Help with Al-clad Wood vs Fiberglass

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cancoi
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:46 am

Help with Al-clad Wood vs Fiberglass

#1 Post by cancoi »

First, thanks for such an informative board.

We are renovating (with hope of a deep energy retrofit) a home in a historic district in Cleveland; because the historic district, we cannot use vinyl windows and are having to look at fiberglass vs. Al-clad wood.

Initially we were only considering fiberglass (from research on this board) -- either Marvin Integrity versus Serious's 525/725 (I'm aware of the Serious issues... ;) ). We want the windows to be Energy Star qualified, as well have a U-value of 0.30 or less (R-value of 3 or above). We will have upwards of 30 windows and the budget is looking somewhat tight given some uncovered roofing and siding issues. (We are working with a RESNET modeller to see what the difference in numbers will be...)

My questions:
1. What would be the benefit, other than financial, of going with the Al-clad wood?
2. Any recommended Al-clad wood windows? Marvin? Eagle? Kolbe? Any recommendations within the product lines??
3. Would added cost of the fiberglass pay off in the long run with regards to future maintenance?
4. Any other issues we should consider?

Thank you in advance.

cancoi
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:46 am

Re: Help with Al-clad Wood vs Fiberglass

#2 Post by cancoi »

While I realize no one has replied, we finally had our modelling. This confirmed that fiberglass and Al-clad wood different would be negligble, and only changed our HERS by a point, from 44 to 45 (mind you, our starting point is 181).

So, we are looking at aluminum-clad wood with more interest. I've looked over the board and see that Marvin's double-hung product is well-regarded; we're getting a quote and a sample hopefully this week. Our builder also recommended Quaker; should we also look at Loewen and Kolbe, as well? We don't have to go for complete historical accuracy other than single over single lights.

THanks again.
Jen.

JScott
Posts: 508
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 5:06 pm
Location: Kentucky

Re: Help with Al-clad Wood vs Fiberglass

#3 Post by JScott »

We are finding the Hurd is a better value than the products you indicated. In our Hist districts some have to use wood while others let clad wood be acceptible. In no areas do they allow LowE glass here because of the tinting and no fiberglass is allowed. If they allow clad aluminum there is clad aluminum vinyl that looks just like wood interior and exterior that are used in historical areas in Europe. Cleveland is a big Hurd market so you should find a distributor pretty easy.

I saw a window from England last week and when it comes to vinyl, most pros would be absolutely stunned and say "how did they do that". Here is a site that will show a replacement vinyl window job that you can show your Hist Society for kicks and giggles... it takes a second for the small home to come up.
http://www.gayko.de/index.php?article_id=23&clang=0

The freedom of exterior maintenance on the aluminum clad will pay for the cost diffence and maintenance in 3 paintings.

Hope this helps.

:mrgreen:

PS- Your builder recommended Quaker(Ha ha ha)

cancoi
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:46 am

Re: Help with Al-clad Wood vs Fiberglass

#4 Post by cancoi »

Thanks for the info.

We can use either al-clad or fiberglass in our historic district and have a bit more leeway, given that we may be part of a demonstration project of DER renovations of old (100+) homes (a housing stock that Cleveland has in abundance). The historic district is more concerned with the "wood-like" appearance from the street rather than the material, which is why I was initially drawn to the Marvin product(s) over others.

On the other hand, I wonder if the lower maintenance of fiberglass outweighs the cost benefit of the aluminum clad product? Thoughts? (Time to start searching the Board...)

Jen.

P.S. I guess we should cross Quaker off our list... :wink: ?

JScott
Posts: 508
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 5:06 pm
Location: Kentucky

Re: Help with Al-clad Wood vs Fiberglass

#5 Post by JScott »

Life of fiberglass estimated at 40 to 100 years. Life of american aluminum clad wood is 12-30 years.

:mrgreen:

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