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Woodland Windows and Doors Blog
This is where we will post relevant articles, information, and how-to's related to all things windows and doors. Check back often for updates and new information!
One of the most popular choices of exterior doors are French and sliding patio doors. Besides opening your home to expansive views, these choices let in light making them beautiful and desirable additions to your home.
The major feature of French or sliding patio doors is the glass pane or panes, which can pose a security risk. Burglars may look through the glass to see if anyone is inside the home, they may try to break the glass, or push in a double French door configuration.
If these beautiful glass doors would be perfect for your home, the good news is that there are multiple options with today’s quality modern glass doors that can reduce the risk of intrusion.
MARVIN FRENCH DOORS
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You’ve settled into your dream home that you purchased last year when a huge storm blows through your area. Rain pounding against the house and streaks of water wash across your windows and doors. You scamper around your home ensuring yourself that all the windows and doors are securely closed when you notice a small water puddle on the floor next to the sliding patio door. You wipe it up and the next morning the floor is still dry and you conclude that it was just a hard pounding rain the likes of which no barrier could have kept some amount of water from penetrating.
Poor Installation is a Common Problem
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Leaking condominium windows are not always obvious, that is of course, until the problem is hard to ignore. Most CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions) assign windows as the homeowner’s responsibility, yet when leaking windows become a structural concern the association typically assumes the project of replacing the windows in the entire building.
While the question of who will pay for the new windows is important, if you have a system wide problem, the question is who will diagnose and solve the problem? The common expense and unit costs can be determined after project estimates are obtained.
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You’ve just spent months, if not years making the decision to replace your leaky inefficient windows. You’ve taken the leap and selected the best windows that your budget could manage. Now comes one more decision, which may be the biggest one you’ll make – who will install your new windows and what is their installation process? Remember this -no shortcuts allowed.
Full Frame Installation
Before signing a sales order for your replacement windows, select an installer and take the time to see at least one finished installations. Know the proper steps to install your type of window, for your particular home. Before you sign the installation contract read the detail.
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Nearly thirty-four years have past since President Reagan delivered his first Christmas address to the nation December 23, 1981. We hope you will find this message inspirational and we wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas.
View Reagan's message to the American People at Christmas.
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Earlier this year our blog titled “Want that model home feel? Aim high”, suggested that the very act of creating taller windows and doors in your home increases the wow factor found in model homes. The desire to create that model home feel in your own home is a sentiment many homeowners express. Another design secret is the importance of detail.
Once a home’s style is determined, what makes that style come alive is attention to detail. It’s important that you take the time to select the windows, doors and other objects in your home beginning with three design principles.
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| Kolettehall.wordpress.com |
In his first Thanksgiving proclamation, President Reagan wrote: "America has much for which to be thankful. The unequaled freedom enjoyed by our citizens has provided a harvest of plenty to this Nation throughout its history. In keeping with America's heritage, one day each year is set aside for giving thanks to God for all of His blessings. ... As we celebrate Thanksgiving ... We should reflect on the full meaning of this day as we enjoy the fellowship that is so much a part of the holiday festivities. Searching our hearts, we should ask what we can do as individuals to demonstrate our gratitude to God for all He has done. Such reflection can only add to the significance of this precious day of remembrance. Let us recommit ourselves to that devotion to God and family that has played such an important role in making this a great Nation, and which will be needed as a source of strength if we are to remain a great people.
This is the genuine spirit of Thanksgiving.
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Some of the most beautiful neighborhoods around Chicago and its suburbs are the old tree lined streets of traditional homes. Famous for it’s historic architecture Chicago reflects the best of classic homes through the years. Prairie, craftsman, Victorian, farmhouse, brick row houses, limestone mansions – we’ve got it all. If you love the traditional styles that have defined our beautiful area, but want modern functionality – learn how you can mix traditional styles with modern products.
The benefits of remodeling or building a new home using modern windows, skylights, doors, siding, sunrooms and other building products are quite simple; ease of use, better performance, lower utility costs and less maintenance.
Ease of use and better performance
Today’s products are produced using new technologies that make life easier. For example, built in and auto controlled window treatments can be preset to open and close at optimal times. They are simple to use, while maximizing daylight and minimizing unwanted heat gain or loss. There are multi-point door locking systems that engage automatically when the door is closed.
Lower utility costs
Without argument, low E dual and triple pane insulated glass lowers costs over the length of owning your home. Other improvements like insulated oversized glass, gives you more natural daylight to keep your home warm and reduces your need for electric lighting. Modern skylights with special coatings and ventilation are now built in new forms that can direct light and control ventilation in a room.
| Source: Velux |
Less maintenance
Whether you purchase natural wood windows or synthetic vinyl windows, more than ever before, today’s finishes have a higher resiliency to weathering, mold or mildew. Modern windows tilt inward for easy cleaning and offer water spot resistant surfaces for skylights and hard to reach picture or awning windows.
Traditional exterior and transitional interior
One way to combine the desire for a traditional home with an equal desire to use modern materials is by blending classic style with a few contemporary elements. Keep the traditional exterior façade, while using more contemporary materials for the interior. For example you can choose that classic red brick Georgian exterior and add more windows and glass patio doors, rather than the traditional small and sparse windows. Select traditional brick moldings made of low maintenance composites or vinyl around the windows, rather than the higher maintenance wood choice.
| Source: Marvin |
The interior can be less traditional with an open floor plan that invites in more natural light. Create entire window walls without completely violating the traditional style of your home by using multiple French doors with glass transoms for a floor to ceiling light wall. Modern folding doors are an alternative if selected in dark hardwoods for a more traditional look. And replacing stationary transoms with remote controlled awnings will help ventilate your home creating cross breezes that will cut down on energy consumption.
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“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Merry Christmas from Woodland Windows and Doors
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Sharing this blog post by: Mark Roberts, Patheos.com
Now, I know this sounds like pop psychobabble. But, in fact, serious research suggests that expressing gratitude for your blessings will, indeed, help you to be both happier and healthier.
Among the studies that demonstrate this connection, one is described in an article from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In “Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life,” Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, report on their research. I’ll try to summarize their methodology and findings here.
Emmons and McCullough did three separate studies with groups of 201, 166, and 65 people. In all three groups, some participants kept a journal entry of their blessings. Other participants were to keep a record of their “hassles” or of merely “neutral” events. All participants were required to record aspects of their well-being, including “moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals.” What were Emmons and McCullough seeking to discover?
Here’s their statement of purpose for the study. In the spirit of understanding the link between gratitude and happiness, the purpose of this research is to experimentally investigate the effects of a “grateful outlook” on psychological and physical well being. More specifically, we address whether relative to focusing on complaints or on neutral life events, a focus on “counting one’s blessings” leads to enhanced psychological and physical functioning.
So, what did the researchers find? In their own words.There do appear to exist benefits to regularly focusing on one’s blessings. The advantages are most pronounced when compared with a focus on hassles or complaints, yet are still apparent in comparison with simply reflecting the major events in one’s life, on ways in which one believes one is better off than comparison with others, or with a control group. In Study 1, we found that a weekly benefit listing was associated with more positive and optimistic appraisals of one’s life, more time spent exercising, and fewer reported physical symptoms. In Study 2, self-guided daily gratitude exercises were associated with higher levels of positive affect. People led to focus on their blessings were also more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or offered emotional support to another, suggesting prosocial motivation as a consequence of the gratitude induction . . . . We found that random assignment to the gratitude condition resulted in greater levels of positive affect, more sleep, better sleep quality, and greater optimism and a sense of connectedness to others. In Study 3, we even found that the gratitude intervention led to reductions in negative affect [for those suffering with neuromuscular disease] . . . [emphasis added].
In a nutshell, Emmons and McCullough found that people who considered their blessings and expressed gratitude were happier and healthier. They tended to be more active in helping others. And they also slept better. People suffering from illness experienced a lessening of negative affect.
You may be inclined to say that this study simply confirmed common sense and common experience. I agree. I’m not especially surprised by any of this. But I am impressed that when people take time to think about and record their blessings, their lives improve demonstrably and tangibly.
So here’s a reason to take time to feel thankful and to express your gratitude: you’ll have a better life.
Now, as a Christian, I believe there are other reasons to thank God, beginning with the fact that God deserves our gratitude. Then, of course, there’s the fact that Scripture calls us to be thankful. Then, there’s the positive impact of gratitude upon others. But, if you’re inclined to wonder about whether thanksgiving can make a difference in your own life, now you know. It will make your life better.
“But,” you may want to object, “I’m going through a particularly difficult time right now. How can I be thankful when . . .?” You fill in the blank with whatever ailment or challenge or pain is haunting you right now. Is it possible to thank God when life is hard?http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/season-of-thanksgiving/
From our family to yours on Thanksgiving Day
Giving Thanks for All Things
Ephesians 5:20 “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Woodland Windows and Doors, Inc.
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724 Hits
Have you ever heard the term slippery slope? It means an idea or course of action, which will inevitably lead to something unacceptable, wrong or disastrous. At Woodland Windows and Doors, we think window and door installations done improperly are like a slippery slope – once they start heading downhill they keep going downhill. There are some things that as a business, you just have invest in, in order to ensure the job is done right. We at Woodland think that installation is one of those things.
How hard can it be to install windows and doors? Tricky for a professional who's learned the ins and outs - largely because of all the things that can go wrong. Woodland recognized years ago that the surest way to fail was to leave the fate of our customer’s job in the hands of others. We’ve experienced the slippery slope first hand such as, when a few windows arrive defective, but it goes unnoticed until they’re put into the window opening or a second story window requires special equipment to reach it, which wasn’t planned for. We know how quickly a job can go downhill and we know that the surest way to deliver an expert job is to control every aspect of it with trained people who are committed to a perfect outcome.
The stories about botched installations, and even worse service after the problem, are legion among families, friends, neighbors and strangers who post their stories on the Internet.
The Installers didn’t show up when they were scheduled. I called the store where I bought the windows and the job manager apologized for the delay, but said he couldn’t locate the sub-contracted installers and gave me their cell phone number to keep trying to reach them myself. They arrived six hours later and weren’t able to finish the job in the one day that had been quoted. I had to rearrange my plans to accommodate them to come back the next day. Yep, you guessed it; they arrived an hour and a half later than the scheduled time.
The installers didn’t clean up as promised. They clearly didn't work for the company that we'd bought the windows from and it took two days, and my withholding the signed job completion form, before they returned to remove the old windows and trash – something that had been guaranteed by the salesperson. They didn’t cover the entire work area and it took me two days to clean up after them.
The installers didn't carry extra tools and parts in their truck. Before applying the finishing touches to the last two of our replacement windows, the installer ran out of caulk and touch up paint to cover the nail holes in the frames. When I followed the guy back to his truck to check on his supplies, it was clear that installing windows was a side job and he wasn’t prepared for any contingencies.
The installers rushed through the job. It was as though they’d underpriced their bid that at one point, I joked, that they must have another job to go to after ours. Frankly, judging from the off brand, discount warehouse, house-wrap, tape and tubes of caulk they were responsible for supplying the materials as well.
The installers left without finishing the job to our satisfaction. Before the installers left I noticed on two windows the keepers (locks) were broken. It was a typical Chicago winter and cold air was leaking in and keep in mind, we couldn’t secure the sashes. They suggested that we call the store tomorrow for replacements and left. It was a week before the new parts arrived.
And so it goes, with some horrific customer service nightmares containing every possible combination of things that can go wrong. Did you hear about the house at the bottom of the hill, whose owners had to hire a qualified contractor to remove and re-install every window?
Marvin Infinity Casements Installation
Installation, whether you are replacing your old windows or having new windows added to your home, requires careful planning, flawless execution, and superior response times to address those unforeseen problems. It’s a process that must be owned from the beginning to the end. Did the person who measured your job, check their measurements before the order was placed? Or did that person walk through the job with the installers? The best way, the only way, to achieve a flawless level of performance is to build a professional team of skilled people who don’t just show up, but who own the work down to the last keeper – if it doesn’t lock the job’s not done.
We don’t use sub-contractors for window and door installation and we hope you won’t either.
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A homeowners’ association (HOA) is simply an independent legal organization formed by a group of homeowners that establishes rules and regulations with regard to what is accepted and what is not accepted in homes, flats, condominiums, etc. An HOA is also mandated with the task to oversee the rules and determine the money spent on communal property.
Homeowners associations are gaining in popularity in neighborhoods and communities throughout Chicago. With that said, more and more homeowners are joining these associations in order to protect their rights. Most townhouses, single-family subdivisions, and condominium have their own HOAs.
The CC&R’s or Covenant, Conditions & Restrictions are usually issued to members, and there are rules and regulations to ensure that they’re observed. The CC&Rs can control or limit how a homeowner can use their property or shared property. For instance, a Covenant, Conditions & Restrictions may have established rules determining the colors a homeowner can paint his/her home, who can occupy the property, or the times at which joint social amenities such as pools and community playgrounds can be used.
The main goal of CC&Rs is not to frustrate owners, but to make the place enjoyable for all occupants. However, a potential home buyer ought to consult one or two existing homeowners before buying a property that comes with HOA membership.
Features of HOAs
Members are normally billed compulsory fees. There’s usually a controlling board that appoints a manager to oversee law enforcement and handle repair or remodeling issues. Homeowners associations are authorized to order and put into effect design and maintain, standards with the exception of those established by the country’s government.
Some HOAs will maintain public social amenities, provide security, arrange for community landscaping, and control waste like sewage and garbage.
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Gutter systems are an important part of any home. If your gutters are wearing out, the best time to replace is when you have a new roof put on your home.
Most homes in the Chicago area have rain gutter systems. They are designed to control the flow of rainwater by channeling it away from the home. Gutters are meant to protect the home’s fascia, foundation, roof, and siding from water damage. Moreover, they control landscape erosion and prevent basement flooding. They are very essential for any home.
Gutter systems come in two main shapes: the half round style and K-Style (an open rectangle). Half round gutters have a curdled top surface edge. Half round gutters are often fitted with a peg support across the top. There is also a threaded rod that curves to the roof’s angle and is attached in place beneath the shingles. K-Style gutters have flat surfaces and are usually fixed into the fascia board.
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Woodland Exteriors Schumburg Gutter Replacement
A gutter system is one of the essential items on a home, yet it is typically neglected. If your home doesn’t have functioning gutters, you run the risk of having exterior wall damage, eroding foundations, or flooding basements. Also, if your home has gutters that weren't properly installed or lack proper maintenance, roof leaks can easily occur, causing major structural problems that can cost you a lot of money.
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There comes a time when you will be required to replace your gutters because just fixing them won’t make any difference. It is more economical to have the system replaced than to spend money on regular repair work.
Although it may seem expensive to replace your existing gutter system, this will eventually pay off in the long run. You will need to replace your gutter once it has started to show the following signs:
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Rain gutters are an important part of a home’s roofing system. Many homeowners are installing gutters each year throughout Bartlett. However, there is very limited information available to guide or educate property owners about gutter systems. That is why this post is created to provide an accurate, comprehensive, and informative guide to help you learn more about gutters. This will help you make good choices when shopping for these systems, as well when getting them installed or replaced.
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New EPA guidelines on how to deal with lead paints in remodeling projects was effected in 2010. This caused significant changes in the cost and procedures involved with remodeling old homes. Also, the new EPA guidelines require homeowners to hire contractors that are RRP certified. Exposure to lead dust during the painting, repair, and renovation process can pose a health risk since lead is extremely toxic. Although most countries have banned lead based paints, such paints can be still found under older painted walls and other surfaces, such as in schools, residential buildings, and even in hospitals.
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Gutter systems are essential components of a home’s roofing structure and a lifetime investment in your home’s infrastructure. More and more gutter systems are installed every year across the nation. Yet, there is hardly any sufficient information available to guide or enlighten homeowners when buying, replacing or installing new gutter systems. This is why this article is written to be an accurate and reliable source for everything you’ve always wanted to know about gutters. As a result, you’ll be able to make good choices when selecting, buying, or replacing a gutter system.
Let’s face it, gutter installation or roofing in general is not something the average homeowner should deal with on their own - you will need a professional to help you.
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There are a couple of things you need to think of when giving your home a facelift: Should you remodel your bedroom first, or the rest room? Should you remodel your entire home, or add some few rooms? How do you answer such questions? But did the thought of lead in your remodeling project ever cross your mind? If yes, you might want to learn the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines first.
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