In response to Loewen Vs, Marvin. I sell several brands (Loewen, Marvin, Semco, Windsor, Jeldwen, Unilux) All these brands have something different to offer. Loewen is considered to be much better and stronger since some of their new engineering for their doors and windows has come out versus Marvins Douglas fir, Loewen is by far better. Now that is comparing apples for apples. Most people try to compare Loewen (only made out of Douglas fir or Mahogany) to Pine made products such as Marvin, Semco, Jeldwen, Windsor and others made from pine. Their is no comparing. Douglas Fir is much stronger than pine. As far as the glass, all the manufacturers order sealed glass from Cardinal glass accept Loewen, Loewen ordered their glass from cardinal however they build their own sealed units in a revolutionary way and have a stricter criteria of whats acceptable glass and what is not. Loewen sends back approximately 30% of the glass they receive from cardinal because it has defects. Loewen is stricter in what they tolerate in regards to what is acceptable, they are the strictest. The other brands are not as precision oriented. Listed from best to least quality 1) Uni-lux 2) Loewen 3) Marvin (Tied) 3) Windsor (Tied) 3) Jeldwen (Tied) 3) Semco (Tied) If you need a distributor let me know, at cj_spolski@comcast.net

sandyponder, thanks for the details. That is a good deal, to be *sure*! I went to the local Sierra Pacific rep on Wednesday; he took all the specs and told me he'd e-mail me with a quote for pretty much what you got except brown on the outside. He has never written me back. Maybe time to call him. Where do you find auctions that have those kinds of things??? Do you go to them often? People find the most amazing things at auctions. I can tell you that reclaimed probably old-growth DF flooring goes for *quite reasonable* prices out here...no more than any other wood, and less than some...we're in the PNW, though. Now that you've told me the price, I'm going to bug the SP guy...maybe he thought I wasn't serious or was just blowing me since we're just buying one door? I don't know...but that's at least $1K less than other similar doors. Hard to resist. If I can just get him to offer it to me LOL

The window order came in on monday less than four weeks from ordering altho 8 windows are on back order not sure which ones. I am assured by next Wed. latest. We are having the dealer store them for a couple weeks until roofing is finished we have been having major rain delays. From what I could see of the windows in the warehouse they are beautiful. I am regreting the unfinished interior as I will have to prime and paint. I will post pictures if I can figure out how to do it. This is after I track down the dupont flex flash and make sure the installers know how to use it. We have used Zip-Panels for exterior sheathing and are wondering if we should have used tyvek instead. All of this is so installation intensive and since I am at the mercy of the installers... Thank you to all who have posted to help my decision.

Different dealer. Found another Integrity dealer who was a little cheaper, and may actually be a little more cheaper when he reruns the quote. This actually raises another question. My plans call for 26" wide windows. Apparently the Integrity is available in 29" and 33". One Integrity dealer quoted 25 and the other quoted 33. Any thought as to why? The thing I just noticed is that on my 6' tall windows the Integrity requires tempered glass whereas the Ultra does not. Should I be worried about tempered glass in the Ultra? While tempered glass may make up some difference, I doubt it makes up $7,000. This dealer is suggesting to look at the Windsor. Thoughts on that?