Therma Star by Pella have to be one of the lowest quality windows i have ever seen: cheap looking, flimsy, and it leaks a ton of air. Any window pro worth his salt will agree with me. Is this the kind of window you want in your home; something that looks cheaply made and leaks air?

The knowledgeable, friendly and professional Glass-Rite rep came by yesterday to provided me with an estimate. He had a sample of the home grown Glass-Rite vinyl window with him, along with a comprehensive information packet. One of the items I need to replace is a sliding glass door. Glass-Rite does not make doors so they offered a couple of different Jen-Weld doors. The sales rep provided me with an estimate for the eight windows (their own locally manufactured brand of vinyl replacement windows) and the Jen-Weld door. The price was slightly higher than what I received from the other company proposing Milgard Tuscany door and windows. I have to admit, I was slightly surprised by this. Both companies were extremely low key with no pressure to close the deal. I am going to visit the showrooms of both companies to closer inspect and compare the quality of the Milgard Tuscany vs the Glass-Rite home grown. Both companies have excellent BBB ratings and are highly rated on Angie's list. Glass-Rite provided a map of neighborhood with addresses of all the homes in our area where they have installed replacement windows. Both companies have their own crews and both products have essentially the same lifetime warranty. Both companies are licensed contractors and insured and bonded. The Glass-Rite warranty is interesting because it is only 2 paragraphs long. It basically says they will prepare or replace their product for as long as you own the home. I want to thank all of you who moderate or regularly participate in this forum. I have learned a lot from just reading and probably saved myself hours of frustration in this process of making this major purchase. I will post again with any further questions and also post about the final outcome of this purchase

I am wondering which is the better double hung replacement window of the two mentioned above. They both look like good windows but provia offfers a 3 pane window, Soft like doesn't. I am wondering how strong the frames are between the two and how will they hold up to high winds and rain ie hurricanes, storms etc. I believe Soft lite has a good rating but cannot find it on their web site nor on the pro via's site. Is there anyone who has had any experience with these two windows who would be willing to share their info, exp? Thanks

A sash kit with Dual pane and low-E would have similar performance to a triple pane unit. The STC rating would be better and much less loss of glass over an insert. Installation can be simple to comlex depending on who is installing and the condition of the existing opening . I rarely see them installed correctly by pros unless they are somewhat specialized in these, the ones they got right were because the openings and window needed no modification.