VinylMax vs. Anderson


  #1  
Old 10-19-14, 02:55 PM
J
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VinylMax vs. Anderson

Hello,

I am in a bit of a conundrum with respect to my decision on new windows.

I am in the Columbus, OH area and investigating VinylMax IntelliGlass Plus and SilverLine by Andersen LoE3 w/ Argon Glass.

Both of them are within my budget range (I was hoping one wasn't so as to make this job easier), although the VinylMax ones run just under a grand less (Andersen: ~9.2k vs. VinylMax: ~8.5k). Both are all Vinyl (claim to be 100%), and the style my wife likes.

I'm kind of stuck pulling the trigger. I grew up in a house that had Andersen windows, and my father recommends them; However, the VinylMax windows are both cheaper and have a superior U-Factor (Andersen: 0.3, VinylMax: 0.18) and the same SHGC (0.24).

Does anyone have any experience with either brand? Any words of wisdom/caution? Any opinions? Am I just pulling at nothing, are these effectively the same window and I should just go with the cheapest? Are Andersen windows really superior in quality?

Thanks in advance.
 
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Old 10-19-14, 03:40 PM
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Silverline was purchased about 7-8 yrs ago by Andersen. They weren't a BAD window, but as usual they had different levels of quality. They do make all their products (except glass) in house and they are a pretty big company. Now that they are a part of Andersen I'm not sure how much has changed, but the fact that Andersen bought them tells me something. Of course, it could just be because Andersen wanted into the vinyl window market and both companies were already affiliated with HD on the East Coast.

Dunno about VinylMax, but often regional manufacturers can make a superior product. The issue is will the warranty and support still be in effect in 10 yrs?
 
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Old 10-19-14, 07:29 PM
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Having spent much of my career installing vinyl windows, I can tell you that the .18 window is nearly2x better than the .30 one. You should verify their figures are both "center of glass" values... not "overall averages". Some will skew their figures so as to appear better, when in reality they are either being deceptive or untruthful. I'd make sure I'm comparing apples to apples.

Neither window will probably have a very long service lifetime... that's just the nature of vinyl windows. But the track record would favor Andersen in that regard. Unfortunately the labor for any service call will probably be more expensive than just buying a new window.
 
 

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