How to decide between vinyl and wood windows

September 12th, 2007

The decision between wood and vinyl windows is usually quite easy. With today’s low or no maintenance products designed to last for 50 years, it would be hard not to immediately make the choice for vinyl windows. There are some things to consider before you jump in with both feet.

There are a wide variety of vinyl windows available, be it crank out, slide by, or tip out you need to consider the quality of the hardware. If the opening mechanism fails a couple years down the road you’ll be back to square one. Also consider where the window is placed, on a second story you want to be able to clean the window from inside the house. There are a number of window styles that accommodates this quite well. Don’t immediately invest in the cheapest windows you find, take a serious look at the quality. Strength of the vinyl casing, insulated glass, good quality hardware, all very important details. Generally you get what you pay for, so don’t be swayed by a cheap window.

Another very good choice would be a vinyl clad wood window. This gives you the no maintenance of vinyl and the solid strength and feel of wood.

In an older craftsman style home the desire to maintain the quality and warm feeling of high quality woodwork would be a compelling reason to choose wood windows. The desire to maintain that original craftsman feel, where you feel like you are the caretaker of a fine piece of art. You don’t want to stick a vinyl window in a home of such old world quality. It would stick out like putting a sun roof on a classic Rolls Royce, it just doesn’t belong there.

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