Have you experience with Andersen’s A-Series products?
What’s up with these? How about a 1:1 price comparo with their 400, 200, or Woodwright? What about their snap-on exterior trim? Those of you who trim with Azek, Miratec, Trex, or any other composite, certainly you must have at least seen samples, priced it, maybe even used it? If you have been using Andersen’s Frenchwood hinged patio door for a while, the “Fibrex” material they are using for exterior and frame sections in the A-Series lines, and for that snap-on trim, is the same material that has been used in the sills of Frenchwoods for years. Hundreds of thousands in the field. Beyond the same old boring four colors one could get before, now we have Canvas, Dove Gray, Prairie Grass, Red Rock, Black, Dark Bronze, and Cocoa Bean to choose from. The hinged patio door has a new version of multi-point latch hardware that lets the user decouple the center deadbolt action from the top and bottom latches. And, for your framing subs with worn-out tapes, or with bad eyes, or who either just cannot be trusted with fractions, all the rough openings are in EVEN INCHES! THAT’S gotta be worth something, right? So, whaddya know about this?
Replies
Geeze Gene, an uber discriminating guy, such as yerself, oughta just go with Eagle... they fly in the holes by themselves, even ones laid out by feet AND inches.
Nothing better than a window that installs itself. Don't have to listen to sweaty burping carpenters talking about who forgot the shims, and other topics.
I had hoped that M. Hussein Smith, who has shown in photo essays literally hundreds of Andersens being installed and trimmed, would weigh in here, but it seems as if he has walked out of the room, early.
Couple years after I joined ThermaTru, back in the last millenium, the owners fired the president, who ended up a couple months later out in IA, as pres of Eagle. I got to go through their plant once. Really stone age.
But their windows look good!
Have you seen anything in A-Series?
We've a couple of lumberyards here that sell Andersen. Of our four lumber dealers here within an hour's drive, all used to deal with AW, but only two do now. Things are so ridiculously slow that none can afford new displays, so no one have anything I can see, nor can they tell me of any jobs sold using them.
We've installed a few of the
We've installed a few of the first A-series last year. Nice windows. We also install a lot of Eagles, which is also an Andersen company now. A-seriew price out similarly to Eagle and Woodright, not sure how closely, but same ballpark. Haven't ordered a 200 series in years so don't know the comparison there.
We recently had a dog-and-pony now that the A-series is a permanent part of the lineup. The snap-on trim looks pretty good.
Even-size RO's mean nothing to me, but as a designer I really like the fact that they have double hungs that match up to awnings and casements. That's a huge plus for us.
The fit-and-finish is really, really good. My only complaint was a bevel on the inside top of the meeting rail. That will probably be a dealbreaker for us in many cases, unfortunately.
Still hard to beat a Marvin aluminum clad, all things considered.
we just installed 5 mulled units in a series double hung... very impressive window
I just installed a Frenchwood door last week. Nice door but man are they expensive imo. almost 3K after tax for a 5.0x 6.8 with chrome hardware.
I do like the hinges. They're just like the Marvin's that I put in my own house. Very adjustable.
Like Snort said...The Eagle brand which is a division of Andersen is a really great product. I spec'd all the windows in a big up coming job with them. Probably 40-50% more $$ or so than Andersen but they seem like incredible windows!!
MiraTEC(R) Treated Exterior Composite Trim is the leader in the category. More information can be found at:
http://www.miratectrim.com
We would be happy to send samples for your review. You can reach me at:
[email protected]
Thanks,
Mike Steiber
Product Manager
CMI
Mike, nice to see you here. I use a lot of MiraTEC, but it does have some issues. What exterior pneumatic nails do you recommend: ring-shanked framing style, siding, or trim?
It also seems that the facing at the cut ends/edges delaminate (peel?), any way to deal with that?
Thanks.