[Greenbuilding] availability of tilt-turn European wood windows in US (round II)

[Reuben Deumling]

My search has yielded an interesting site which lists several dozen window
manufacturers: <http://www.4specs.com/s/08/08-5200.html> Half a dozen or so
have recognizably German names and, sure enough, sell (or in a few cases
manufacture) wood windows in the US which feature inward opening casements.
Judging by the portfolio pictures on these manufacturer websites I'm
guessing most of these windows are obscenely expensive, though I hope I'm
wrong.

Luexbaum, Oslo America, Goldbrecht, H. Hirschmann, Europe's Best Windows,
BieberUSA, Bavarian Window Company, Brothers' Custom Windows & Doors,
Tischler und Sohn (who claim to be the first to import them in 1984), etc.
are all brands listed here I had never heard of. Many of them seem to be
located in or be distributed from Florida or California. Has anyone on this
list had experience with any of these manufacturers?

<http://www.brotherswindows.com/products/windows/euro_tilt_turn.asp>

Reuben Deumling

On Nov 5, 2007 4:47 PM, Stephen Collette <stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca>
wrote:

> Sorry Reuben but I don't have a specific answer for you and your
> inward working windows. They don't do super well in the snow area up
> here in Canada. Although, maybe they will now with the warmer weather.
> They certainly do have that dramatic throw open the sash kind of feel.
>
> I have however come across another window that I thought was kind of
> interesting, and it too is German. It's a window that has a thermal
> film on it and this one window can spin so  that in winter thermal
> film faces inwards reflecting heat in, and in the summer spin it so it
> faces outward reflecting the warm sunny stuff out. Sounds interesting
> in theory.
>
> North American link:
> www.ecologicalinnovations.com
> German links:
> www.oeko-logic.de
> www.ksd-berlin.de
>
> I KNOW that someone is going to have some thoughts on these. I've
> emailed the tech rep and he is keen for sure. They are just starting
> up over here so not too much info in English yet.
>
> Stephen
>
> Stephen Collette BBEC, LEED AP
> Principal
> Your Healthy House - Indoor Environmental Testing & Building Consulting
> www.yourhealthyhouse.ca
> stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca
> 705.652.5159
>
> >
> > A style of window common in Germany (and I think much of Europe) is an
> > inward opening casement. The hardware is completely different that
> > what is common in the US--a combination of brilliantly simple hinges
> > and rather complex hidden mechanisms that permit tilting as well as
> > horizontal movement. I'm less concerned with being able to tilt them,
> > though this is very nifty, than with a thermally sound wood window
> > hinged left and right that I can open inward. Marvin makes something
> > along these lines, which they call a tilt-turn-hopper, but if you want
> > a window split down the middle and hinged on both sides like a French
> > Door, they leave a post in the middle and call it a two-wide window...
> > This in CVG fir, I'm told, runs something like $2,500 a
> > piece--probably more when we start talking about simulated divided
> > lites.
> > <http://www.marvin.com/default.aspx?page=Tilt_Turn_And_Hopper#Variations
> > >
> >
> > What I'm looking for is any info on the availability of such windows
> > in the US or Canada without the center post. Has anyone worked with
> > suppliers of these? Twenty years ago we imported thirty of these in a
> > custom size from Germany. That was fun, and fairly affordable, but
> > they were made of Norway Spruce. I'm open to trying this again, but
> > would prefer to keep it a bit more local. Thoughts or experience?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Reuben Deumling
>