Windows | Door | Building Science / Envelope and More

Andersen and Marvin are arguably the two biggest manufactures of windows and doors in the US. They both offer a wide variety of products to meet the demands of all homeowners, designers and contractors. Today I will be doing a side by side comparison of Andersen’s 100 Series and Marvin’s Essential Series . We will look at what each frame material is made out of, color and design options, warranties and more. Andersen 100 Series Window   Frame Material & Durability: Andersen 100 Series frame material is called "Fibrex" which is a composite material comprised of wood and vinyl fibers. It is twice as strong as a plain vinyl window. The whole window frame, interior and exterior, is made up of this fibrex material. The darker framed colors that they offer (explained later) are an extruded fibrex rather than painted which makes it a high quality product. Marvin Essential Series frame material is a called "Ultrex" which is a pultruded fiberglass product. It is EIGH...

Foggy Windows You wake up one morning and pull your drapes only to see cloudiness, making it impossible to see your beautiful view or maybe just your neighbors house for the most of us. You most likely have what we call a “failed seal.”  Legit Cloudy Window What is a failed seal and why does it happen? A failed seal is exactly what it sounds like. The urethane sealant used around the perimeter of a double pane insulated glass unit (IGU) or triple pane glass unit has deteriorated to the point of causing a air/moisture leak into the inside of the sealed unit. Of course it’s important to note that a failed seal is not even a possibility when you have single pane windows since there is no IGU involved. When a failed seal happens, the glass normally becomes increasingly cloudy as time goes on. A failed seal occurs overtime due to the sun exposure and wind exposure. That is why it’s more common to see windows on the bad weather side of the house to fail first. It can also be caused by po...