I am replacing all of the windows in my home, built in 1950. I have researched all of the "replacement" window companies and I'm confused about one in particular. Renewal by Andersen states that the best window out there right now is their's, which is made of the new fibrex material. The sales rep told me not to go with clad exterior as they all rot from the inside out and that he knows of several homeowners who are suing window companies for this reason.
I'm concerned. I know that Andersen is the parent company of Renewal and that Andersen has a line of windows they are selling with the clad exterior. Why would Andersen keep developing the clad windows or is the Renewal Rep trying to steer me away from some concerns I have with fibrex such as sound control?
Please help!
Renewal by Andersen
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researcher
- Posts: 129
- Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 11:39 am
Hi FJo,
I recently had Renewal windows installed (casements) and two sliding doors. The doors are not fibrex, they are wood but the exterior of the wood is coated with vinyl, the vinly is bonded to the wood. I do not know if the Andersen wood windows are like this, but if they are, there is no space between the vinyl and wood for moisture or water to get in.
The windows I had before the Renewal were 31 year old wood frame therma pane, no Low E, no Argon and the difference in sound control is....With the old windows, I could hear as plain as day when our neighbor was useing his gas powered pressure washer; with the new windows, i could not hear it at all with the TV on and when I turned the TV off I could bearly hear it and my neighbor is right next door.
Hope this helps.
I recently had Renewal windows installed (casements) and two sliding doors. The doors are not fibrex, they are wood but the exterior of the wood is coated with vinyl, the vinly is bonded to the wood. I do not know if the Andersen wood windows are like this, but if they are, there is no space between the vinyl and wood for moisture or water to get in.
The windows I had before the Renewal were 31 year old wood frame therma pane, no Low E, no Argon and the difference in sound control is....With the old windows, I could hear as plain as day when our neighbor was useing his gas powered pressure washer; with the new windows, i could not hear it at all with the TV on and when I turned the TV off I could bearly hear it and my neighbor is right next door.
Hope this helps.
I'm curious why the Andersen Renewal windows only carry a 10 year warranty on the frames, which is the same warranty term that most wood windows carry, if they are so sure that the Fibrex cannot rot.
The following is lifted straight from their warranty certificate issued to the homeowner.
The truth is, Andersen doesn't have any idea how their Renewal windows will hold up since they haven't been around for 10 years yet to find out.
Ten-Year (10) Limited Warranty for Components Other Than Glass
The frame and sash members of your RBA window are constructed of Fibrexâ„¢ material. All Fibrex material components of your RBA products are warranted not to flake, rust, blister, peel, crack, pit, corrode, or rot under normal use for ten (10) years from the original installation date.
The following is lifted straight from their warranty certificate issued to the homeowner.
The truth is, Andersen doesn't have any idea how their Renewal windows will hold up since they haven't been around for 10 years yet to find out.
Ten-Year (10) Limited Warranty for Components Other Than Glass
The frame and sash members of your RBA window are constructed of Fibrexâ„¢ material. All Fibrex material components of your RBA products are warranted not to flake, rust, blister, peel, crack, pit, corrode, or rot under normal use for ten (10) years from the original installation date.
Andersen has been making wood windows with the vinyl cladding for decades. They make a decent window for new construction but didn't fare well for replacement since they don't have a kerf on the frame and don't make custom sizes.
They recently jumped into the replacement market with both feet when they started Renewal by Andersen, a separate entity under the Andersen corporate umbrella.
I learned on this site and found it true that they bought a vinyl window company. This year they also bought Eagle windows, a wood window with aluminum cladding.
They are running each entity separately for now but eventually plan to bring Andersen, Eagle and the vinyl company (name escapes me now) together and have distributors exclusively carry Andersen brands. They are also experimenting with selling System II, a different label on the Renewal product to be sold through Andersen. Confused yet? They are also pushing Woodright for replacement which is basically an Andersen frame and Renewal sash.
I don't understand how their salesmen will be able to badmouth any other type of window, not that they should anyway. It will be strange to see a Renewal guy putting down aluminum clad or vinyl windows, then the Eagle rep comes in and says his product is better than Renewal, but we're sending over the vinyl guy tomorrow.....
It's going to be interesting.
They recently jumped into the replacement market with both feet when they started Renewal by Andersen, a separate entity under the Andersen corporate umbrella.
I learned on this site and found it true that they bought a vinyl window company. This year they also bought Eagle windows, a wood window with aluminum cladding.
They are running each entity separately for now but eventually plan to bring Andersen, Eagle and the vinyl company (name escapes me now) together and have distributors exclusively carry Andersen brands. They are also experimenting with selling System II, a different label on the Renewal product to be sold through Andersen. Confused yet? They are also pushing Woodright for replacement which is basically an Andersen frame and Renewal sash.
I don't understand how their salesmen will be able to badmouth any other type of window, not that they should anyway. It will be strange to see a Renewal guy putting down aluminum clad or vinyl windows, then the Eagle rep comes in and says his product is better than Renewal, but we're sending over the vinyl guy tomorrow.....
It's going to be interesting.
Point of interest regarding this thread;
Below is information we have shared previously but wanted to display again before this thread goes too far and this board is again accused of being biased against windows made of Fibrex.
We look for professionals from all manufacturers to participate on this board and others we administer. In fact about two years ago we were quite interested in the Fibrex product and in particular its development and introduction into the marketplace; so much so that we contacted Renewal by Andersen to express this and offered to create a new section on the site devoted to this product line. They sent us some informational sheets that we scanned and put up on the site. All of this material was put up exactly the way it was sent to us, complete with all logos, Renewal contact information, ect. Between this site and others of ours we attract over 1,000,000 unique visitors per year, (not hits but unique visitors).
As you can imagine that is a tremendous amount of exposure, and at the time we had the section devoted to Renewal we were parading 80,000 professionals and window shoppers by their product every month. We have never done this for any other manufacturer.
After about four months we were contacted by Renewal stating that they did not want their name, and material on the sites, and that we had to take it down immediately. They felt it was damaging to their brand name and were rather direct about removing it immediately. Safe to say we were a bit surprised at this, especially given that we were driving up brand exposure for them just through the fact that a lot of people looking for replacement windows are not aware of Fibrex, and Renewal. We took the material down.
We wanted to explain this history to demonstrate we are in no way biased against this product, and in fact went out of our way to make active consumers aware of it. We have never understood why a business would take this approach, and continue to be curious regarding Renewal, their marketing efforts, and penetration into the replacement window market.
We would welcome, (and encourage) representatives from renewal to participate in the board and respond to consumer questions. There is quite a bit of controversy surrounding Fibrex and the Renewal product line. Clarification directly from the manufacturer with data and test results would be most welcome and appreciated by all consumers considering this product.
Win-Admin
Below is information we have shared previously but wanted to display again before this thread goes too far and this board is again accused of being biased against windows made of Fibrex.
We look for professionals from all manufacturers to participate on this board and others we administer. In fact about two years ago we were quite interested in the Fibrex product and in particular its development and introduction into the marketplace; so much so that we contacted Renewal by Andersen to express this and offered to create a new section on the site devoted to this product line. They sent us some informational sheets that we scanned and put up on the site. All of this material was put up exactly the way it was sent to us, complete with all logos, Renewal contact information, ect. Between this site and others of ours we attract over 1,000,000 unique visitors per year, (not hits but unique visitors).
As you can imagine that is a tremendous amount of exposure, and at the time we had the section devoted to Renewal we were parading 80,000 professionals and window shoppers by their product every month. We have never done this for any other manufacturer.
After about four months we were contacted by Renewal stating that they did not want their name, and material on the sites, and that we had to take it down immediately. They felt it was damaging to their brand name and were rather direct about removing it immediately. Safe to say we were a bit surprised at this, especially given that we were driving up brand exposure for them just through the fact that a lot of people looking for replacement windows are not aware of Fibrex, and Renewal. We took the material down.
We wanted to explain this history to demonstrate we are in no way biased against this product, and in fact went out of our way to make active consumers aware of it. We have never understood why a business would take this approach, and continue to be curious regarding Renewal, their marketing efforts, and penetration into the replacement window market.
We would welcome, (and encourage) representatives from renewal to participate in the board and respond to consumer questions. There is quite a bit of controversy surrounding Fibrex and the Renewal product line. Clarification directly from the manufacturer with data and test results would be most welcome and appreciated by all consumers considering this product.
Win-Admin
We just had a renewal by Anderson rep out the other week to give us a quote, I do not like their method of selling their product at all. They basically bad mouth every other window type ever made. They bring an old beat up Pella window and show how this is just a bad way to build a window with wood, they say how vinyl is flimsy, will fade and won't look good quickly, needs metal to reinforce it and that isn't good according to them.
They basically speak as if you bought ANY other type of window you are just an ignorant fool because these are simply the only quality window made and they are not even the most expensive. I find that just a lame and cheesy way to sell a window, and I felt like I was buying a used car from a sleazy lot.
That aside, I did like the windows. I did not like the grill between the glass though, it didn't look very good from the inside. I do like that option though, I am not sure if they all look like this or not. Andersons are just kind of flat plastic that looks smashed on both sides.
We have NO idea who we are going to use at this point. We are getting 1 of the high end Pella windows for above our kitchen sink because we really want an in-between shade for that window, other than that we are just clueless still...
Thought I would share our Renewal sales experience though.
They basically speak as if you bought ANY other type of window you are just an ignorant fool because these are simply the only quality window made and they are not even the most expensive. I find that just a lame and cheesy way to sell a window, and I felt like I was buying a used car from a sleazy lot.
That aside, I did like the windows. I did not like the grill between the glass though, it didn't look very good from the inside. I do like that option though, I am not sure if they all look like this or not. Andersons are just kind of flat plastic that looks smashed on both sides.
We have NO idea who we are going to use at this point. We are getting 1 of the high end Pella windows for above our kitchen sink because we really want an in-between shade for that window, other than that we are just clueless still...
Thought I would share our Renewal sales experience though.
Renewal by Anderson - AWFUL experience
I highly discourage anyone buying Renewal by Anderson (RBA) replacements. I had 27 RBA windows installed Fall 2004, and after complaining of severe drafts and whistling, RBA's local supplier in the Washington DC area, The Window Place (TWP), replaced all 27 of them. That didn't fix the problem so RBA replaced the left and right lateral weatherstripping on the lower sash and shoved a horizontal rubber strip where the upper and lower sash clasp shut together. THAT didn't help either. For nearly 2 years, I've complained. We've each had our own expert test the air infiltration of the windows (my expert says the +.39 value prooves the windows are NOT energy efficient; RBA's expert says the windows meet the .30 value). Numbers aside, several of my windows still whistle on windy days (including one of them in my little daughter's bedroom - you can imagine what kind of problem THAT creates!), and the curtains billow in the draft. I suspect faulty insulation and shoddy installation, but RBA and TWP won't do anything else. For $25,000, what a huge huge disappointment. My neighbors are forewarned - I hope you are now too.
Anderson windows
I too don't like Renewal by Anderson. The sales rep came to my house and after hearing that I want a sound abatement windows (my priority as I live near the train track) they give me a look that could kill... saying that it is too expensive for me (how does he know I can't afford it???).
After pushing his windows unsuccessfully because I insist to see the laminated windows as he claimed he has but not with him at the moment... promise to return but never how up again.
Paul
After pushing his windows unsuccessfully because I insist to see the laminated windows as he claimed he has but not with him at the moment... promise to return but never how up again.
Paul