I have been a high end builder on the north shores of Lake Erie for 39 years. I have installed most of the major brands at one time or another from Architects specifications. On the lakefront houses you are basically building a boat more than a house. We have been using Eagle clad casements for the last 6 years exclusively, and even through Hurricane Sandy, not a window leak. The extruded Aluminum that slides over the millwork is thick and did not dent during a hail storm four years ago. We did dozens of widow replacements on the north and west faces of houses with rollform cladding. After Sandy, there were trucks at every other house on the lake trying to repair window leaks. Some, of course were siding and flashing issues. Much of the problems are incorrect installation procedures. We use our own triple taping/flashing procedure that has worked great for us through high velocity horizontal rains. If my name in on the sign the windows will be Eagle casements. Beware of any brand double hungs in high wind areas. Also outswing doors are mandatory on the lakefront facings. Best wishes!

Sanjoe, We installed Eagle Talon (DH) windows in a new build in 2012. We are in a heating and cooling climate and had several walls of windows, including one room with 18 foot ceilings. Due to the architecture of the home, several of the windows were "eyebrows". My research indicated the newly designed Eagles we installed addressed prior issues. Fibrex is used where water makes contact with the wood. Eagle also improved the weather stripping. Personally, we've always liked the solid look of the Eagle wood sash and frame. And while we were pleased with the U factor and SHGC, we greatly appreciated we could get the exact exterior color desired. 2.5 years, and one tough winter later, we are delighted with the Eagles. We had a thermal crack in a window last winter due to a 40 degree (same day) drop in temp. True to the warranty, we had a new Eagle window within 2 weeks. Best wishes in your decision. ~bgj

Just checking in to see what windows you ended up going with... we are in LA and am debating between some Fleetwood Aluminum windows and aluminum clad Wood windows (kolbe, windsor... whatever else I can dig up). I was hoping the the aluminum clad windows would come out lower priced than the Fleetwood. We’ll probably use a lesser priced vinyl window in the back of the house to save money. Milgard Tuscany or Simonton. I love the look and setting of your house!! I hope the renovations went well!!

@millworkman So I'm not sure exactly how to explain it better, but I'll try again. This was verified by multiple companies that are certified Marvin installers, as well as a Marvin rep themselves. We have a home built in 1986 with 69 windows. Some of those windows are in rooms that have 5 to 6 windows across in a row. The original windows are made of wood, and have rotted out over the past 31 years. We are not candidates for inserts since the frames we have are made of wood and they are damaged to the point where they are not structurally sound enough to support a new insert, so we need full frame tear outs and installs. Does this make sense? Due to having so many windows in a row, and needing new full frame installs for these areas, we need to go with a company that makes a full frame product large enough to fit the space. If it was just a matter of fitting the frames with a new window insert we could use Marvin, but since the frames need replacing as well it is far more cost effective to go with a window that allows for a full frame tear out and install. Marvin does not make a full frame replacement that is 5 or 6 windows in a row (integrity/ultrex/etc). As a result, their product is not a fit for our particular house since they don't make a full frame product large enough for some of the applications. Everyone we spoke to said Marvin makes a great product, but it's better suited to traditional and more modern homes that tend to not have the large window arrangements (not floor to ceiling, just regular windows) that were common in the 80s. Whether or not they have good reason to make it or not I can't speak to... this is the house we have and we need a product that can accommodate it accordingly. Most people have said this is where Jeld-Wen shines, since their Auralast Siteline full frame wood replacements are high quality, have the same exact warranty as Marvin, and look great as well. After reviewing this site we called Kolbe as well and they are coming to the house in the next couple of days to look at our house as well. Just wondering if anyone has thoughts on these two products bc they're the ones that keep popping up as good applications for our particular house due to the number of windows as well as size of the some of the spaces.