I spent the whole morning with Mark Attard from AE and we finalized the order for the windows and doors. I was not completely happy with the limit on door options, but I hope I picked the best of each option available.
Mark brought a frame corner and color samples which was great because it was hard to imagine the “sandstone” color. Actually it was more beige than tan so we ended up picking a darker brown just not quite as dark as the bronze in the sample. Believe it or not the sample and the window are two different colors. I was tempted to go with a brick red but Dave preferred the brown and thank goodness I had a second opinion to rely on.
I took a couple of pics of the insulated fiberglass frame too and the metal strips are the new 525-S spacers.
The door frames are purchased from Therma Tru–the best match is the Smooth Star version. Unfortunately, Alpen does not offer the full range of Therma Tru doors. I could only choose single and dual panel inswing hinged doors. Any sidelights would have to be Alpen frames which don’t really match the doors as well as the integral versions. So I chose full lite single panel opening doors for the front door, master bedroom door and east hall back door and dual panel full lite french patio doors for the large south living room area. Three 69 inch doors fit the space almost perfectly though so there is little to complain about. We will figure out how to keep the inswing doors out of the way in the hallway. The doors don’t come with screens but we should be able to screen them not too expensively with regular big box screening.
All I have to do is sign the contract and send in the check and the order will be on its way. Mark also recommended an installer and we have that quote and will use his expertise because he works with Mark and will seal everything with AE offered products which are the SIGA line. WOW this is a big step! ($$$$)