Why We Install Simonton Vinyl Windows

During our in-home window installation consultations, we often recommend Simonton impact vinyl windows to our customers. One of the first things a lot of them ask right after we make the recommendation is: “Why Simonton?”

We aren’t a Simonton-exclusive window installation company. Instead, we work with several top-rated window and door manufacturers to source the best windows and doors for our customers. So, why do we recommend Simonton’s vinyl windows so often? And why the vinyl windows, specifically?

Let’s go over why we so frequently recommend Simonton windows and why we almost always recommend their impact-rated vinyl window products to homeowners throughout Tampa Bay:

Why We Recommend Simonton Windows

There are a ton of window brands out there that you could order for your home. However, few brands match the combination of quality, performance, and pricing that Simonton offers for our customers. There are cheaper windows (in every sense of the word) out there, but none that match Simonton’s quality.

One of the biggest reasons we so frequently recommend Simonton is that they really stand behind the quality of their products. They have, hands down, one of the best window warranties in the world. 

They have a limited lifetime warranty on their vinyl, hardware, and screens for their windows. The glass in their vinyl windows even has a 20-year warranty that’s transferable to a new homeowner if you later decide to sell your home.

We cannot complement Simonton enough on their warranty. They make it very easy to get replacement components for your windows and are willing to work with installers like Karoly Windows to let us provide the labor for your warranty replacement/repair service. That’s part of what lets us offer a lifetime (25-year) labor warranty on the Simonton Windows we install without you having to pay for extra labor.

This is incredibly rare and that alone makes Simonton windows well worth recommending. It takes a company that really cares about quality and consistently works to provide top-quality products.

In fact, Simonton’s window manufacturing process is so good that their windows consistently earn AAMA Gold Labels. 

Why Their Vinyl Windows Specifically?

So, why do we typically recommend Simonton’s vinyl windows over their aluminum-framed windows? Surely, the aluminum windows are of equal quality, but are even stronger since they’re metal-framed windows, right?

While the quality of their aluminum windows is just as good as their impact-rated vinyl windows, the key thing is that we’re talking about installing windows in Florida. There are a ton of reasons to use vinyl windows over aluminum ones in Florida. 

Reason We Recommend Simonton’s Vinyl Windows #1: Energy Efficiency

The simple fact of the matter is that aluminum is an excellent conductor of thermal energy. As noted by The Engineering Toolbox, depending on the formulation, aluminum can have a thermal conductivity ranging from 70 W/mK (Watts per minute Kelvin) for aluminum bronze up to 240 W/mK for standard structural aluminum.

Meanwhile, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the material used in vinyl windows, has a thermal conductivity of 0.16 W/mK (Source: Vinidex). This means that the least ductile aluminum formula has over 437.5 the thermal conductivity of vinyl (and the worst version for thermal conductivity has 1,500 times the thermal conductivity).

Why is this important? Because, it has an effect on the window’s energy efficiency. 

In Florida, temperatures can run extremely hot, especially during summer. For many homeowners, that means running the air conditioning at top strength. This has a direct impact on your home’s energy use.

A window that has a metal frame with a high thermal conductivity is going to carry the heat of the outdoors into your home more easily than a window with a more insulative frame.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: There’s a reason why baking sheets are usually made of aluminum! The same thermal conductivity that lets aluminum ensure an even bake for your cookies is what makes them such a poor fit for Florida homes.

With vinyl windows, you’ll save money over time on keeping your home cool throughout the summer months and even be more comfortable.

Reason We Recommend Simonton’s Vinyl Windows #2: Corrosion Resistance

Windows are a major expense for any homeowner. When you’re spending thousands of dollars on replacing all the windows in your home, you probably don’t want to worry about having to do that again in just a few years.

Your windows need to last for decades without becoming inoperable due to issues like rusting.

The problem with aluminum is that bare aluminum reacts poorly to salt. Over time, salt can wear down the protective oxide layer on aluminum alloys, causing the aluminum to experience significant surface degradation in the form of corrosion and pitting.

Florida, being a peninsular region, is surrounded by salty ocean water. Every day, much of Tampa Bay is subjected to saltwater breezes. The salt settles on windows along with the moisture, causing degradation fairly quickly if the windows aren’t adequately protected from direct exposure.

This leads to a need to consistently paint the vinyl window frames so direct salt exposure is minimized, but any kind of damage to the paint can chip it away and leave the aluminum underneath exposed.

Vinyl, on the other hand, doesn’t react to salt exposure nearly as badly as bare aluminum does. It’s not affected by salt, so there’s no need to take extra precautions against salt exposure.

Reason We Recommend Simonton’s Vinyl Windows #3: Appearance After a Storm

Unpainted vinyl windows are great for maintaining a consistent appearance even when they get minor surface scratches from exposure to extreme weather events like a hurricane. Why? Because the vinyl is the same color throughout.

Painted window frames readily show damage any time there’s a storm or accidental frame impact on the window that causes any kind of scratch or paint chipping. That’s because the paint is going to be a different color from the frame it’s covering. So, scratches and chips stick out like a sore thumb.

Meanwhile, because vinyl is typically unpainted, a small scratch is going to be nearly impossible to see from a distance. Also, this makes for a lower-maintenance, lower-stress ownership experience, since you’re not constantly wondering if the paint on your windows is going to fade or chip.

Reason We Recommend Simonton’s Vinyl Windows #4: Because They Meet FBC Requirements

The Florida Building Code (FBC) requires homes that are in wind borne debris (WBD) regions to have sufficient window opening protection to protect the home from the impacts of a hurricane—things like high wind pressure and flying storm debris. 

Much of the Greater Tampa Bay area falls within a WBD region, meaning that if you install a new window, it has to be an impact-rated window. 

Simonton’s vinyl impact windows more than meet the bare minimum requirements for design pressure (DP) ratings. Their aluminum windows do the same, but with lower energy efficiency due to the inherent thermal conductivity of metal.

How can vinyl, a material with much lower compressive and tensile strength than aluminum, meet DP requirements in Florida’s Building Code? By using aluminum in the core of the window frame.

In the center of the frame, there’s an aluminum core that is buried deep in the frame that provides enhanced strength to the window without compromising its energy efficiency or corrosion resistance. This gives homeowners the best of both worlds: Superior energy efficiency from the layers of vinyl and great strength from the aluminum core.

Reason We Recommend Simonton’s Vinyl Windows #5: They Use Pure Vinyl

There are many other companies out there that offer vinyl windows for the Florida market. However, a lot of those companies do something with their vinyl that compromises its performance: they use adulterated or recycled vinyl rather than fresh vinyl.

Some companies even mix in wood chips or other additives to their PVC and try to pretend it’s a good thing, and not something that puts the vinyl at a greater risk of failure because it’s more rigid, brittle, and susceptible to biodegradation (in the case of wood chips) than pure vinyl.

Simonton uses ‘first-generation’ pure vinyl because that’s what helps ensure the longest, most consistent useful life of any window brand on the Florida market.

Get Simonton Vinyl Windows with Expert Installation

Are you ready to upgrade your home with brand-new impact vinyl windows from one of the top manufacturers in Florida? Reach out to Karoly Windows & Doors for an in-home window installation consultation today to get started!