Options For Colored Finishes On Windows
With windows and doors being one of the most eye-catching aspects of your home, their color and style can drastically change your house’s overall aesthetic. Nowadays, there are several ways to achieve colored windows on your new home build or remodeling project. Despite the various options for coloring your windows, there are a number of pros and cons that are worth mentioning, which can aid your decision of choosing the best option for your project. Here are some of the most popular options for colored finishes on windows and doors.
Painted Windows
Painting windows has been a popular—and economical—solution for customizing the look of your home for quite some time. Though there is a wide variety of customization available when choosing to paint your windows, there are many negatives that go with it. One of the most significant downsides to paint in comparison with other alternatives is its fragility. Paint is susceptible to cracking, chipping and peeling over time, which is unlikely to happen with a capstock product or a colored laminate. Paint also does not offer the same level of ultraviolet resistance as other alternatives, which can be reflected in your energy bill. Many manufacturers choose to paint their windows so they can reduce inventory and avoid complexity in the manufacturing process.
Capstock Windows
Capstock is another possibility when it comes to customizing the color of your window. More commonly used in decking materials, capstock involves a co-extrusion process where material is extruded in tandem with your lineal. As the two components are being extruded, the capstock is applied over the lineal. A good way to envision capstock is to picture a cap placed on a tooth. The result is a durable, efficient product that is available in a wide array of colors. Due to the manufacturing complexities, this will be reflected in a significant cost increase to the finished product. Capstock is the least common option due to the associated cost and complexity.
Colored laminate Windows
Laminating is a better alternative when applying colored finishes on windows and doors. Laminates are a thin protective film that is applied over a vinyl lineal after it is extruded. Designed with high performance and longevity in mind, laminates also come in a wide variety of colors and textures that offer an abundance of customization for any project.
The premium laminate used in our products is Renolit’s EXOFOL FX. The EXOFOL FX laminate is comprised of multiple thin layers, resulting in a robust film that is resistant to ultraviolet light and scratches, and is only 170-180 microns thick. Additionally, this laminate adheres to the low-maintenance needs of our vinyl windows. The low surface tension is an exceptional repellent for dirt and debris allowing for an easy clean. The EXOFOL FX laminate is salt-air resistant making it an ideal product for coastal applications. We also offer an impressive 20-year warranty on our color laminates; a significant improvement over the standard 10-year warranty companies offer for painted products. Our 20-year warranty protects our colored laminate products against manufacturing defects, including cracking, flaking, blistering, or peeling. Our warranty also protects colored laminates against significant color change for 20 years from the date of manufacture!
There are a few options for colored finishes on windows and we found that a laminate is the best. The low-maintenance, bold colors, thermal performance, and affordability have attributed to the wide popularity of our laminated products throughout the years. For more information about the colored products we offer, please visit our color offerings page.
