Which window brand should I get?
I was able to negotiate with the general contractor who is building our house that we will do the windows and front door ourselves. Now I'm wavering between two options. One reputable window contractor nearby uses windows and front doors from weru (AFINO-one). The alternative would be a window company that uses Schüco profiles. This would be the Schüco Thermo 6 (SI 82) Classic profile. The GU window supplier supplies windows with Synego profile from Rehau. Do any of you have any experience with this?
Answers
In my opinion, the manufacturer is not decisive in the first place. For the building owner, the requirements should be checked first, what kind of windows are sensibly placed where.
Considerations would be important to me such as the material used:
Wood:
+ good thermal insulation, easy to work with
— requires high maintenance
wood/aluminum
+ good thermal insulation
+ low maintenance due to facing with aluminum
Aluminum
+ very robust, low maintenance
+ weather resistant
+ light, which is good for statics
+ not combustible
— production very energy-intensive
Plastic
+ easy to clean
— more susceptible to dirt due to static charge
— relatively large frame thickness
just to name a few.
In addition still comes:
> Exposure
> ventilation
> weather protection
> sound insulation
> thermal insulation
> Fire protection
> Protection against burglary
So you can see what you can or should do and of course this is reflected in the price. It can make sense to compare prices, but only if offers are explicitly obtained with the same specifications.
Nevertheless, the sentence I heard from the window manufacturer recently also applies:
"Each window is only as good as it was installed".
There are at least 7 manufacturers (groups) of PVC window profiles in Germany. These include:
— Rehau
— Veka / Gealan
— Profine (Kömmerling / Trocal / KBE)
— Salamander / Brügmann
— Schüco
— Aluplast
— Inoutic (formerly Thyssen).
They supply their profiles to window manufacturers. Some window manufacturers assemble the windows themselves, others sell their windows to resellers/dealers who install the windows. Some window manufacturers or dealers assemble them with their own people, and many do window replacements.
Thus, on the way to a quality-assembled window, carefully made from strong profiles, with durable hardware and flawless glass, there are still many unsightly moments.
We have windows from Rehau, but GENEO profiles with an installation depth of 86.
We are very happy with Rehau windows, but we also have no comparison with other brands since we only had cheap DIY windows in our old house.
The Rehau windows and entry doors look high quality in our eyes, and we also like the look of them (we have white windows and doors).
At the time (last year) we chose Rehau windows because the carpenter in our town makes them himself, and we have not regretted our decision.
Geneo windows have fiberglass instead of a steel core. They are said to be superior. But while we're choosing for ourselves, we can't say anything from our own experience. I'm just wondering if we can really do without steel and everything will be fine in a few years.
Profiles do not matter (almost), more important is the skill of the window installer. You can take the most expensive Schüco windows and ruin them and, conversely, take cheap Aluplast or Gealan frames and get a perfect window.
I had a good experience with Rehau in my house, and now I take Aluplast windows for my rented apartment. If they don't have the name on them, you won't notice any difference – only the bill looks completely different.
We also had two proposals that made the short list. One was Weru and one was Schüco. Same programs as you, I would have liked to take Weru, but they were a few thousand euros more expensive later, because of the alarm system modules, radio modules f. blinds and aluminum shutters and Venetian blinds. We took Schüco, but still no empirical values since we haven't moved in yet... Aluplast I ruled out from the beginning.
