Posts Tagged ‘Andersen Windows’

window gazing: arcadia

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

One of the sad realities of our ’70s house is that the original Andersen casement windows are pretty much shot. The vinyl has cracked on many of them, water has gotten in and rotted the wood frames to the point where they barely function. Actually, a few of them don’t open at all anymore…

andersen rot

And then there are the fixed windows on that grandiose window wall in our living area. Looks pretty nice, right? Look closer…

remod wants | window wall

Water trapped between the panes. Ugh. Not good…

remod wants | leaky windows

Since this whole setup needs replacing, we’ll also replace the 40-year-old sliding glass doors with something to match the new windows.

Our first choice is clear, anodized aluminum. The modern, minimal profile would fit in perfectly with the house and allow us to eliminate interior mouldings, a cause close to my heart. Aluminum is an infamous heat conductor, so we want all the frames to be thermally broken to keep the indoor heat from traveling out in the winter and the summer heat from traveling in in the summer. Obviously we’ll also want energy-efficient glass (more on that in another post).

So far, we have rough quotes from Arcadia, Lockheed and Solar Innovations. (Just to be fair, we also got a quote from Andersen for the new gen of windows we already have.) It just so happens that the Arcadia rep made his way through Providence last week and he stopped by with samples for us to look at.

First up: the hinged terrace-garden door. Would definitely take our front entryway up a notch. Besides the good looks, we like the two separate gaskets to keep wind and weather out…

arcadia swing door

Mmmmm, perty. That central black core between the two aluminum extrusions is the thermal break…

arcadia extrusion detail

Similar construction in the casement window…

arcadia window

Lovely butt hinge. Yeah, I said butt hinge…

arcadia hinge

Handle and screen…

arcadia handle

Unfortunately, to use their sliding glass door you can be no taller than a schnauzer…

arcadia slider

Ha. This baby rolled down the track so smoove we could hardly believe it. Like butta. Screen goes on the inside where it can stay clean. Smart.

The goods from Arcadia are more than just the right style. They qualify for LEED points – we think that’s important, even if we don’t pursue it. No decisions yet. We should see a few other contenders in person first. Did someone say field trip?