First, all of Andersen’s patio door models are made of tempered glass, which is four times stronger than regular glass.

But it’s Andersen’s five-point locking system that really seals the deal. Just as it sounds, this door locks five ways. Here’s how it works:

When you throw the deadbolt, which by the way is longer than the average deadbolt, you are in fact locking two other locks at the same time, one at the top that hooks downward and one at the bottom that hooks upward. These two hooks grab and literally capture the other door frame, holding it firmly in place. This means that the door cannot be jimmied, kicked in or even buffetted by high winds.

Now, there’s a locking system on the other panel, so when the handle on that door is closed to lock up, it drives a pin over an inch long upward into the header of the door
and another pin of the same length downward into the threshold of the door, firmly and securely holding that door into its frame. Again, no chance of the door being raised or lowered, jimmied or kicked in.

Five points of security!

Finally, let’s not forget that Andersen French patio doors are solidly constructed too, with solid wood on the interior and reinforced composite material on the exterior. As with all Andersen products, these doors are built to last—and endure.

Definitely, you and your family will sleep soundly if you have an Andersen French patio door. Here’s an interesting video that demonstrates this fantastic five-point locking system in action.

The beauty of a replacement window is that it will leave the existing interior trim intact and the existing buck frame of the old window in place and intact! This reduces your time and concern about the home immediately.

You are going to have to measure beforehand to get a proper fit, so that means you are going to be measuring to the existing buck frame so you can get that replacement window built to within about an eighth of inch of the width and an eighth of inch of the height of the smallest measurement, top middle and bottom.

As for removing the sashes before the installation, you can either cut the interior stops or the exterior stops, depending on your preference. However, for an older home, I would suggest that you remove the sashes from the outside, to avoid any interior damage to the paint for example.

Once you cut the exterior stops, remove the storm window, if you have one. Put the top sash halfway down and the bottom sash halfway up, and if they have the old aluminum tracks, just fold them around the sashes and then just yank the sashes out from the outside. Everything inside has been left intact.

Now, you are ready to install your new replacement window. Since there are a series of important steps, I do have the window installation steps outlined with photos on my website. It’ll be much easier than trying to visualize my set of written instructions!

I am glad to see news like this in the national press. The Washington Post reports that the FTC is coming down on home improvement companies that make exaggerated claims. The companies sited claim you will see a 50% savings on your energy bills this year — some even “guaranteed” the savings.

This kind of advertising hurts the industry and insults the American consumer. Why?

Well, first of all, claims that you will save, say, 50% on your energy bills this year over last year cannot be proven—there is no way that you can demonstrate that replacement windows can actually save you a specific percentage in your energy bills. There are just too many variables.

If you look at the fine print, you will see that the burden of proof rests on you, the homeowner, because you would have to supply bills as well as usage stats. Frankly, that’s hard for the homeowner to do because there are so many factors to consider.

Each home is going to be different— its location, its size, the number of residents at any given time, the insulation package, any existing windows—these are just some of the variables that will ultimately determine the savings a homeowner can truly realize.

And then there’s the temperature differentials! Just think about it — last winter, 2011, compared to this winter. Last year was unseasonably cold and in 2012 we’re experiencing one of the warmest winters on the continent in a decade. How can a homeowner start to account for the energy savings? Is it because of the windows? Or the mild weather?

That’s why Andersen replacement windows, Renewal by Andersen, and Mr. Rogers Windows have subscribed to a policy of integrity in advertising and integrity in pricing. The windows we carry are tested by Energy Star and certified by Energy Star – that means they have been proven to save you a minimum of 15% on your heating and cooling bills.

Andersen’s advanced technology and long standing research and development (since 1903) have allowed them to claim a 25% savings on heating and cooling costs. This is neither unrealistic or exaggerated, given the rigorous standards to which they adhere and the advancements they have achieved in the window industry.

So it comes down to a quality product plus substantiated and well-documented testing by an independent source, like the government’s Energy Star program and the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC). In fact, the FTC’s suggestion that consumers look for the NFRC label when shopping for windows is a good one, or check their website, because the NFRC oversees the Energy Star program, and their ratings are the one to trust.

The numbers you find on the NFRC label will tell you what you need to know as a consumer, and the Energy Star label is your guarantee that the window has been tested and certified! Remember also that your new replacement windows should be sold, installed, supported and serviced by a company that subscribes to integrity in installation practices, pricing and advertising.

Either way, cleaning the glass is easy once you have your windows open and positioned to clean, but don’t forget to lubricate the window tracks when the sashes are open. If you spray the outside and inside tracks on both sides of the window with a silicone window lubricant, they will continue to operate with ease for you until the next cleaning.

The main reason why you should just re-install the window is this: every glider window has an internal drainage systems in the bottom track. So, if the drainage system with its weep holes is not where it belongs, which is at the bottom of the window, that track is just going to fill up with water, which will overflow and leak down inside your wall rather than drain out the weep holes. This may be happening already…

This is bad for three reasons: (1) Your window will never function properly as is, (2) this is definitely going to void your warranty and (3) it’s going to cause damage to your house because it’s not draining properly.

Believe me, it’s must easier (and cheaper) to re-install the window!

The high transparency screen is made of a stainless steel mesh that has a finer weave and is made of a thinner fiber. You may be able to purchase a finer mesh material and have it stretched over your existing frames. I don’t know if that is possible. Keep me posted if you do locate a solution so I can pass it along to our readers.

Tempered glass, remember, is type of safety glass. It’s been processed to increase its strength compared with normal glass. When broken, tempered glass crumbles into small, granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards like normal glass does. These granular chunks are less likely to cause injury.

So if the glass in your transom, above your entry door, ever broke—for whatever reason—large, jagged shards of glass will not be raining down on you or your family. All patio doors are tempered glass as well. It’s a safer solution.

Single pane glass door panels are easy for burglars to break.

You could add a full iron bar security door, if you want to, but why cover up an entry door with ugly iron bars when you can keep the beauty of the front door and still be secure?

So to “beef up” the door itself for maximum security, here are my four recommendations:

• A Steel Door: It’s pretty rare that intruders will break through a door slab, whether it’s steel or fiberglass. (And by “slab” I just mean the panel of your door—you know, the part that swings open and closed.)

But certainly a steel slab would add additional security.

Just make sure you look for commercial gauge steel. Commercial grade is 20 gauge. The higher the number— 22, 24, 26, 28 — the thinner the steel, the kind of entry door you would find at Home Depot or Lowes in other words.

• A Reinforced Frame: The actual frame of the door should be reinforced with steel too, but the only critical place for reinforcement is the area around the deadbolt. Intruders tend to pry open locks or they’ll kick the lock right out at its ¾ inch wood frame where the deadbolt goes through. A door is only as secure as its weakest point, and the weakest point is usually the frame. A ¾ inch wood frame will just pop right out if hit with enough force.

You don’t need a steel frame around the entire door (usually not made for residential doors anyway), but you can get doors with 20-gauge steel reinforcement plates inside the frame that the deadbolt slips into. That stops intruders in their tracks because they have to do a lot of kicking and they are going to be making a lot of noise doing so. They’ll just move on.

• A Better, Stronger Deadbolt: Use a full 1-inch throw deadbolt, not ¾ inch. That extra ¼ inch on the bolt makes a big difference in terms of security. Think about it – more steel going into steel!

• How was the door installed in the first place? Installation is critical. A good installation uses a full 3-inch self-drilling, self-tapping screw, so you have a full 1 ½ set screw that is going through the hinge, through the door frame and into the stud. And if you do that with every screwhole in the hinge, that will really anchor the door into the 2 x 4. Most doors are installed with 1 ½ inch drywall screws, and that’s just not enough bite! So take care with the door installation as well.

First of all, you are simply going to lose on energy efficiency. The reason being is that when you put blinds between glass you really cannot create a “sealed” space. The best energy-efficient windows still consist of two pieces of glass with a gas fill sandwiched in between to slow down heat loss. You lose the seal once you introduce another element in the space. And it’s valuable space too, being taken up by a blind!

So in order to achieve the same energy efficiency you enjoy with a regular energy-efficient window without blinds in between, you have to go to a triple pane window. Once you do that, your cost factor is going to soar. They’re expensive. And let’s not forget that they are still not sealed where the blind is! The triple pane construction is actually a storm panel butterfly-clipped on.

Other reasons? Plenty. If something goes wrong with the blinds between the glass, you are going to experience some difficulties in terms of repair, and if you ever decide to change the décor and you need to change the window treatments, you are stuck with the color and design. In both cases you are most likely looking at replacing the whole window.

Frankly, the whole blinds between the glass fad has become a bit of a dinosaur, thanks to all the problems and issues people have experienced with them.

A much better (cheaper in the long run) option I suggest is to hire a window treatment consultant or an interior decorator and just explore all the wonderful window treatment options you could possibly get for your windows. There is so much choice out there these days, why limit yourself with a blinds-between-the-glass window!