Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

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herk
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Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 8:46 am

Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

#1 Post by herk »

Seems the more I read, the more I get confused. I've come to the realization that I really do not want to spend over $2000 for a wood replacement since I'm going to need 17 of them. I saw the Pella Fiberglass unit in their show room and really liked the look. A Pella rep is coming Tuesday for measuring and pricing. The more I look around the internet, I've been seeing nothing but negatives about Pella and their products. Is a fiberglass window not a good choice? We had Home Depot stop by and showed us the Simonton 6500, we really didn't want vinyl, but, we just may have to go that route because of budgetary reasons.
My question is; any feedback on the Pella fiberglass units & price , any feedback on the Simonton 6500 units[I'm impressed by their warranty}? Thanks

randy
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Re: Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

#2 Post by randy »

Fiberglass is a good alternative to wood, it's just that Pella's Impervia line is not impressive. Marvin's Infinity or Inlines' Sovereign would be better choices.

Simonton makes a good vinyl window. I'm assuming that you are on the west coast, and unfortunately the highest performing vinyl windows are not available there - Sunrise, Soft-lite, Okna. I've heard good things about Anlin, but have no first-hand experience.

herk
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Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 8:46 am

Re: Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

#3 Post by herk »

Hey Randy, actually on the east coast in Jersey. I've been on this forum since 10 this morning, it seems I should seek out a Simonton dealer in my area[central jersey]. May be to my benefit, instead of dealing with HD.

canuck

Re: Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

#4 Post by canuck »

Home depot offers the simonton window.in my opinion simonton is average with average performance ratings. with simonton you need to upgrade your glass just to get the tex credit and even then its only a u-factor of .30. the best performing window right now would be Okna or soft lite elemets who's u-factors are much lower than simonton;although simonton is a reputable company. Okna is availabale on the east cost and so is elements.

randy
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Re: Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

#5 Post by randy »

canuck wrote:Home depot offers the simonton window.in my opinion simonton is average with average performance ratings. with simonton you need to upgrade your glass just to get the tex credit and even then its only a u-factor of .30. the best performing window right now would be Okna or soft lite elemets who's u-factors are much lower than simonton;although simonton is a reputable company. Okna is availabale on the east cost and so is elements.
What he said.
Last edited by randy on Sun Aug 15, 2010 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

TheWindowNerd
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Re: Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

#6 Post by TheWindowNerd »

I agree about looking at Soft-lite, Okna or Inline.
Need to bite my tongue about pella.

partizanka
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Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 1:51 pm

Re: Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

#7 Post by partizanka »

I have the same dilemma. From what I read on this forum Simonton was the best option (at least I thought it was). But now I see that all of you guys are in for Soft-lite, Okna or Inline. Can you please let me know if those accuzations against Okna, that some people are talking about are true?

herk
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Re: Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

#8 Post by herk »

I'm going with the Simonton 9800 series. Like it alot, plus the warranty is awesome!

randy
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Re: Pella Fiberglass replacements or Simonton 6500 series, help!

#9 Post by randy »

Simonton makes a good window, and in my experience, they have always been good about warranty claims. Having said that, they have a higher Air Leakage rating than I would like, and there are better performers for the price, such as Soft-lite, Okna, and Sunrise.

I would have no hesitation in purchasing Okna windows. I'd be more concerned with the dealer I was purchasing them from. :roll:

Okna makes a terrific product that outperforms 99% of the vinyl windows in America. The only vinyl window I'd choose over the Okna 800 is the Soft-lite Elements. But that's probably just because I'm an Elements dealer. :P

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