Cooper wrote:

"Duane Bozarth" wrote
But what's the sense in paying as much (or even more) than wood for a
product that doesn't do that much better? Painting a good quality wood
will keep it functional and look better besides (the vinyl products
look like vinyl--edges aren't crisp, slats are wide...)

I'm wondering where're you're located...in milder climates, a lot of
things last better than here in the arid southwest with strong sun, high
winds, temperature extremes...

Repainting is more frequent here than where I lived in TN/VA, too...
but at least it can be repainted

I'll hold my tongue as far as the fences go. I'm not a big fan of them,
wood or vinyl. But, I live where the extremes in the country are. The
Midwest up by Lake Erie, where temperatures can be -30 to +105. The
products in this area pretty much prove themselves or not, in short order.

Temperature extremes are even greater here, particularly daily swings
are much larger in arid climates than in more humid ones (humid air has
higher heat capacity, therefore doesn't gain/lose heat nearly as
rapidly). We don't get the below zero stuff as frequently as there, but
it has been -40 here in my lifetime and we'll normally get 110 or so at
least a couple of times each year and a lot of 100 (although this past
summer was surprisingly mild--I think we had only 10 or so +100 days all
summer).

The primary difference I see in comparing any building materials here
where I grew up and presently reside to the 30 years I spent elsewhere
(SE/mid-Atlantic, whatever you want to call it) is the UV. Elevation
and clear skies contribute to that as well. We'll see whether current
vinyl windows installed in these areas will last over time--well, I
probably won't, but the young sprouts will...

I'm not holding out much odds yet that any plastic product will make
even 30 years here. Many of the replacement products that work
routinely elsewhere just don't have the survivability here.

I'm like Dimitri, though...most of my complaint is they just look like
vinyl (at least everyone I've seen yet).

I'm looking at an addition to the house for sometime the next couple of
years...it's a frame two-story square farmhouse built 1914-15. Windows
are double hung w/ leaded glass upper lights. Nine narrow vertical
sections w/ overlapping triangles at the top and bottom which make a
2-1/2"-sq diamond pattern across the top and bottom ... anybody able to
do that w/ double glazing? So far, I've not found even a wood window
that is a close enough match although I haven't yet done a custom-made
request. I may learn how to do the leaded glass and end up building
them myself except I can't do double pane. (I have all the shop stuff
needed and am making new ones for the barn now--they weren't painted for
50 years so they didn't last).

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Something like the above pattern if the angles were 45-deg...that won't
look at all like anything unless you have a fixed font, of course...the
really neat thing about the current windows is that none of them have
been broken so they still have the original glass w/ the occasional
imperfections, etc....some of the lower panes have been broken because
the eave overhang is enough to keep them protected from really strong
wind-driven hail.