Discussion Board Forum for Vinyl Windows

Thin walls and poor quality control are my biggest gripes. I belong to several installer groups on the internet and the amount of reorders with them is out of control. Internal grids out of a alignment way too often is the biggest complaint. When window outfits do a nice job of installing products t...

The 800 is not bulky at all, it's only features the slightest visible glass lose than than of the 500/600 platforms. Keep in mind that you were probably looking a very small hand sample. I can ensure you that the 500 installed correctly will not feel cheap or be an issue. My price difference between...

You can frame to masonry with 5/4 treated and then veneer the R/O with 1/2 regular wood. Older dried out pressure treated wood isn't so much an issue and soaking wet fresh out of the chemical bath new stuff. 50% of PVC trim coils are painted on back side of the roll and not just mill finished. Even ...

Most pros that have adopted pro guns and reducer tips for them prefer foam over fiberglass. Applied correctly, it's superior to fiberglass in every aspect. When the jamb depth is filled with foam on a window or door one can remove the fasteners and the door/window is locked in place as a continuous ...

Plugless would refer to if there is any glass in the doors. On certain door series, the PVC glass surround trim kit which traditionally had a ton of interior screws to hold the inside and outside together with little concealment plugs to hide the screw heads. Not a big deal unless one ever has to ch...

The windows in those pictures appear to be obsolete builder's grade vinyl with a tubular spiral balance. Those get harder and harder to allow the sashes to raise and lower over the years. We pros hate them. The balance shoes also fail and pivot bars on the sashes can be an issue too. You can send pi...

ProVia's Heritage line is actually a Masonite slab in which they perform the finish work, door frame build, and glass. Depending upon if you desire a painted door finish verses a stained finish typically dictates which series I will recommend. I like the Signet in most cases, however that's a price ...

All of these vinyl replacement/inserts are 3.25" in jamb depth. I've never seen one other than shoddy single-hung flanged new construction or some sort of weird mobile home window not 3.25".

If the OKNA 500dx is a non-flanged replacement window it will be sized as a "slip" to fit in between your sheetrock jamb returns, thus the reason for the loss of the jamb return which is now housed by the insert/replacement window and most blind brackets up in the head return don't have en...

The window pros that specialize in mostly windows and doors are getting crushed by the demand right now. Our industry has seen a rapture of skilled labor over the last 10-years with the older guys retiring (physically unable to perform work anymore) and very few getting into the trades. It's compoun...

I did a (40) window job on the Jersey shore this spring for a personal friend of my Harvey rep, thus the windows were prearranged with must me installing them. They weren't even the better Tributes, but rather the Classics. I wasn't thrilled with the QC and some of the build features, however the ex...

I'd probably go with the Harvey Tribute. I think the Pella window is sort of bulky with a ridiculous irrigate sill if we are talking double hung units. Some of the Harvey glass packages have low-e on surface #4 that I'd wouldn't recommend unless you're certain of lower humidity in the house.

Hi Doug,

I have some that I can send you if you haven't found any as of yet.

Mike

I just saw this post. I may have some. My Schuco parts kit is at my shop. I'll check tomorrow.

Best practice is to re-wrap the woodwork. Once could possibly just wrap the stops, but now you will have an additional caulk line to get dirty plus the metal will look different and much newer. I would not be a fan of that.