What Type of Material is Best for My Casement Window?

Casement windows are the most energy effective when compared with other operable window types. Casement windows can open to the widest and offer an unobstructed view into the house, which makes it a popular choice for both traditional housing and contemporary housing. Windows are mostly made of window frames and glazing. The frame of casement windows can be made of wood, aluminum, fiberglass, vinyl, or steel. Read on to find out what type of material is best for my casement windows.

Wood

Wood has been made into windows for a long history. People just love wood for every reason or no reason. They have been using wood to build houses, make windows and doors. Wood invites nature touch in a home, which is what a home of comfort needs. Wood is an environmentally friendly material and has natural beauty. Hardwoods take longer years to grow, and they are darker and have a grainier finish, such as oak, walnut. Softwoods grow fast, have a bright color and less veined finish. Softwood is cheaper than hardwood in pricing. While hardwoods are good for an entrance door or traditional housing, softwood is good for windows and doors. Popular wood options for windows are pine, oak, teak, mahogany, walnut, etc.

Pros & Cons of Wood Casement Windows

Wood satisfied all the performance a good window required. Wood casement windows are energy efficient, strong, durable and have a long lifespan. And they are beautiful with unique natural wood grain, featuring natural aesthetics. You get a lot of wood options to choose from. Wood casement windows stand the test of time and have to resell value. However, wood window frames cost much more than other frame materials. The price can be 1.5 times more than aluminum windows of the same size and 2 times or more than vinyl windows. Another thing is, wood casement windows require regular maintenance. You need to paint it to keep the wood from fading or warping. What’s more, wood windows are heavier than other materials, therefore, the installation can be more difficult to be done.

Aluminum

If we want to make windows from metal, then aluminum is a top choice. Aluminum is lightweight while strong, durable and can be easy to be processed and require less maintenance. Instead of the terrible energy efficiency performance that traditional aluminum alloy can provide, manufacturers now update it into thermally broken aluminum with PA66 nylon, a non-metal bar inserted in the middle of aluminum profiles. Aluminum is strong and is made with a sleek look to represent modern-style buildings.

Pros & Cons of Aluminum Casement Windows

Aluminum windows can be powered by coating finishing with diverse colors, and you have no worries about color options. If you want to have a simulated wood grain, you can even have wood-like grain on the surface with the wood grain finishing technique. There is another advanced technique for aluminum—seamless welding joint. That is to make the welding four corner vanish to make the four corners naturally connected. Aluminum casement windows can have advanced and flexible designs to provide better performance and more custom-tailed designs. Despite the flexible design of aluminum, aluminum windows are not as energy efficient as wood windows, and aluminum windows have a shorter lifespan like 25 years or so. And surely, aluminum windows are not as beautiful as wood windows. Some people simply like the real natural wood grain, not the simulated one.

Wood-Aluminum

Wood windows are beautiful and energy efficient but they are expensive and require regular maintenance. Aluminum windows are lightweight, cheaper, and require less maintenance but they are not good-looking or very energy efficient. There is a contradiction between energy efficiency and budget when you are thinking about whether to get wood windows or aluminum windows. To find a balance between those two types of windows, window manufacturers make it into a new window type, that is, wood-aluminum windows. These windows feature solid wood interior like wood windows while with aluminum cladding exterior to protect the wood and reduce the problems of maintenance. Most of the frames are still made of wood, but few of them exposed outside are replaced by aluminum.

Pros & Cons of Wood-Aluminum Casement Windows

Wood-aluminum casement windows are one of the latest designs for windows. They are as beautiful and energy efficient as wood casement windows while requiring less maintenance like aluminum windows. Wood-aluminum casement windows bring the advantages of wood casement windows and aluminum casement windows together, meanwhile, banning their disadvantages. The design of the combination requires advanced manufacturing techniques for the manufacturers. Some of the manufacturers have no idea how the wood-aluminum window is produced. There are limited choices for buyers when it comes to choosing window companies that can make quality wood-aluminum windows. For the pricing, wood-aluminum windows are less expensive than wood windows as a small part of the wood is replaced by aluminum, but still, it is more expensive than other windows frame.

Fiberglass

Fiberglass has good insulation and is durable, making it a good choice to make windows. Fiberglass window is another popular window type. Fiberglass doesn’t require much maintenance, and it doesn’t rot or warp like wood. And it is much stronger than vinyl and can withstand high temperatures. Fiberglass can even be made with a slimmer frame to have a modern look. It is also environmentally friendly and can be recycled.

Pros & Cons of Fiberglass Casement Windows

Fiberglass casement windows are energy efficient, strong and durable. It has a long lifespan, more than 50 years, second to wood windows. Fiberglass windows can even have a wood grain with finishing. But they are also expensive. You don’t have many color options or any customization on fiberglass casement windows. The installation is also not easy.

Vinyl

Many homeowners would have vinyl doors for kitchens or bathrooms. You can still see vinyl windows on many houses. Vinyl is made of polyvinyl chloride and is essentially plastic. Vinyl windows have good insulation and are energy efficient while requiring less maintenance. Vinyl is cheaper than other frame materials, which means it is a budget-friendly choice. Vinyl is lightweight and easy to install. It’s not difficult to get a good vinyl window for there are many manufacturers on the market.

Pros & Cons of Vinyl Casement Windows

Vinyl casement windows are energy efficient and cheaper, which is why it is still used. It is a good choice for a tight budget. Vinyl casement windows are easy to install and you can even do it yourself. But vinyl windows don’t have many design options. They don’t own many advantages when speaking of aesthetics. Most of the time, they are in white colors, you cannot paint or powder coated finishing to change them into your expected colors. They last fewer years usually last for 15 years to 20 years, which means you need to replace them sooner than aluminum windows. Vinyl windows are not stronger enough to resist bad weather and getting less and less popular. Vinyl windows are getting out of fashion.

Steel

Steel is strong and durable. Steel is good for making windows for commercial housings, making the office look safer and more professional. Steel doesn’t require much maintenance, so you don’t have to paint it or something else, which saves your time. Simple cleaning to remove the dust is just fine. Since there are not many manufacturers making steel windows, so your steel windows are unique.

Pros & Cons of Steel Casement Windows

Steel casement windows are strong and can last for years. They are easy to install. But as metal, steel can be rust with years’ exposure to moisture or rainwater. If your area rains a lot, steel casement windows are not a good choice. Another thing is you cannot find many steel window manufacturers, your choice is limited.