I forgot to say that I'm also going to reside the building and the Pellas are being installed without the brick mould. I need to decide shortly so as not to have an issue waiting for the siding. I also need sliding doors. My head is going to explode!

+1. If the casements are even remotely well engineered, they tend to be the most bulletproof and airtight of the bunch. If we are Monday-morning quarterbacking, I go with the Sunrise, but I tend to agree with fridge at this point.

Thanks, they started putting in the windows, got one triple done and a double when the inspector came along and said the doubles were not up to egress code. The explanation I got was the new inspector was being more of a stickler. They had to order replacements with the fixed side a little smaller and the working up to code.

It was a bit frustrating reading complaints without the added information of the grade level or the exact issue of the dissatisfaction. A couple pictures

D

how do you insert pictures? I copied and pasted from an email.

You can add them to a post via that "photo" button under the text box.

trying photos

Are those new windows the same size and configuration as the units that they are replacing? Typically you would not need to modify direct replacements to meet current code unless you are altering or creating new openings. That may vary though by location as well as residential vs commercial (looks like that is a multi family building?). Worth looking into anyway. Sometimes new inspectors (and old ones) are just champing at the bit to give someone a hard time whether right or wrong

Certainly check with the inspector regarding the egress code,
the rules may be different with multi- unit buildings available for rent.

I had a condo in Vermont that I offered for rent and when
the fire inspector did a building inspection he required that we replace the
bedroom windows with ones that meet egress. Here we were not intending to
replace the windows and he forced us to.

The building was constructed in 1970 before the code existed
and I argued the building should be grand fathered for that reason. He
explained that applied to single family residences not a muti-unit structure
available for rent.

Pella list a dp rating up to 70 and an air infiltration of 0.05 and better.

To make a choice on others would come down to pricing. May one to look at the screens as they can take a beating in commercial setting. May want to read the warranty info since it is typically different for commercial.

current egress code is typically required for commercial if you have fire sprinklers it would not be. The Windows on grade floor should only need to meet 5.0 square feet for egress as long as you meet 20" wide and 24" height clear opening

Did your windows get flagged for less than20" clear opening? Most casements meet this if they are 28" wide and have egress hardware.

The person who is handling the sale at Lowes, which I believe is the commercial cantact or manager-not sure what his title is, is handling the install and therefore dealing with the permit, it was incuded with the bid. The replacements for the correct egress is at no cost to me. The installers are 'who they use'. I felt this was a good combo even though there has been a lot of complaints with big box stores usually HD. Being a small community I think their reputation is very crucial and would stand behind any issues-after all this is North Dakota eh.

I am going through the warrenties when there's only a couple of contenders, didn't want to waste time on ones that wouldn't work anyway. I did alot of searching to find measurements of the different ones and realized even if the measurements were close they may not look right, hens the request if anybody could give some direction.

if I stay with the Pella window I still have the option of different doors. The messed up handles/locking mechanizum has me worried. They were displays which get abused and the lack of repair could be the fault of our local Lowes.

The last price: 350 windows about $27,500 and the doors about $18,500.

Looks like the pellas are more than Sunrise on Windows and about equal on doors?Sunrise is know for excellent doors I'd be suspect of Pella's.

id switch to Sunrise or maybe one of the others you listed depending on price.