HomeSealed wrote:There is a thread going currently on another site where a homeowner has discovered leakage in his walls due to a failed pocket sill double hung. Quite a mess.
Very true.
I have personally inspected and observed this to be the case on several homes.
I had 2 situations where a homeowner asked me to fix a problem done by another contractor. Normally i stay far away from these types of problems but decided to take a look because the homeowner was elderly. Both situations were the same; water got i to the bottom portion of the walls because the pocket sill clogged . This was an expensive situation for the customer.
The other installer seemed to have done everything correctly with one exception, he used a low quality double hung window with a pocket sill.
I've replaced a lot of pocket sill windows with cracked sills where water was damaging the walls. What I figured out was that the water sitting in the pocket sill froze when it got cold and the expanding ice cracked the vinyl frame, allowing rainwater to leak into the walls for years. After what I've seen there is nothing that could convince me to use one.
I had the opportunity to meet with Homesealed and receive their bid to install Okna HiMark or Polaris casements and sliders. These would be pocket replacements.
The HiMark were the priciest of all the bids received due to what appears to be a beefier composite frame that is stainable to match the interior wood trim. The Polaris vinyl window bid was very competitive with WASCO and Stanek and appeared to be of similar construction to both brands. I like the fact that Polaris offers a medium oak laminate that matches the interior wood trim.
The bedroom windows are currently sliders and it would cost more to upgrade to casements. It sounds like the general consensus on this forum that the casements would provide better structural integrity and thermal characteristics.
Also, if upgrading to triple pane glass, it appears that it would cost $50 per window to upgrade with a 2 lite casement counting as 2 windows whereas a slider would only count as 1 window even though there are 2 glass units. I'm not following that logic...
all window companies view a twin casement as 2 windows and a slider as one window; a slider is basically a double hung turned on it side. a triple slider is priced almost as if its 2 windows but that doesnt seem to be the case here. by the way, you hit a home run with HomeSealed, excellent company and Brandon ( owner) is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.
Yes, Brandon took the time to discuss the various brands he offers, their options, structural differences, glass packages etc. It was well worth my time to meet with him and it looks like he will be getting my business.
I never thought of looking at a slider as a double hung on it's side, but with less mechanical parts.
You will need to look at your investment as an investment and what the more premium window is going to cost you on a per window basis over the only short term.
Example: If window "X" is $200 more and you have 12 of them, you are going to have $2,400 more in that project. If you were to spread that extra investment for the much better window "X" over 5 years (well within the lifetime you will own the window) we are talking about $40 per month or $1.33 per day.
I know it is a dumb and simple exercise but when you lay it out for people as such, they see the value in the better window and realize that it is only a marginal investment overtime.
When you pay for things in lump sum amounts, it is more difficult to evaluate the value because we tend to look at it only as the delta.
I failed to mention that the home will be placed on the market immediately after the window installation. Brandon kindly agreed to extend the HomeSealed lifetime workmanship warranty to the home buyer.
Both Okna and Polaris offer lifetime product warranty so I can promote new maintenance free windows with a lifetime parts and labor warranty as a selling point. I can do this regardless of either brand or upgrading to triple pane glass units. I do admit that the Okna HiMark solid composite has better name recognition, seems to offer better structural integrity and is more attractive since it can be stained match the interior wood trim the best. Decisions decisions, decisions.
