Soft-lite Imperial LS vs Richlin windows

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Iowahome
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:19 am

Soft-lite Imperial LS vs Richlin windows

#1 Post by Iowahome »

We are having trouble deciding which one to go with for replacing 16 windows and 1 sliding glass door. Richlin windows is double panes Low E Argon filled casement windows with duralite spacer, 0.24 U-Value, 0.01 Air Infiltration, 63 condensation resistance. $16,600, $2000 of that is labor to fix from our current wood rotting windows. This is from a guy who has his own business (12 years now), he came out and did the estimate and spent a lot of time inside and out looking at our current windows and he will be the one to install them, a long with a few of his helpers.

Sofe-lite Imperial LS is Ultra glass triple panes Argon filled casement windows with super spacer, 0.23 U-Value, 0.02 Air infiltration, 65 condensation resistance. (those numbers are from double hung window NFRC ratings in the brochure, he said they would be pretty much the same for casement) $16,200 that includes any repair work needed (he didn't break it out). This is from a larger company (30 years), they have a show room and A+ rating from BBB. The owner came out and gave the estimate, he never looked at the windows from the outside. He assured us he has good installers. He assured us he will get us the lowest price he can.

My first concern is shouldn't the company have the NFRC ratings available? We asked him 2 different times (on different days) what the exact numbers are for the casement and he said it's pretty much the same as the double hung.

Since the windows NFRC numbers are so close would there be an advantage to the triple if we can get a double pane with almost the same NFRC numbers?

I have found Soft-Lite in this forum as a good window company but I can't find much about Richlin (a division of Hayfield windows in MN). So I'm looking if people think Richlin is as good of a company?

We feel more comfortable that the job will be done correctly with the guy selling Richlin windows. He is no pressure and was giving us tips to ask other competitors so we make the right decision even if it isn't Richlin.

Sorry for being long winded, just trying to get some details in. Any suggestions and thoughts are appreciated! We are really torn which to go with.
Thanks!

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