The problem with vinyl is that it is a low-end material. It doesn’t hold up for long periods of time. Most people don’t stay in a house for 20 years any more, so they don’t care. It is cheap so lots of people use it. On cheaper vinyl windows you start to see problems from sagging and deformation after only a few years. The other problem with vinyl is that it is relatively weak, so the jambs, rails and stiles have to be very wide. This can significantly reduce the amount of glass in the windows, which worsens your views and light transmission.
Aluminum-clad wood is nice on the outside because you don’t have to paint it. The factory finish is quite tough. You still have to paint the inside, and there have been issues with water getting behind the aluminum, leading to premature rot.
When I put new windows and sliders in my house, I used fiberglass. It is 10x as strong as vinyl so the rails and stiles can be as thin or thinner than wood (I have relatively small windows and this was important to me), and it will never rot or need painting. There is much less choice however, because only a few window manufacturers produce them. For example, I could not get triple pane glass, and had a very limited color choice so I went with white. They were half the price of aluminum clad, and around the same price as higher-end vinyl windows.
I would never choose a wood exterior window if I can avoid it, too much maintenance.
Vinyl looks cheap. Wood needs constant repainting, especially if exposed to the elements (and we also get expansion).
The aluminum-clad doors and windows are essentially indistinguishable on the inside from wood framed doors but are layered / clad with aluminum on the outside for weathering.
@VeryHappy , there is a good cross-section illustration on this website:
Hmmm, have never heard of using fiberglass. What brands carry those? H is tired of doing maintenance on our aging windows. I believe most of them are over 60 years old.
Their web site is a little hard to use but you should be able to get some info from it.
These are replacement windows and can be ordered in quarter inch increments up to a ridiculous size - I have a picture window that is something like 74" wide.
There were some small manufacturers making fiberglass windows, and some Canadian ones IIRC, but I don’t remember names, it was a while ago. Marvin is nationwide so you may be able to get them in Hawaii.
The trees are on our lot and they provide some ‘landscape’. In addition, the trees are not blocking any view upstairs but are providing a valuable obstruction of the apartment complex down below. It covers up that bad part of the view, so they are going to stay.
Thank you for the explanation of the various types of windows. For the Spanish Bungalow project I installed fiberglass clad wood. Exteriors were lovely and it gave us the natural wood inside to match the original woodwork. However, I remember there was an issues that it was not warrantied within X miles of the ocean.
Since the house has all brand new windows provided by the Airport Authority, I need to match them. They look like vinyl windows, but I could be wrong… they might be fiberglass. They are from a strange commercial manufacturer and I cannot find any information. I believe they had a contract with the Airport Authority for custom windows - nothing in their product line has anything to do with residential windows. Old Castle
So, I will have to go with vinyl which is very prevalent in this neighborhood (because most everyone had the Airport Authority install). Wood does not work this close to the ocean.
My planner explained that, by Code, we have to have at least one landing for such a large drop of stairs. Don’t know if we are going to have one landing or multiple landings.
Since you are removing the white slat fence structure from the front of the house, can it be re-purposed into a barrier fence across the steep driveway a la my post #914 and then painted the same color as the final color of the house?
Good question… I have been trying to brainstorm how I am going to use all that wood. It is still in good condition. I think it is an excellent idea to use it as the fencing around the lower parking patio. Believe me, something has to go down there. Right now it is psychological stress to just look down the driveway and see NOTHING at the end of the driveway but a steep cliff. Not even one line of concrete block is down there.
It would be somewhat unsightly, but could you install a couple of those concrete parking blocks to act as a barrier? Maybe there is a nicer version instead of those one sees in commercial parking spaces.
Team is going to town pulling out all the cast iron pipe and running new ABS sewer and drain lines. For some reason there is new ABS drain lines and a nice large 4" main pipe under the original house. It must have been replaced in the last 10 years. But, the drain lines under the 1972 addition are old cast iron pipes. They are in bad condition and have to be pulled out.
Of course, this caused an immediate urgency that I had to finalize plans for the Master Bathroom in order to set the new drain lines and vent pipes up through the roof. Ohh, and another day with no toilet because it had to be pulled out in order to cut all old plumbing out and set new toilet location and new ABS
I have loaded one of the original listing photos that show the garage and you can see the white painted cast iron pipe running across the ceiling. If you look very closely you can see black/rust spots on the line. These are dead giveaways that the cast iron is failing and needs to be replaced.
My carpenter (who is an excellent plumber) has already got the old lines out and run the main 4" ABS line through the ceiling. Ceiling is torn out in areas he needs to work. Had to rent 6’ high safety scaffolding so he can stand up and work in the ceiling. He will spend tomorrow tying in everything to the master bathroom drain lines and he will be done!
Here is the local company that makes a great folding door that I think will work perfectly. I am planning to ‘stack’ everything to the left of the deck (looking out from living room). I like this solution because it provides a single exit door, just in case you don’t want to open everything up but you want to go back/forth to the BBQ. You can also open just a portion of it if it is really windy but you want some ventilation.
They have a cool little video at the bottom that shows the system
^^ NICE!
That is going to make the downstairs FR so nice and open!
Having one landing on the stairs wont be a negative.
think of the “wow” factor when buyers first walk down the stairs and get a glimpse of the room and view!
These big folding doors are going into the living room upstairs. The wow factor will be right there when they enter the house - and make the living area appear even larger
