I'm in the process of having a ICF house built to the roof. Single story ranch on top of an ICF basement and I'm trying to estimate the house because I will be the general contractor. I'm building in Indiana and want a extremely energy effiecient window. Could anyone make a suggestion and what type of window or company to go with? I'm extremely confused in the window issues and would appreciate any input.

I would start with reading the older threads in the "window/door" area. I would also read the Green Building Advisor article on windows. Click here and here

With that being said, I recommend triple pane windows from either Intus, Zola or Accurate Dorwin. It all depends on your budget and goals. Intus will be your best bang for buck in terms of great quality windows for a lower price.

Be sure to ask about shipping charges, especially for window companies that are far away.  Adding $3000 to $4000 for shipping can make the windows appear less a bargain.

Posted By Alton on 22 Jun 2013 06:16 PM
Be sure to ask about shipping charges, especially for window companies that are far away.  Adding $3000 to $4000 for shipping can make the windows appear less a bargain.

Good point.

Most overseas or Canadian window manufacturers have a minimum set order and some include the shipping costs into the window pricing itself. Generalizing here but with the Intus Triple-pane PVC (R-Value = 7) in large sized (4x6, 5x7), it was around $890 per window, delivered.

The Green Building Institute Window Report listed Intus as the #1 Quality Window (customer survey) out of 70 window manufacturers. This was part of BuildingGreen.com's 55-page report and survey. The Intus PVC frames have been tested to withstand 180F without deflection. They have really taken PVC to the next level. They acheived this through utilizing unplasticized PVC, stabilizers and titanium dioxide in their frame profiles.

Shipping itself is based on skid spot(s) not this nonsense of minimum set order in North America... It is based on the amount of spaced used on a truck....It is not worth buying one window but a house load is not an issue.

Fiberglass windows last 38% longer than PVC. That is why many PVC companies use steel, aluminum and fiberglass in many cases to reinforce their windows.

Do your due diligence and get a quote(s), all companies will do this for you. I would advise to stick with casements as the AI is low and opens to the exterior.There are a lot of great performing fiberglass windows out there to choose from.

Thanks for the suggestions on the reading links, I did learn a great deal. Its just so hard to know who to trust and what is fact and not myth. In building my home for my family it will be the single largest investment in my life and I want to do it the best I can and make it the most energy responisible home I can. Every local window dealer just tries to dismiss all the numbers and still claim they meet energy star ratings. I like to hear what types of winows other green home owners on here have used and any feedback.

Posted By Lbear on 23 Jun 2013 02:42 AM

Posted By Alton on 22 Jun 2013 06:16 PM
Be sure to ask about shipping charges, especially for window companies that are far away.  Adding $3000 to $4000 for shipping can make the windows appear less a bargain.

Good point.

Most overseas or Canadian window manufacturers have a minimum set order and some include the shipping costs into the window pricing itself. Generalizing here but with the Intus Triple-pane PVC (R-Value = 7) in large sized (4x6, 5x7), it was around $890 per window, delivered.

The Green Building Institute Window Report listed Intus as the #1 Quality Window (customer survey) out of 70 window manufacturers. The Intus PVC frames have been tested to withstand 180F without deflection. They have really taken PVC to the next level. They acheived this through utilizing unplasticized PVC, stabilizers and titanium dioxide in their frame profiles.

Can you provide a link to this window report?

Here you go, can you believe that I found it on the Intus Website....

http://intuswindows.com/out-of-70-manufacturers-top-quality/

I guess this should be the end of LBears non ending attack on Marvin as Marvin is Ranked Number 1 and Intus was only 5th....

That ends this discussion, Marvin is better than Intus, says so right on their website.

Posted By windowrookie on 24 Jun 2013 10:29 PM
Here you go, can you believe that I found it on the Intus Website....

http://intuswindows.com/out-of-70-manufacturers-top-quality/

I guess this should be the end of LBears non ending attack on Marvin as Marvin is Ranked Number 1 and Intus was only 5th....

That ends this discussion, Marvin is better than Intus, says so right on their website.

I like your thinking.  I don't think it will end bashing or praising, though.  It is almost like a religion.

The one thing that confuses me is the cost.  When I was quoted Bieber windows, they were much higher than Intus, but they definitely weren't the most expensive, so I am not sure how they are #2 either the most expensive or the cheapest.

I wonder how many people took the survey, and how many people voted for each company.  I can make my own table and list myself as number 1 in quality, too.  I tried to go the green building institute, but it looks like no one uses that site much.  I couldn't find anything on that site itself, and there were <1400 members in total, and very few updates in the last year.

That list is the biggest fraud since Madoff. Total B.S. There are tens of thousands of window manufacturers in the US. They picked 70 companies, so the list is a small sample. What criteria was chosen to in order to make a decision. How many people took part, on and on..

Window World who are the Kings of the $99 installed window topped J.D. Powers Survey. What does that tell you about surveys?

Anyways it's settled Marvin is the best.

Posted By windowrookie on 24 Jun 2013 10:29 PM

I guess this should be the end of LBears non ending attack on Marvin as Marvin is Ranked Number 1 and Intus was only 5th....

That ends this discussion, Marvin is better than Intus, says so right on their website.

Posted By windowrookie on 24 Jun 2013 11:34 PM
That list is the biggest fraud since Madoff. Total B.S.

Well, which is it? Either the list is "BS" or it isn't? One post you say it is a valid list and the next post you claim it's the fraud of the century.

It's a survey and like any survey it's not 100% fool-proof and it's not infallible. It's a customer survey.

As far as my "non ending attack" (drama?) against Marvin is beyond silly. Look, I don't want to cut into your window sales that you can get from the forum. Marvin is a very large window company that makes a decent window but in terms of passive house or high performance windows, they are not. A simple visit to Green Building Advisor shows you that any of the passive homes or Net Zero homes, they don't use windows like Marvin because they don't have the AI, U-Values and performance of the other high performance but smaller window companies. Marvin mass produces windows and they have windows sitting on a shelf ready to go. You can buy them ready to go at any big box store. The other manufacturers are all custom order windows.

Whether it's Accurate Dorwin, Alpen, Intus, Zola, Beiber or whoever, they are quality high performance windows that caters to the market that wants the best of the best high performance windows. Marvin, Pella, Anderson, are mega manufacturers that make good windows but they cater to the masses and are not the windows that are used by passive house or high performance builds.

LBear

Excuse me but you were the one that placed all the merit into the survey. You actually called it the "The Green Building Institute Window Report" to make it sound legitimate. Don't turn this on me, you brought it here and try to give this report credibility and align it with Intus. Now you are backpedaling. First you called it a report and now it is a survey, which one is it? You explain.

Btw the Marvin is now Passive House certified, you should really educate yourself before stating something that isn't true. If you followed GBA you would have known this. They reported on this about 3 weeks ago. Check and Mate.

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/marvin-offer-passivhaus-windows
http://www.dwmmag.com/index.php/marvin-certified-by-passive-house-institute/#.Ucmc2tiz7Fw

Anyways according to Intus and the The Green Building Institute Window Report/Survey...lol, Marvin is number 1....

Posted By windowrookie on 25 Jun 2013 09:51 AM

Btw the Marvin is now Passive House certified, you should really educate yourself before stating something that isn't true. If you followed GBA you would have known this. They reported on this about 3 weeks ago. Check and Mate.

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/marvin-offer-passivhaus-windows
http://www.dwmmag.com/index.php/marvin-certified-by-passive-house-institute/#.Ucmc2tiz7Fw

Anyways according to Intus and the The Green Building Institute Window Report/Survey...lol, Marvin is number 1....

Look, it's quite apparent that you are only on this forum in order to solicit window sales. So please stop the games. It's not like you are on this forum discussing different green building options and being an unbiased participant. You are a window sales person and only post when there is a window topic and if that topic discusses a window you cannot make a sales based commission on, you attack the person and push the windows you can sell and make a profit on. Which again, I don't care about your motives are but give up the charade that you are some neutral party when it's quite apparent by your forum name and you only post when it's a window related topic.

As far as Marvin being passive house certified house certified, the Green Building Advisor article clearly stated in May 2013 that Marvin was attempting to achieve this classification. So you know darn well we were not discussing Marvin passive house windows in any of the discussions we had since they didn't even have a passive house window to begin with. Your cutesy "check and mate" comment makes you look like a fool. The May 2013 article clearly states that Marvin, "Passive Building certification from both U.S. and European bodies is pending." Marvin just achieved the passive house certification like a week ago on June 17th, 2013 for their casement window.

As far as pricing goes, they will be around the same as the European windows, as per Marvin, "Marvin says pricing on its certified windows would be competitive with European units." Which again, is great for Marvin and will make them competitive in the high performance window area.

The point falls back to that Marvin NEVER HAD a high performance window and only since a week ago did they finally achieve in making a window capable of competing with the European windows. Check and mate.

Now you can solicit people here on the forum and make some sales commissions when you sell them the Marvin windows. Congrats!

Please stay on topic and answer my question, is it survey or is it The Green Building Institute Window Report?

Again, please answer my question, is it a report like you claimed or a self serving survey? Your rants only lessen your credibility and try to stay on topic.

P.S. I only post when I read things that are so outrageous that I need to straighten out so that GBT will have some credibility left.

Report or Survey? Answer please.

Marvin, Pella, Anderson, are mega manufacturers that make good windows but they cater to the masses and are not the windows that are used by passive house or high performance builds.

Marvin just achieved the passive house certification like a week ago on June 17th, 2013 for their casement window

Posted By windowrookie on 25 Jun 2013 11:36 AM

Please stay on topic and answer my question, is it survey or is it The Green Building Institute Window Report?

Again, please answer my question, is it a report like you claimed or a self serving survey? Your rants only lessen your credibility and try to stay on topic.

P.S. I only post when I read things that are so outrageous that I need to straighten out so that GBT will have some credibility left.

Report or Survey? Answer please.

Marvin, Pella, Anderson, are mega manufacturers that make good windows but they cater to the masses and are not the windows that are used by passive house or high performance builds.

Marvin just achieved the passive house certification like a week ago on June 17th, 2013 for their casement window

One thing that I like about you windowrookie is that marvin window has only one sales person in the whole country and i guess that is you. i told you that it wouldn't solve any ramblings and discussions. i really tried looking for this window report, and i think it is some fabrication. of course, no one will give us the original source from this green building institute. oh, well. such is life. I am still trying to understand how you make money when you mention Marvin windows, but to me, it looks much worse when someone mentions Intus. It really does look like some kind of commission or kick back or something.

Please look into my history here, I have been critical of Marvin especially the AI rate. However LBear promotes Intus window using a so called report and asks us to refer to it. I looked at the report and critiqued it. That same report claims that Marvin is the best. Therefore LBear must accept the fact that it is. LBear cannot say the survey is only true in the case of Intus and not Marvin. Worse of all is the misrepresentation of this report. If I knew nothing of windows and came here looking for answers I might actually have believed it. And that Marvin is the best...lol.

Fiberglass is a superior window frame material, my post state that. Please check to see if I promote anyone specifically, I usually come to the defense of companies who are unfairly criticized or will call out anyone for the opposite.

However claims that Intus or any company are the best should always be compared. America can't make a good window, let's look.

Intus versus Okna (American Made, PVC). NFRC Numbers

Intus casement U0.19, Okna casement U0.16
Intus T/T U0.17, Okna Double Hung U0.15, No misprint

Other PVC window companies with lower U values than Intus are: Softlite and Sunrise both double hung are U0.16 and correct me if I am wrong Softlite AI number is an astounding 0.01

However PVC is not green and this is the wrong forum to say so. I can get similar or better performing fiberglass windows.

Don't get me wrong the performance numbers of Intus is impressive.

I will continue to challenge information or posts that are not correct or misleading.

I received a quote from Intus today and the pricing is fair in my opinion. I was told starting this spring intus is charging 4000.00 shipping charge unles the order is more than 20k. However the distributor told my gc he can't pool together several orders from several states and save me the shipping. I still need more quotes from other companies before we decide.

Posted By therev on 26 Jun 2013 04:48 PM
I received a quote from Intus today and the pricing is fair in my opinion. I was told starting this spring intus is charging 4000.00 shipping charge unles the order is more than 20k. However the distributor told my gc he can't pool together several orders from several states and save me the shipping. I still need more quotes from other companies before we decide.

I also considered the concept of combined shipping, but for me, it was a question of who is the "main" order. How does the container move around? Is it unloaded multiple times or unloaded to a warehouse, and then shipped to multiple addresses? Also, in the semiconductor world, we have the concept of multiple chips on a wafer, and in that case, if you are late, you go onto the next wafer. However, how does that work for the windows? I think everyone might get delayed. If you are only buying a few windows for a remodel, maybe you just start your remodel later, but for new construction, when I get the permit, I want to start building ASAP, and I didn't want to wait for my container mate to decide on his windows. In the end, it didn't matter because I will use a whole container, but those were some of my concerns.

It looks like somebody is sales rep of Marvin Windows. I pulled out this report and yes, Marvin is the 1st place overall, but obviously - Intus has the best quality. And probably both of the has good windows, just Intus is more specified, and Marvin has all kind of double pane, triple pane windows. U know what happens when a company tries to bite too big piece..

I am still waiting for Lbear to post up pictures of the Intus windows in his house.......