Different Window and Door Materials

There are many different ways to build window and door systems: wood, vinyl, fiberglass, cellular composite, aluminum. So why all the choices? Just like anything there are pros and cons to all of them. The following gives a brief description explaining all these materials.

Wood

• Advantages Beautiful, natural, gives a traditional flavor.  Nothing looks like wood and it offers amazing versatility just for the fact you can stain and paint it. Wood is a great insulator, it naturally insulates better than many other products.
  
  
• Disadvantages: Maintenance!  There is no way of getting around the fact that wood requires regular maintenance. It will ultimately succumb to its own natural properties with possible rotting, warping, expanding etc. What manufacturers do to try to improve on the natural properties of wood is use wood preservatives to treat the wood against rot. They will apply a pre-primed exterior or the exterior will have a clad covering like vinyl or aluminum.
  

Vinyl

• Advantages Considered an almost maintenance free material. Very cost effective to manufacturer, High durability, Good for high abuse areas, Lots of design technology in vinyl products.

• Disadvantages Can never have the warm look of wood. Large saturation of vinyl products on the market, many of them cheap quality and don’t live up to expectations. Limited on colors and mostly sold as a white product.
  

Fiberglass

• Advantages Newer window material now being used, Very durable, High strength and more cost effective to manufacture. Excellent insulator, Fiberglass windows offer very high energy values and come in many colors. Fiberglass window systems are normally clad over wood giving a very attractive interior.

• Disadvantages Not very well known as a window material.  It will take a while before consumers catch on to all its advantages and prefer it over other materials.
  

Cellular Composite

• Advantages Unbelievable energy values, out performs all other materials, Super strong and durable, as close to maintenance free as you’re going to get, Technology for the future.

• Disadvantages Not very well known as a window material. It will take a while before consumers catch on to all its advantages and prefer it over other materials. Cellular composite makes up the base structure, it is still clad in vinyl inside and out.        
  

Aluminum

• Advantages Solid aluminum windows work well for commercial applications, streamline in design, very modern or contemporary, good with fire codes, allows for very large window sizing.

• Disadvantages About as bad as it gets for thermal value, don’t seal very well against wind loading, will never fit a traditional look.

LOVE YOUR WINDOWS FROM PUTNAM WINDOWS!