Jeld-Wen Wood replacement versus Harvey Majesty

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dionrhodes
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2006 12:18 pm

Jeld-Wen Wood replacement versus Harvey Majesty

#1 Post by dionrhodes »

After adding to the back of our 1900 Colonial, we need to replace 12 windows on the front of the house. Wood interior frame with simulated divided light grills is what we have decided on BUT we cannot decide between the Harvey Majesty and top of the line Jeld-Wen. Looking for any opinions/comments on either of these. Thanks!

PK
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:58 pm

#2 Post by PK »

The Harvey Majesty is an excellent window performance wise and operates well, however IMO the wood sashes tend to look kinda bulky and the grain selection isnt perfect. Its a really solid window though and I have been installing a lot of them lately.
PK

earwax
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 4:52 am
Location: West Coast

#3 Post by earwax »

If you are looking at the top of the line Jeld-Wen wood, it is a really nice window. It uses the wood treatment to give it probably the best wood warranty that is sold out my way with 20 years. The wood selection and cladding options are exceptional.

dneafse
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Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:27 pm

Re: Jeld-Wen Wood replacement versus Harvey Majesty

#4 Post by dneafse »

My experience with Harvey Majesty wood replacement windows is mixed. My wife and I had 10 double-hung replacement windows installed at our previous residence in 2006, and they performed perfectly for the subsequent two years we lived there. More recently we had 25 double-hung replacement windows installed in 2009 our current home, 15 downstairs and 10 upstairs. The upstairs windows, which were a slightly different size and low-E coating than the downstairs windows, appear to have suffered a systematic manufacturing defect. Within 6 months of installation, 4 of the sashes experienced seal failure, as evidenced by condensation between the glass panes and an ugly brown rusty film which formed as the low-E coating on the inside of the glass oxidized. Over the next 12 months, the seals on another 7 sashes steadily failed, one after another, for a total failure rate of 11 out of the 20 sashes in our 10 double-hung upstairs windows, within 18 months of installation. All of the downstairs windows were fine. Harvey honored their warranty and replaced all of the defective sashes, as well as all of the upstairs sashes that had not yet failed but which were potentially suffering the same defect.

If the windows were vinyl, that would have been the end of the story, but because these were wood windows I had to re-paint every single one, at a total cost of more than 20 hours of my time. I spoke with several Harvey representatives about the possibility of receiving pre-painted replacements, given that all the work I’d invested in painting the original set was lost. A manager I spoke with from Harvey’s manufacturing facility in Londonderry, NH, informed me that under no circumstances would they paint the warranty replacement windows, and that in fact, I should consider myself fortunate because it was not Harvey’s policy to replace windows that had not yet failed, even in a batch like mine with a failure rate greater than 50%.

So, be warned. Harvey’s product appears to generally be of high quality and they generously honor their warranty, but if you are as unfortunate as me and receive a bad batch of windows, not only will you be responsible for repainting every window replaced under warranty, but you will need to have the windows replaced in small batches over the course of several years, as they fail one by one by one. . .

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Windows on Washington
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Re: Jeld-Wen Wood replacement versus Harvey Majesty

#5 Post by Windows on Washington »

Thanks for the feedback.

I am glad that Harvey honored the sash warranties but I too am not to fond of their commentary that you were somehow "fortunate" to get pro-active replacements.

In the general survey of warranty claims and approaches to honoring them, I would give Harvey a solid "B" in this instance. There are quite a few companies (larger companies that most folks associate with "windows") that would have done far less.

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