I have been in contact with Tara Taffera, the editor of Door & Window Manufacturer Magazine, over the past few months regarding what windows we plan to use on the 100K House. Yesterday I received the February issue in the mail that Tara sent me with an article on windows in LEED for Homes projects. The article was called “LEEDing the Way - Industry Programs Lead the Way Toward Greener Homes” and included a blurb on our project which I scanned in below.
The article speaks a bit about wood, fiberglass and vinyl windows in terms of which is best for LEED projects. It does not pick a clear winner but has a lot of nice things to say about fiberglass from a cost and sustainability point of view. Currently we have spec’ed out wooden Pella Proline windows which are Energy Star rated and a nice overall window that is still affordable. Since I have been seeing fiberglass come up a lot recently for sustainable and affordable projects, I’d like to take a closer look at some of the options out there before deciding on Pella.
A couple of the manufacturers I like are Marvin Integrity Windows and Accurate Dorwin Windows. Both offer fiberglass windows in an awning or casement style. Pella has a fiberglass line but does not offer either awning or casement window styles. Both windows also spec out lower U-Values than the Pella Proline models with Marvin offering as low as .28 and Accurate Dorwin as low as a whopping .18!
I have already quoted Marvin windows and the price is similar to Pella and I think it has the chance of being 10% cheaper if negotiated a bit further. I imagine that the Accurate Dorwin models will be a bit pricier, especially if we want the most efficient models but it is worth a look. These are also from Canada which means the weak dollar is in play also…
I also found this good post on fiberglass windows from a blog I plan to check out more thoroughly, EcoDEEP Haus, about the design and build/rehab of a home in St. Paul, MN for 2 architects and their families. One of the original articles I read on fiberglass windows is from the Window of Opportunity post on the From the Ground Up blog I have been following. This is where I heard about the Accurate Dorwin windows first.
8 comments ↓
I was very please how our Accurate Dorwin windows tested out during out HERS score showing little to almost no heat loss. I looked at the Marvin integrity windows and think they are also a nice option but they were not available in the options I wanted at the time, triple paned and awning style.
Jason
Jason,
I noticed the performance on your latest post and it was impressive. Can you comment on the % price difference between the Marvin and Accurate Dorwin that you noticed at the time of your quotes?
Thanks,
Chad
Chad,
Thanks for the plug. We’re glad that the time and effort we are putting into documenting our project will help others. Our Inline windows should be installed next week, so we’ll soon have some more feedback regarding windows. The Marvin windows were less expensive and they’re MN-made, which made it tempting. But like Jason, we ultimately needed to have awning and casement windows, which excluded the Integrity line for us.
Good luck on your project! Roxanne
Thermotech in another option for fiberglass windows. We love ours.
Roxanne has errored with her comment regarding window manufacturing facility. The Integrity windows are made in Virginia, well within the 500 mile raius for this project. The other location for Integrity, according to their website, is North Dakota.
Hi there, I am just completing a 260-square-foot studio that is the subject of a book — ALMOST GREEN — I have coming out this fall. Scoring gold under LEED Homes (I’m not going to go for certification because doing so will add something in the range of $50K to soft costs…)
Anyway, fiberglass windows. If it is not too late in the decision tree, you need to know about Fibertech, a Canadian company that I used. They are in Toronto, within 500 miles of Philly, and they are excellent windows. I dont know if your building has passive solar qualtiies — need to spend more time on your blog — but if it does, you need to consider High-SHGC glazing, which means a Low-E HARD COAT (not a soft coat), which marvin and pella etc will not be able to make for you.
http://www.fibertec.com
To see my Eco-Shed project, pls visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesglave and check the link on the right…
Dan,
Yes, Marvin Integrity windows are made in Fargo ND, (approximately 1.2 miles from the MN border). Marvin, a MN company also has manufacturing plants around the country, including VA plant that also makes Integrity wdws. My comments were made in regard to our project in MN.
Roxanne
We are done with our decision making process on windows and are exhausted to say the least. There are a lot of good options out there for fiberglass and we will not use vinyl or vinyl coated products again. We build in the Eastern PA area and the best window for us is Integrity. The 10 day lead time is phenomenal, there are 5 colors, they have awnings (somebody in this list said they did not,but they do), they are within the 500 mile range, and its from a large company. I was a little weary about some of the other smaller companies we researched (thanks to you guys). The best part is that they are priced between the 200 and 400 series Andersen’s we used to use. We have a 4 unit townhouse, in addition to this SFD, that we will use the builders grade version of Integrity. They make a solid fiberglass unit that is available in single hung (don’t think awnings are an option in this line). Costs a little more than the most expensive vinyl window, but nobody claims that building green was going to be cheaper.
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