounces off the jam when you close it; and when I first ordered it, I decided to get one w/o an exterior lock. I've since decided to add one (handyman here putting it in as I type this), so I ordered the correct one from Andersen. For this ONE piece, it cost me more than my ENTIRE Schlage front door keypad entry system. In addition, while the lock comes with two keys, Andersen suggested I buy extra keys since you have to have an Andersen template key if you want to have copies made, so I ordered one extra. Thing is just a template! I would have thought Andersen would cut the additional key(s)! So they overcharge for every little thing, then make you pay to have any additional keys you've bought cut???

Yeah, not happy with Andersen. But, like I said, for all I know, they're all like that. I'm thoroughly disgusted with how business is done in the US now: go cheap; charge high.

How long ago was your door purchased (I apologize if you already stated that)?
I only ask because most manufacturers regardless of material offer a bronze exterior these days.

Regarding your door, I'm sorry to hear about your experience.

Andersen is just a name,thats it. They lack a lot of the engineering features that most of the higher end windows offer.

I was quoted the Okna patio door “ elegante” at $3100. I see the OP mentioned pricing from over 6 years ago and I assume pricing has gone up?

Is $3100 a good price for the Okna “ Elegante” deluxe?

this is in double pane glass with a 2 point lock.

thanks

Thats a good price for the Okna patio door, its as solid as a rock. You will enjoy that door for decades. The OP pricing was ridiculously low even for 6 years ago. Prices have gone up a lot since 5-6 years ago, particularly this year with all the shortages on materials and other supply chain issues. You are getting good pricing.

stay away from home depot or lowes, not sure you would like the quality. I am not a fan of andersen or pella.

Definitely in the ballpark on pricing. You'll probably find that door at a higher price than that more often than lower these days... Materials have gone up significantly in 6 years, but labor has SKYROCKETED.

My plans calls for 6068 patio door. What would be the rough opening for an Okna Elegante? I was quoted $1,355.00 just for the door, no installation.

That is really lean. Not sure they are putting any mark up on that, let alone enough to maintain a business on minimum overhead.

I dont know how that is even possible. Not only wont your contractor be making a profit, he will be losing money. The Okna patio door costs more than that for large dealers, let alone a smaller one. The contractor selling you the door may have one laying around in his warehouse or something, hence the low price. We ordered an Okna patio door ( just the door) last week and it was definitely more than $1455 and we are a larger dealer.

I am considering replacing an old Anderson slider with the Okna Elegante. We looked at one in a showroom. The door had built in grids and on the grids were little clear vinyl discs that look like cabinet protector bumpers. Does anyone know what these are and what their purpose is. I really like the door but the the bumper things were just too wierd.

Keeps the grids from touching the glass. Larger sections of grids can wobble a bit more over those longer spans.

Thank-you for the quick response WoW! I have Anderson sliders now and they don't have any bumpers. The grids on the Elegante were wood laminate. I though maybe they just put the bumpers on the laminate grids to protect the laminate. I have to also Thank-you for helping us all. I was so in the dark about which windows to get and reading your comments really led me in the right direction. So nice of you and all the pros on this forum.