Kolbe Windows Or Trimline

For brick to brick replacement of wood windows, I am comparing these 2 products. The Trimline is MUCH
more economical and I would greatly appreciate comments from anybody on how these 2 products compare.
Is it worth the money to pay for Kolbe, or is just they are a much more established name?

Thanks

xistent

in Doors & Windows 13 years and 10 months ago

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tcohen | 13 years ago

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Stay away from Kolbe – the windows in my house rotted from the inside within 10 years. It cost me 6K to fix recently, and I was told that it will cost 30K over the life of the windows. Trying to find if anyone else has had this problem?

dfch | 13 years and 7 months ago

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I own a brownstone on the UWS (sorry but not a Brooklyn brownstone owner) and have used this site for information. I have looked at many different window manufacturers (the top are Marvin, Pella and the lesser known Kolbe) and after a long and very detailed process I decided on Kolbe wood windows. For top quality wood windows, it was a decision between Marvin and Kolbe and Kolbe won. I had a brick to brick installation done for the 5 floors of my brownstone (15 windows with the parlour floor windows being over 90 inches tall)). The installation was done just 2 months ago (Aug2011) and Kolbe did  everything right. The windows were well wrapped and delivered with no damage. The installation took a week and everything was done to my satisfaction by vendor/installer (a rep from the Kolbe distributor inspected the job and had vendor/installer correct some issues).  Since it has only be a short time since the installation, I can only say that Kolbe windows look solid and I have had no problem to date. The issue maybe with vendor/installer (for jparness).  I learned it makes a HUGE difference if you are properly serviced (which includes proper installation).

jparnass | 13 years and 10 months ago

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We just had a horrible experience using Kolbe on a job.  The entire order was messed up by every middleman involved (and there are many when you use Kolbe), and after interminable delays, we had multiple windows arrive cracked, and others off by 10″ or more in size.  And then the ensuing finger pointing. Never again!

callalily | 13 years and 10 months ago

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I’ve never seen or heard of Kolbe. I’ve seen the Trimline wood windows, and they are very clunky. I’d go with aluminum before Trimline wood. Anderson, Pella, and Marvins are wood windows that look better, but they’re very costly. Inspect the product in person before you buy.