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andrew,
yep, you heard right about Hechinger’s. Same with Builder’s Square. They’ve been selling off inventory at 30-70% off for several weeks now. The end is near for both. The shame of it is that I won’t be starting construction of our new home ’til spring. Sure were plenty of great deals. Now HD will be the only “player” in town, although there is hope for a Lowe’s.
Jeff
Low-e storm panels improve the energy efficiency of these old sash windows without changing their classic look.
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Replies
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Andrew: I will be installing 4 oversize Kolbe & Kolbe
sliders hopefully by the end of next week. Will let you
know how it goes. Have been installing large crankout
windows by K&K, simple and they work/look really good.
MD
xx
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Yeah, the lumberyard down the road now sells K&K; they look like nice doors at a decent price.
You going to put anything special under the door to discourage leaks (e.g., a pan or membrane)?
*Marvin for me. Have only had one problem and that was in fabrication...the muntins on the overhead transom didn't line up with the muntins in the door. Rep came out THAT AFTERNOON to take a peek, came back two days later to replace the transom.All wood if you want them as well.
*Andrew;The pellas that HD sells are the "proline", not the "designer" line. (If i recall correctly) Big difference.g luckAdam
*Gotcha. Proline probably is code for the infamous "builder grade."
*
Installed Andersen Frenchwood Slider two years ago. Solid wood and looks like french door (had no room inside to accomodate standard french door swing). Door still slides
great (many kids moving in and out), hardware is pretty, and door is weather-tight. Screen still working well. Much better than the alumininum slider the builder put in. No more drafts in winter.
However, first unit had fixed panel where sap bled thru the
factory applied exterior finish. Andersen supplied replacement panel, no problem. But, I did have to prime, paint, and install the interior again. Now noticed on interior that sap is bleeding through the latex topcoat (yes, I did prime with latex undercoat). Also, not sure I like Andersen's exterior finish. On doors it is some type of paint, not a latex clad. Next time, I might consider aluminum clad instead.
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Great response. Thing is, warranty response depends on the distributor. Ours (DC area) is a bit ... odd. Not terrible, but I am a little concerned if i had to hash out some extended problem with them.
Ideally the product would need no warranty claims in the first place!
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Andrew,
84 Lumber has the blowers, (automatic tar and feather machines) ;=)
Had real good luck with Anderson Frenchwood Series, both sliders and french. I only spec French when the swing room is available with out interfearing with furniture. When I was remodeling in shoreline CT, had Anderson sliders on LI Sound facing applications with no prob.
*Andrew, I use a lot of Andersen sliders, mainly because my friend sells them, but they are very good doors. We have found them to be extremely weather tight in this harsh climate. They also have good hardware. One thing to consider for anyone installing a slider in snow country....Don't get a door with the moveable panel on the outside, or you will not be able to open it when the snow and ice blow in...
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A customer insists she wants sliding doors for her patio. Judging from the archives, most here don't like them any more than I do. From experience, do you recommend any brands as being the best, both for consistent smooth operation and weather resistance?
If I talk her into swinging French doors, do you have a fave there?
P.S. Totally off-the-wall, but I found today that Simpson Strong-Tie has ALL their product literature on CD-ROM, free at their website (www.strongtie.com), and USP Kant-Sag provides the same via download (www.USPconnectors.com/) -- including part # and design load value comparison to Simpson. I can't say exactly why, but the USP connectors look better-made to me ... is there any real difference?
(I didn't think this was worth a separate post!)
*Andrew: Peachtree makes mighty good sliders and French type doors. They don't make any real wood ones anymore, though- clad or fiberglass.
*Andrew;I really like the Pella sliders. The moveable panel is on the outside, which means the screen is inside. Stays cleaner and has a nice wood frame. I've used their Designer and Builder units. Designer line in both 6'8" tall and the 8'tall monsters.With the moveable panel on the inside, increase windpressure would tend to "tighten it up". All edges have double gaskets as well. Nice hardware - feels secure.I know the French doors look more dramatic, but they take up floorspace, can't be cracked for ventilation.Had a problem once with a bowed unit. Pella sent a truck out, guy measured it - yep out of spec, replaced it. No whining.I haven't used Marvin.Hurd rhymes with ....BTW, Cultured Stone Products has a CD with all their stone veneers, installation instructions, specs AND Hatch patterns for Autocad and Autocad LT.. (Nice elevations) Free if you qualify.
*I've had good luck with Pella and Andersen . We use a lot of Pella windows and have had only one minor problem , and like Adam said the service guy came out and took care of it right away . Pella also offers a self closeing screen on the designer line , might be pretty nice with kids . Chuck
*Thanks for the quick response (I checked again before signing off for the night). I noticed that HD started selling Pella and Anderson sliders, which made me, um, concerned about the quality of the doors. (Though I do defend HD generally.)On that tangent, has anyone heard of Hechinger's going out of business? They are a 117-store DC-grown chain that grew rapidly in the 80's and yet managed to go bankrupt during the current boom. One of the victims of HD I guess, and the only I knew of to have cellulose blower loaners. :-(
*andrew,yep, you heard right about Hechinger's. Same with Builder's Square. They've been selling off inventory at 30-70% off for several weeks now. The end is near for both. The shame of it is that I won't be starting construction of our new home 'til spring. Sure were plenty of great deals. Now HD will be the only "player" in town, although there is hope for a Lowe's.Jeff
*Andrew,Maybe you can get the blower from them cheap.Rich Beckman
*This summer I got a call on a sticking Pella slider. She said that the Pella guy had come out and looked at it. He told here that the header had sagged and that was causing the problem. Turned out the door was not on its track.Did seem like a nice door though.Rich Beckman
*Several months ago, when Builder's Square sold off all their stuff out here on the left coast, there were a few good bargains, but much of the stuff started out at sufficiently higher prices that even with the "30-50% off", there was little actual savings over HomeWhatever, and you needed to get there very early for what real bargains there were. Someone told me that the 30-50% was off of list prices, not the discounted prices that had been in effect prior to bankruptcy. Don't know if that is true.(I have a HomeDepot and a HomeBase store practically next door to each other about a mile from my house and then it is a goodly ways to a real lumber yard or hardware store. I do indeed miss the old timey hardware stores that seemed to have at least one of just about anything...)
*The problem with the Pella sliders (with the screen on the inside) is that when the screen is full of bugs and you want to shut the glass doors, you have to open the screen door letting all the bugs in. I have seen people actually go outside through a different door so they could shut the sliding glass doors from the outside just to avoid a house full of mosquitos. I would never use a slider again with the screen on the inside.
*LOL!
*Hech. acq uired BS a few years back; the selloff was probably part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy effort to stave off liquidation. Didn't work. No sales here yet, but inventory looked decent (by their standards).
*Andrew - For what it's worth, we have been using Kolbe & Kolbe windows and doors for a while. They are an up and coming company, chasing market share from Andersen and Pella, and they have been excellent with quality and service. Pricewise I think they are pretty competitive, and they have some nice stuff. One thing they offer that I like is a factory applied epoxy finish that has I think a ten year warranty - it's not a whole lot more and comes in about sixteen colors. For sliders and French doors they have a really good multipoint lock that is a lot better than the traditional junk. We had some bad experiences with Pella stuff rotting out fairly quickly, and so far I have no complaints with Kolbe's products.
*Hechinger bought HQ & merged the 2 about 3 years ago. Hechinger made the purchase to save themselves because HQ was making money. Hechinger merged them & began running them like hechingers. Naturally, they lost money. Hechingers decided to sell out to Leoner Green & assoc.They speacilize in retail turn arounds & liquidations. Leaonord Green wrapped HQ/Hechinger with Builder square to make the 3rd largest building material retailer. They thought that this would work since they had turned around alot of grocery stores this would be the same. after all, retail merchandising is the same every where, right? It would seem the dog finally caught a car & didn't have a clue what to do with it. So it dug a hole & buried it. Guess who I used to work for?Marvin makes & excellent sliding door. I did service on them for a while . Did service on peachtree too. That's why I won't use them. Pellas in the upper end are ok but I hate the pro line. Andersons are fine. I use mostly Norco.
*I am seriously envious of the customer service you guys have had. I recently installed a very expensive clear pine French door by Bonneville Windows & Doors (Quebec, Canada). Because of a stupid design error on their part they shipped it with brickmould that was too small(narrow). It took them 3 WEEKS to replace it. 3 weeks for some bozo to walk back into their warehouse, pick a few sticks off a rack, package them up and ship them out. Then they shipped finger jointed instead of clear pine. Oddly enough it only tooki oneweek to replace that. Four weeks to replace the trim. Twice I had to leave another job, and come back because of their bullshit.I sent a detailed letter to them outling the screwups and the delays and what it actually cost me in extra work, lost time etc. It's been a month now, no reply!!Heads up all you Canadians. Bonneville Windows and Doors spell customer service F**k you. . . presumably in either official language!! -pm
*Adam (Or Anyone Else),Based on your experience, could you give me a rough idea on the price difference between the Pella Proline and designer line and do you feel the difference is justified?TIA, Jerry
*Anyone had experience with Semco windows? (Mfg in Wisconsin and Utah)?
*I replaced a Pella with a Simonton vinyl three years ago in a rental dupex. I saw the unit yesterday, and so far no problems - same with the vinyl windows from Simonton. As far as Canadian service goes, they are shall we say more laid back. I think that I envy that. We are all so sure that real time service is the way to heaven that there had better be one as many of us have missed living here today.Dennis
*Tina,I have put Semco windows in about a half dozen jobs. They are good windows, I have not had any call backs(oldest ones eight years ago). My supplier likes them-he says they give quicker response than Anderson on call backs. This could be due to the distributer, rather than the manufacturer.John
*Just installed an Andersen French door unit with 2 side lites. Its a work of art -- costwise might look like a lot -$1700 for door unit (5-0) plus another $300 for the handles but it came like a replcement part, slid in, set the door, caulked, and attached the handles. No drilling or didling with the lock -- just attach handles. Really locks like a bank vault - solid and very clean look from the outside.