My wife and I put Pella windows in our home when we built it 13 years ago. At that time they did not come with jam extentions, so we had to fabricate them on site. Since installation, they have been suseptible to wind driven rain (not through the flashing, but through the window itself) and some of the tall ones have sagged and close poorly. Recently I had the chance to see some newer types installed and find that Pella has improved the latching. Overall, considering the huge amount of adhesive sealer that has squeezed out of several of the fixed panes over the years which require more than yearly maintence, we were impressed by the blinds between the lites but less than pleased with the overall quality.
We are now getting ready to build again and want to consider Pella windows. I would like to hear from people in the field that have experience with them in the last two or three years. Has quality improved?
Replies
No. Its gotten worse. Look at other brands. My favs, Kolbe & Kolbe, and Marvin Ultimates.
"The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb " lyrics by Roger Waters
They seem to be sitting in a hand basket and headed for the door.
I am building a new home with quite a few windows. I checked out these manufacturers...
Pella
Andersen
Crestline
Weathershield
Peachtree
Hurd
Marvin
Of course there are several grades of windows. Depending on what you want, your pirce will go up or down. Weathershield, Marvin, and Klobe and Kolbe are all very nice, high priced windows (also include Caradco and Eagle). If you can afford any of these windows, I'll bet you get a good one. Also keep in mind that Pella does make an upscale window to compete in that arena (I think it is the Architect series).
But in the arena of Pella Proline, you have Andersen 400, Crestline select clad, Peachtree, and maybe Hurd although I think they shoot a little bit lower. Each manufacturer has their own "thing" that they like to promote (Peachtree was all about "the most wood of any clad over wood window"). All of these companies came in very near the same number on my project (on initial quote they were all within $3000 of each other). So I did some detailed looking at the products and found that Crestline was really the best option for me. Two things that caught my eye:
The removable grill has an entire perimeter frame and snaps in so well that it is hard to get in and out. Much better than the crappy Andersen and Pella grills.
The exterior cladding is made from aluminum extrusions with an integral mounting flange. I have installed many Pella windows and I find the Crestline system way better than that fold down flange nonsense on the Pella.
And in my research I found out that Peachtree and Crestline are both part of the Shields family of window companies (the premier product being Weathershield). So, these companies share much of the same technology and extrusions. To me it just made a lot of sense that I would choose the Crestline window.
Be careful though, there are some really sneaky wood/clad windows that are really vinyl windows with a wood extension jam and some wood cladding on the inside. These will likely be the lowest price you could get in the "not vinyl windows" catagory.
And did I read that you really wanted to give Pella your business eventhough you are not totally satisfied with your current Pella windows? Really, don't feel so compelled.... Pella gets an aweful lot of business anyway. If you gave your order to someone else, I'm pretty sure that Pella really wouldn't miss it all that much.
Hope this helped even a little,
Rob Kress