We have had experience with all wood and aluminum clad wood windows. Wood window maintenance depends heavily on the "base" coat. If the base coat is done well, maintenance is easy for the next 10 to 20 years. If the base coat is done poorly, problems will occur. For base coat coverage, we take the view of when in doubt, cover everything as long as it does not impact operation. If you buy from Marvin windows and you intend to paint them, you can order the windows with factory-applied base-coat to save you work. One then has to assume Marvin will do a good job with the base coat or take full advantage of its warranty. From then on, it is the painting that has to be done well. In general, two coats of good paint is minimal. Every year, check (visually and with fingers) the exposed surfaces and seams and cracks where water could enter for signs of water intrusion under the paint. If there is any hint of problems, don't wait, do what is necessary to fix the paint. If the first several coats of paint are done well, the annual inspection should be as easy as a good close look and finger probes. If you find any problems, and it looks like simple sanding and repaint won't work, then make the effort to sand down to first coat of good paint or down to base, do it all over again with full attention to details like that of an old world craftsman. The extra work done right is often good for 10+ years or more. Depending on brand and type and color and environmental conditions, one can expect paint to fade within five years or sooner. Whenever fading begins, it is time to repaint. The paint is not just for beauty, it is also protecting the wood underneath so we do it as soon as able. So far, our very old family house (my parents') still sport those old old wood windows. In our own home, we have Marvin aluminum clad exterior wood interior dbl-pane, Low-E II windows and doors. We are in CA and just lived through a heat wave (5/16-5/17) where our exposed hillside location got up to 120-F (hot air + reflected heat) for an hour or so on Saturday. We were basking in 105-F heat for hours each day. Our summer highs can easily reach into an average of 90-F with peaks at 105-F. The double-pane low-E II aluminum clad windows and French doors have been able to keep us comfortable. If we do not run the AC, and we can use nighttime cold air to cool the house to near 65-F by sunrise, our house heats up to 85-F by sun down. If we run our AC, the house easily maintains 75-F all day with the AC cycling on for about 30 minutes and off for an hour or so. If the night air manages to cool the house down to 60-F and it remains that way until noon, then the house interior gets no hotter than 75-F by sunset without any AC. THis is with all doors and windows closed of course. Our house also has interior doors so that we can close off sections as we exit or enter during hot days. This lessens the impact of air exchange. There is an exterior solar shade to shield windows that receive full late afternoon sun. There is an extendable awning to shield the French doors during hot afternoon suns. When it is at peak highs outside, with our exterior shades down and awning extended, our interior window wood frames is hardly warm while the interior glass pane is slightly warmer to the touch but just barely. Hope all this helps.

Thank-you PPF, I will certainly consider that and based on pricing I'm seeing for what we want we may be forced to go in that direction regardless. However, I have seen many houses built with wood ceilings (mostly t&g) as well as traditional suspended ceilings that are not fire taped and didn't have a fire supresion system installed. Maybe what we are considering is different than those options, but it seems that there are lots of people that don't go the traditional drywall route and are successful in their execution. That said, I am concerned with safety and if a particular product or approach will result in a fire hazard I would have serious reservations in using it. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I do hear what you are saying, but I am still looking at options to do what we are after - without jeopardizing our safety of course. Maybe we need to do a drywall ceiling and then a drop ceiling below it. Or maybe a synthetic fire resistant material for the panels rather than wood. Thanks again! Matt

What I would suggest is to do all the wall painting first and then make a decision, you may feel the wood looks just fine with the new paint. I see no problem with painting the foyer and leaving some of the wood showing.

There are a couple of ways the wood panel can be set into the door. In the first, a rabbet is cut into the edge of the stiles and rails of the door. The panel is laid against the ledge formed by the rabbet and molding is nailed in place to hold the panel. Here is an ARTICLE showing how this is handled. In the second way the panel is set into a groove cut into the stiles and rales. Here is a PICTURE of how to put glass in place of a panel set in grooves. (The top half is the relevant part of the drawing.) Remove the panel by cutting out as much as possible. Chisel through the panel that is still in the groove in several places to break it apart . This panel should be floating, so once part of it is removed the rest should pull out easily.