Soft-Lite's Top 5 Questions To Ask About Window Design

Soft-Lite, a leading manufacturer of replacement windows, provides a check-list of important questions to ask while choosing a window. The Window Man, as an exclusive Soft-Lite dealer of a window made exclusively for The Window Man--the The Window Man DH-11--we're happy to talk about each of Soft-Lite's top 5 questions with you.

They are:

Top Five Questions to ask about the design features of the window:

1. Tell me what makes your sill design better than the others.
a. All of our double-hung models, for example, feature an engineered sloped sill that offers
more barriers and diversions to air and water infiltration than conventional, lower-performance sills. There is a mechanical structural interlock that supplements the interlock at the meeting rail to hold the lower sash tightly in place, even during high-stress wind loads in excess of 190 miles per hour. A sill rail runs the length of the sill that is straddled by a soft rubber gasket under compression when the window is locked to block air and water from entering. Our sill dam is mortised directly into the jamb to assure no butt-joint leaks common to older sills where sealant is the only barrier. Optional Comfort FoamTM can be used to insulate the inside chambers of the sill for the ultimate in energy efficiency.

2. Tell me about your weatherstripping and compression seals.
a. Our windows feature Triple-Fin weatherstrips that offer two or three times the barriers of
single or double-fin designs. Each fin is compounded with Microban®, a popular anti-microbial
treatment that fights the growth of mold and bacteria on the weatherstripping. Our closed-cell
neoprene compression seals work under the pressure of the locked window much like the
gaskets in refrigerators and freezers, to fight the transfer of energy in and out and to add yet
more barriers and diversions to the penetration of air and water into your home.

3. Does your window have mechanical interlocks and where are they?
a. All of our windows feature mechanical interlocks at the meeting rail between the lock rail and the keeper rail. There is another mechanical structural interlock built into our sill design on some models.

4. How tight are the manufacturing tolerances on your window?
a. With our new Sturtz automated assembly lines, installed in late 2006, our overall
manufacturing tolerances are the best in the business at ± 1/32”.
5. How many options do I have available to me to customize your window?
a. Internal grids, V-groove glass, tempered, laminated, triple pane, different spacer systems, art glass, internal laminates, external colors; consult your The Window Man representative.

Stop by one of our three showrooms today to ask about The Window Man DH11 as well as our other Soft-Lite products.