Article:  Discussion of Home Replacement Windows made of FIBREX® Frames

     Fibrex® is a replacement window frame material that's been around for many years, and made exclusively by only one home replacement window manufacturer, Andersen Corporation, in business for over 100 years. They spent tens of millions of dollars to invent and develop the Fibrex®  material and they are the only ones who have it.

     It is highly marketed to the high-end home consumer and is priced in the highest premium price range. They do LOOK beautiful.

     I'm sure in future other manufacturers might try do something similar, but if it's Fibrex®, it's entire formula and properties are patented and proprietary to Andersen. The knock-offs will not really be "Fibrex®", so beware.

     The Fibrex® frame is fashioned with cells and chambers for insulation purposes like the best vinyl frames.

     Fibrex® is a composite of wood fibers and thermoplastic polymers (vinyl) (saw dust and scrap vinyl to some)-- but remember, not all vinyl is the same, and "saw dust" is a very simplistic term for what Andersen has created.

     The name, "Renewal by Andersen" is still the company Andersen Corp, and is a division of Andersen with specialized franchise stores (different than a window store or contractor that sells a variety of manufacturers) selling to the home replacement window homeowners, rather than a homeowner building a new house. The "main" Andersen Corp. sells primarily their main wood frame (lower-end) replacement window line.

      Fibrex® is listed as 3 times stronger than virgin vinyl. Fibrex® can look EXACTLY like premium wood windows, but it is NOT WOOD.  

      The entire frame on the inside of the house looks like either premium stained wood or one of 4 solid colors ("painters/designer" white, sandtone (a gray-like color), creamy white (canvas) or a darker greenish color terratone) and the outside is then one of these same 4 colors. The wood look can be a choice  of stain-grade pine, maple, or oak, not just unfinished pine of other wood and wood-clad combo windows.

      Unlike a wood replacement window frame, it won't rot or leak, won't absorb moisture like wood and won't sag/melt like most vinyls over time. The colors are created into the process of the Fibrex® and not clad...so moisture cannot hide between the color and the frame like on the wood clad windows that take on moisture and hide mold and rot behind the clad and eventually pop off the clad.

      This material is also more energy efficient than any of the other replacement window framing materials because it's formed with multiple air chambers.

      The outside frame of a Fibrex® window is NOT a "clad" or anything similar. It will not get ANY leakage under or around it.

      The weep holes (the tiny openings in the bottom of a replacement window that let rain and moisture drain to the outside of a house) in the Fibrex® frame are formed from a different, sloping design in the frame than most other windows with the holes covered or punched.

      The window also is sold in all the standard and special window shapes such as sliders, pictures, double or single hung windows, 3-lite configurations, bays and bows windows, and can include removable and matching decorative grids/grilles/muntins.

     Fibrex® window frames/windows cannot be purchased by an independent contractor and re-sold to a homeowner. Every window is installed and warranted by certified, factory trained and hired installers of the Renewal by Andersen line of affiliate stores. They will do the ENTIRE job, all the trimming, framing if needed, new sills, jams, ALL OF IT. 

     Another downside is there is not a Renewal by Andersen home replacement window local store in every city, and each store will only travel a certain distance around the store. Therefore, homeowners in smaller or more remote towns might not be able to choose this window type for their home unless a store opens in their town.

     The window manufacturer does, however, have over 3000 dealers (as of 2006) nationwide of their wood window line, the Andersen Series 400, that is sold to window stores and contractors to re-sell to the public, just not the Fibrex® line.

     Michael Dennis

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About the author

IPS Group, Inc. Board Member and Director of their Home Improvement Division, Michael Dennis is an avid real estate fix and flip investor, a former long-time replacement window salesman, and the author of several books and websites on home replacement windows including How to Save Thousands on Replacement Windows: The Homeowner's Insider Secrets Manual, and the tell-all report on the big-brand home improvement centers, The 7 Myths The Big-Brand Home Improvement Centers Want You to Believe About Replacement Windows.  Visit their website at www.vinylwindowmanufacturer.com to get your copy TODAY.

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