When Chris was talking about her window replacements, it got me thinking. When we first moved here and got our house I never knew why aluminum windows were so popular here. Are they better heat tolerant than other materials? Back in San Francisco, they were popularly vinyl, and I preferred them over aluminum because they looked prettier and appeared sturdier.

I was taken aback with aluminum when one of them had to be replaced. To our unfortunate luck, the actual wood framing of the window was not perfectly square which made the new replacement pretty difficult to install. The guy nonchalantly banged that aluminum to mold to the shape of the mishapen rectangular window frame. Once he cracked the window because of his intense banging with a rubber mallet so he had to order a replacement of the replacement. The second time, he chipped the double glass pane with his makeshift screwdriver window tool and tried to hide it. Very professional. Then the last time, a different guy installed it but the window’s locking mechanisms weren’t as secure as we would have hoped. Do I need to say that I had a very bad first impression with aluminum windows because of this experience? So my question again is why aluminum? Will vinyl melt in Arizona? So much to learn… Sigh…