Vinyl vs Clad Windows
One of the first things people ask when they start talking about a custom home is windows. They usually hear two options: vinyl, or wood windows with a clad exterior. Clad sounds fancier. Vinyl sounds cheap. That is the sales pitch. It is not how we build.
At Idell Construction, we only use high-quality vinyl windows. We are a home builder and residential contractor in Greeneville and East Tennessee, and we have put enough windows in custom homes to know what holds up here. We do not install clad.
What people mean by clad
Clad windows are wood on the inside with a metal skin on the outside, usually aluminum. The wood looks good with stained trim. The cladding takes the weather so the wood is not sitting in the rain. The price is higher, sometimes a lot higher.
That can be a fine window. It is not the only way to get a tight, good-looking custom home. A lot of the extra money is going toward a wood interior that you then have to maintain like the rest of your trim. If the cladding gets dinged, you are not touching it up with a brush. You are living with it or replacing the unit.
What high-quality vinyl actually is
Cheap builder-grade vinyl is what gives vinyl a bad name. Thin frames. Weak locks. Colors that chalk in a few summers. That is not what we use.
A high-quality vinyl window has a stiffer frame, better weatherstripping, and glass that actually performs. The sash closes clean. The locks line up. Installed right, it seals. It does not need paint. It does not need stain. You wash it. That is the maintenance.
On the house, with real trim, grids, and shutters, it does not read as a budget shortcut. It reads as a finished custom home. White frames with a proper head trim and a grid pattern look like they belong on a porch. That is the window we put in.
You can also get better glass packages in vinyl now than you did ten or fifteen years ago. Low-E coatings and a decent insulated unit matter more in East Tennessee than whether the frame is wood or vinyl.
Why we do not use clad
Clad costs more and asks more of you. The interior wood still needs the same care as your trim. The outside metal is the easy part. For the homes we build, high-quality vinyl does the job without that extra cost and extra upkeep.
We would rather put the money into a better vinyl unit and into installing it like it is part of the wall. A more expensive frame does not fix a sloppy opening.
What matters in East Tennessee
Our weather works a window hard. Humid summers. Cold snaps. A lot of sun on west and south walls. A good vinyl unit handles that if it is flashed and sealed right.
Water is the real enemy. Most window problems we see are not the brand of the glass. They are the gap around the unit. If the opening is out of square, if the flashing is skipped, if someone foams it and calls it done, you will get leaks and drafts no matter what you paid.
We treat the window as part of the wall. The unit gets set plumb and square. The flashing ties into the wrap. The exterior is sealed so water has a path away from the house, not into it. That is true on every custom home we build, and it is the part most people never see.
Grids, trim, and the look of the house
Windows are among the first things you notice about a house. The frame material matters less than the details around it. Grids, shutter color, head trim, and how the unit sits in the wall do more for the look than switching to clad.
We pick a vinyl unit with a grid pattern and a clean white frame, then we trim it like the rest of the house. That is how you get a custom look without buying a wood interior you have to keep up with.
The short version
Clad is wood inside, metal outside, and more expensive. Vinyl has a cheap version and a good version. We only use the good version.
If you are building with a residential contractor in Greeneville or anywhere in East Tennessee and you want to see the windows we actually install, come look at a house. Pictures help. Standing in front of one is better.
Contact Idell Construction and we will walk you through the windows on your plans.