When customers visit the showroom of Royal Windows and Doors in Whitby, they’ll find the fully installed windows on display are just a sampling of the many choices in colours and styles available. With so many options, it can be hard to know where to start and that’s where expert help makes a crucial difference.
“Once we get the measurements, we can help customers choose styles,” says owner Melanie Hodgson. “Some window styles have size limitations.”
Royal Windows and Doors, which sends its own expert installation crews to the customer’s home, prefers to do all initial measuring to ensure accuracy. Then Mrs. Hodgson can help the customer select windows that will complement their home and budget.
“If the window is tall, you can put a horizontal slider at the bottom. You can combine them.”
Slider windows all tilt inward for easy cleaning, an advantage especially on second-storey levels, Mrs. Hodgson points out.
Sometimes customers have a type of window in mind that just won’t work for the opening, she adds. “One lady with a 60-inch tall window wanted an awning window. You can’t have an awning window 60 inches tall, so we changed that to casement.”
Casement windows, which open outward with a crank handle, are a popular choice and casements at Royal Windows and Doors come with patented, magnetic screens for easy cleaning.
With nearly 20 years’ experience helping homeowners in Durham Region upgrade their windows, Mrs. Hodgson gently dissuades her customers away from any plan to combine certain window styles on the front of a home that won’t look right.
“On the front of a house, keep styles consistent,” she advises. “Casement windows have a nice, clean look on the front. Sliders have a horizontal or vertical bar, and they look very different. They don’t combine well.”
Customers choosing casement windows for the front to add curb appeal might do well to choose another style for side bathrooms and rear-facing bedroom windows to cut down on costs, she adds.
Horizontal sliding windows can be a good choice for a large opening but won’t go too tall, she points out. “If you have your heart set on a certain kind of window it might not fit,” she cautions.
Royal Windows and Doors, which prides itself on going the extra mile for its customers and on its Energy-Star rated products, offers superior windows manufactured by Vinyl Window Designs. “Bigger manufacturers sell a lot of windows to companies like us who want to keep customers happy; they want as little service as possible so they make an exceptional product,” says Mrs. Hodgson.
The experienced installers at Royal Windows and Doors offer two types of installation: retrofit, where the old frame is left intact, and “full frame out”, which includes new trim, a factory installed brick moulding and a better degree of insulation. “It really is worth it,” says Mrs. Hodgson of full frame out installation.
Windows today come in a wide range of colours – perhaps 60 shades to choose from, adds Mrs. Hodgson. “Everyone wants black and dark brown now,” she notes. “But black doesn’t suit every home. A modern house, it may suit more.”
Customers should consider that trendy colours may be out of fashion in a few years, so anyone planning on selling their home will do better to stick with white or neutral shades, she adds.
Windows at Royal Windows and Doors carry a lifetime manufacturers’ warranty. Visit the showroom at 1380 Hopkins Street, or call 905-720-1818, or 905-427-1877.
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