Window replacements

[DTisme]

Maybe some Punawebbers can help my husband and I on this...

We have a wide area of jalousie windows that need to be replaced. They're way old, the hardware is getting weak AND, maybe even more importantly, we are sick to death of cleaning them! They can fall out for one thing and crash to the floor (like happened to me this morning - glass everywhere!), and bc the screens are on the outside -- on the 2nd floor -- it requires getting on a ladder to remove them. Aaaaah!!! We are getting too old to get up on ladders to clean screens on the 2nd floor!

We really do like how jalousies let air in the whole expanse of the window opening, but we may have to give that up in lieu of easy cleaning.

Any advice for replacements? We like the look of awning windows, but we want to make sure both sides can be cleaned from the inside, that the screens are easily removable from the inside, etc.

We would consider casements, as long as the windows can pivot to clean from inside and they have easy removal of screens on the inside.

So two important criteria: Clean both sides of the window from the inside, and be able to remove screens from the inside.

Any advice on type of window and where to purchase would be appreciated!!

[Tink]

I installed Milgard casements on my house on the mainland. Both Honsador and HPM are dealers here. The advantages are screens are on the inside, window frame swings wide enough to clean both sides, along with easy complete removal of frame and glass, and they are vinyl frame, so no rot and easy to wipe down. You can get "finless", or without the nailing flange so you can retrofit by sliding into existing opening and fasten with screws on the inside of the frame, instead of tearing off trim on the outside and fighting them won a ladder.
Good luck in your search!

Community begins with Aloha

[Carey]

Although we had casement windows on the mainland, I would NEVER have them here, as leaving the windows open when you leave the house has a greater potential for coming home to soaked areas inside than on the mainland UNLESS YOU HAVE VERY WIDE EAVES (ours are 3', and many rain events, we got rain in our old sliding windows - this is the reason why I also think sliding windows are not made for here! Casements also have problems with winds...

We went with awning windows, and have a few different manufacturers, as we replaced all of our main house windows over a few years.... by far, the best are the Coastal stacked awnings with Stainless Steel hardware.... be aware that with any hinged windows (casement or awning) the hardware will get chewed up by the elements if not stainless steel. (our 2 Millgard awning windows on the leeward side both have plastic parts that decayed after 8 years....) all of our non-stainless windows have some corrosion, & the non-stainless on the windward side of the house are already pitted, even though I have repainted the hardware....

For cleaning, look at the Coastal Advantage (no annoying scissors on the bottom), allowing some ease to "reach around" the open screen-less window.... unfortunately, we can only report on those annoying scissors....
Info on Coastal windows:
http://www.coastalwindows.com/windows/awning

[Tink]

Good to know Carey, Mahalo for the heads up on longevity here. Mahalo!

Community begins with Aloha

[DTisme]

Great advice! I also thought that casements would pose a water-in-the-house problem and was leaning toward the awnings. Coastal Windows look really good, but I guess they're on Oahu? Do you know if they have local reps?

One of our issues is that the openings are all different widths - 17", 22", 18" - definitely Puna built! It all has to be reframed out.

[Carey]

Yeah, the various widths were one of the reasons our replacements took so long... custom orders are a bite to the wallet, but we did not have to re-frame, as one of the things missing in this permitted house were window & door frames, we did keep the frame sizes close to the opening size, so our sizes were all over the place!

The Coastal awning stack we have was clearance window at one of the lumberyards in Hilo (Honsador, Argus or the now closed Trojan...), luckily it fit the space we had!

Not sure if Honsador or Argus deal with Coastal now, but would't hurt to call Coastal or the lumberyards!

[DTisme]

Thanks, Carey...def have to talk to them. Sent Coastal an email but havent heard back yet.

We have a question...how do you clean the outside? From window above? And how then to clean topmost window on outside?

[Carey]

We clean from the outside (1 story house on slab), but this website has a how to that works for most brands of awning (with slight tweaks for each mfg. particular mechanism:
http://www.lincolnwindows.com/owner's_ma...ndows.html

[DTisme]

Thanks, Carey! hopefully these have same kind of set up.

Coastal Windows BI rep coming next week. Was already very helpful on the phone.