What's a better window?? WOOD or VINYL???
Answers:
I have been a builder for a long time and I love wood windows. As with any product some are better than others whether wood or vinyl. My personal favorite is Anderson. They are pricey but I believe worth it. Vinyl just does not have the warmth and character or wood. Vinyl used to be a bad option because of shrinking-swelling and poor glass quality. They have become much better lately. Make sure you have a good glass warranty because replacing glass after the seal has gone is expensive and I have seen it often in cheap windows. Also take note of options like low-e glass, argon, sun tinting. These are nice options. If you have a nice house (floors curtains etc) a good sun tint will help from the deterioration of the sun. Hope this helps. Remember you usually get what you pay for. Oh and one more thought.
The wood requires finishing, more work but part of the nice feel of wood.
Other answers:
no get vinyl
no get vinyl
Glass. definately glass.
no cos no matter what you do to the wood it will still eventually need replaced, can you not compromise and go for wood effect vinyl??
"Vinyl". You will love it.
wood will look good
wood windows look much nicer but vinyl windows are much more practical. I personally would go vinyl unless you have a very flash home.
make him get the ones you want, I bet you have ways of getting your way, use them :P
and you can never have enough good wood, always makes a house look good!
If cost isn't an issue to you, you can pay more for vynil (uPVC in the UK) windows that are coloured and patterned to have a wood look to them.
You'd then get the best of both worlds.
I think wood are simply the best to look at, and if you look after them will outlast the other two types!
Not Wood because it comes from trees cut and cutting trees is a major cause of Global Warming and Pollution.
We have replaced several of our double hung windows with vinyl up in the bedrooms and bathrooms of our house. As you probably know from the outside they look no different than from a wood window. While they do not look as nice as a wood framed window from the inside, they are certainly passable, and the lack of maintenance, ease of cleaning and of installation and cost make them an excellent choice for most areas of the house.
However for our big bay window in my living room, we replaced that with a wood framed Anderson window. It essentially is the centerpiece of that room and we wanted to go top-shelf. Both my wife and I are both really happy we made the choice and went for the extra money as the window is simply beautiful and gets compliments by everyone that has seen it. While Vinyl would have been passable here, it certainly wouldn't have had the Wow factor. We will probably put in another anderson when we replace the big picture window in our dining room.
In other words, we have taken the mix and match approach to windows. We put vinyl in many rooms of our house, but for the main centerpiece areas we have used the more expensive and richer looking wood windows.
Good luck in whatever you choose.
We had wood windows in our house we built and I loved them. No rotting or such. But when we had to move for my husband's job, all the houses we had after that had vinyl and I hated them. They get mold on them so easy. We had three different houses with them and I was always scrubbing them to get the mold off. We had a house built last year and I had them put wood windows in this one, and no mold or nasty stuff. I would never have vinyl again.
you can get a vinyl window with wood clad on the inside this way you will get the best of two worlds try tri-state 513-381-1231 talk to barb or dave
I think it depends on the house - if its an older house eg Victorian vinyl windows really spoil the look of it. Personally I much prefer the wood. My mum has just had her windows replaced, (she got wood). The windows that were replaced were wood and were 120 yrs old, so I don't think you'd need to worry too much about replacement!! Wood windows are definitely worth the extra money.
Its a question of astetics over funtionality. Wood windows have a certain attraction to them. Alot of people have a weakness for the wood grain look. I bought a 30 yr old house that had wood cased windows and replaced them with viynl. Wood windows will become difficult to operate over time due to changing weather conditions.
wood is much more elegant
You are correct Vinyl window is cheaper than wood window but there are serveral other factors to consider before you make your decisions. They may or may not pretend to your situations.
MAINTENANCE: It is correct that vinyl generally require less maintainance but wood is more flexible on finishes and depending on the finishes, they can last for 10 years or more but rot prevention is important.
INSULATION VALUE: In addition to providing views to the outside, windows help maintain the interior temperature and humidity and the work load of your heater or A/C depends on the performance of the windows. Both wood and vinyl has similar insulation value. However, the vinyl frame can be insulated and provide a higher insulation value than solid wood frame. To address this issue, and still get the wood look, you can then consider the cladded wood option that was mentioned by another user or you can also look at aluminum cladded windows like Pella or Marvin as two examples.
FINISH & APPEARANCE: With vinyl, once you pick from the limited color pallette, the color stay with the window and your house (may be an issue if you later on decide to repaint the house in a different color), until the window get replaced. With wood, the pallette is much greater because of the different finishing options and you can go with more detailed profiles for a different look.
SUSTAINABILITY: While it is true that wood comes from forest which we should protect, most manufacturer are very aware of the issue and only use wood from sustainable forest so they are using wood cut from trees grown specifically for building purposes and not cutting down old rainforest trees. More imprtantly, wood is renewal. Most of the manufacturer will be happy to explain to you their manufacturing process so you can be confident the material is from sustainable sources. On the other hand, Vinyl is a non-renewal materiial because it is a by product of petroleum. Unless the manufacturer has some kind of salvagage/re-use program, they eventually end up in land fill and takes a long time to decompose. Therefore, I would argue that vinyl is less enviromental friendly. (Sorry for being lengthy on this).
OTHER OPTIONS: As mentioned before and by other users, there are the option of cladded wood which give you the wood look on the interior and the ease of maintance on the exterior. Depending on your climate, steel cladded may or may not be a good option due to corrosion. Vinyl cladded share similar considering factors as the vinyl windows. Aluminum cladded is probably higher in cost but is virtually maintanance free, refinishable, not renewable but salvageable.
Wood is always better as long as it is meticulously maintained. I've seen them rot in less than five years if the sashes are painted or stained regularly.