Milgards Fife Wa. operations is only 20 miles from our build. Our homes window package was substantial. Thier latest way of dealing with things after a year is to simply not return calls and fall back on thier vendor agreement to make the vendor eat it, who are seeing through this and tired of it. They (Milgard) no longer deal direct with the consumer except for large outside sales jobs. They no longer do residential installation either. They would be dealing with attorneys and bad publicity on the large jobs if they do not put a better foot forward. Our windows came with very bad anodizing. It was as if the alloy was never prepped. Holes for the casement mechanism mounts were drilled completey through the windows frame and directly through the nailing flange. Nailing flanges were specced and not delivered. Custom glass styles came scratched. When delivered No notice was given (though noted) and they weres simply left on the job site twice. Once they even lost a door in transit! Structure was damaged because of delivery guys not paying attention. Hardware was loose and missing screws on casement windows. They bocked at everything. They have been horrible with the vendor as well and hide behind thier new vendor agreements. They have eluded and hid from this for over a year. Boy how I would love to list some names and p.o. numbers!

I also need advice on this topic. There's mixed reviews everywhere on windows. We are building a new home in western North Carolina and looking at Sierra Pacific double hung, Jeld Wen 2500 double hung and Marvin Integrity all Ultrex (fiberglass) single hung. The Sierra Pacific and JeldWens are aluminum clad wood and seem to be similarly priced. The Marvins are all fiberglass and much less expensive. We want white interiors, so having stain grade wood is not an issue. We also have a bank of four 4'x8' (two sliders/two fixed) , so we are need these to be well-constructed. Any concerns with the Marvin Integrity's? Are there construction or oxidation issues with the fiberglass. Any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

There are many windows from that era still performing well, and many long since rotted out and replaced. As long as there is not a major design flaw that directs moisture into the wood (which there have been instances of), wood windows will last as long as you choose. They just need attention, in the form of wiping off any condensation regularly, refinishing periodically, etc. The species and quality of the wood, preservatives, etc play some role, but ultimately maintenance is the #1 determining factor in my experience.

I know this is an old thread. If anyone is still reading, I'm looking for advice on replacing our windows and sliding glass doors at our beach house. We have 8 casement windows and 3 sliding doors. We were going to go with vinyl new construction windows and doors until we started hearing negative information about the durability of vinyl. We are doing this once so want to do it right. The sliders also face south and get hot afternoon sun. Also we are undecided between white or black exterior trim (white inside) but that's a whole other decision to make! We will be visiting both Pella and Andersen this week. We are looking at possibly the Pella Impervia fiberglass line, or the Andersen 100 Series Fibrex. We need to make a decision quickly to get the product ordered. This will be done in tandem with a deck replacement and siding replacement with Certainteed vinyl white board and batten. Any advice and recommendations are appreciated. Thanks!