What You Need to Know about Marvin Windows

What Is the Marvin Brand?

Marvin is a renowned company that produces doors and windows. They originally began in the lumber and cedar business back in 1912 before switching gears to home renovations. All along, they’ve remained a family-run company. Today, the company’s CEO is Paul Marvin. 

What Are the Marvin Product Lines?

As you browse through Marvin’s website or work with a window installation company specializing in Marvin products, you’ll come across several product lines. These are Marvin Essential (formerly called Integrity All Ultrex or Marvin Infinity), Marvin Elevate (formerly called Integrity Wood-Ultrex or Marvin Integrity), and the Signature Collection (formerly called Marvin Windows and Doors or Marvin Ultimate).

Here’s an overview of these series.

Marvin Essential Series

The windows in the Marvin Essential Series feature interiors and exteriors made of fiberglass. This reduces the maintenance these durable windows require. Marvin calls the windows in this collection “versatile” with “clean lines” and a “streamlined” look. 

Offered in the Marvin Essential Series are window designs like:

  • Essential specialty shapes
  • Essential single hung
  • Essential round top
  • Essential picture
  • Essential glider
  • Essential double hung
  • Essential casement
  • Essential awning 

Marvin Elevate Series

While the Marvin Elevate Series also has exteriors made of fiberglass, that’s where the similarities end to the Essential Series. The wooden interiors of the Elevate windows add appeal and warmth to your home. The outer fiberglass surfaces keep the windows strong and tough against changing weather. In fact, the fiberglass Marvin uses in the Elevate Series exceeds fiberglass composites, roll-form aluminum, and vinyl in terms of lifespan and performance. 

You can select from such window options in the Elevate Series as:

  • Elevate specialty shapes
  • Elevate round top
  • Elevate picture
  • Elevate glider
  • Elevate double hung insert
  • Elevate casement narrow frame
  • Elevate bow
  • Elevate bay
  • Elevate awning narrow frame 

Marvin Signature Series

Then there’s the Marvin Signature Series, the third window line from the brand. Within the Signature Series family, you’ll find the Signature Modern and Signature Ultimate lines. The Signature Modern windows are made of fiberglass with a higher density that increases thermal performance. In the Signature Ultimate line, the windows have aluminum cladding and wooden interiors.

What Are Marvin Windows Made of?

There are several favored materials Marvin relies on when designing and constructing their windows. These materials continue the promise of high-quality workmanship Marvin’s many customers have come to expect from the brand’s windows and doors. 

Everwood

The windows in the Infinity Series use Marvin’s own wood product known as Everwood. This wood type appears on the window’s interior. Not only does Everwood look stunning, but it’s virtually maintenance-free as well.

This is due to how Everwood is made, as inorganic materials are used. Thus, the wood doesn’t behave like standard wood does. It’s at no risk of decaying or warping from moisture absorption. Also, Everwood will not expand, contract, degrade, or become discolored with time. 

The great quality of Everwood means there’s never any need to refinish it, sand it down, or scrape it. Should you want your Everwood windows to have a look that’s closer to the rest of the woodwork in your home, you can stain it yourself. You won’t believe Everwood isn’t real wood by how it looks and feels. 

Wood

Marvin does use true wood in some of its window series, especially the Signature Series. The company even offers exterior wood cladding for a touch of rustic class to your home. All wood Marvin uses is of the best quality, including when sourcing and processing it. Marvin works with several select wood suppliers, most of whom Marvin has long-term relationships with (some of these partnerships lasting more than two decades).

To further guarantee the quality of the wood used in its windows series, Marvin works with trusted wood experts. As professionals, these experts underwent specific schooling in wood grading. They also continue to train each year to stay current on changing wood trends, helping Marvin put out wooden windows of only the best quality. 

Marvin’s wooden windows have a warmth that’s unmatched. The wood also insulates well, and you can customize it, finish it, stain it, or do other treatments without degrading quality. 

Extruded Aluminum 

Those Marvin windows that include aluminum cladding also boast extruded aluminum around the exterior. This not only enhances performance, but it allows the windows to have a secondary layer of protection. 

All aluminum that Marvin uses for its windows meets the 2605 standard set by the American Architectural Manufacturers Association or AAMA. This standard ensures the extruded aluminum will retain its color and resist chalking for at least a decade. 

To prove its confidence with the quality of the extruded aluminum used in its products, Marvin offers a warranty good for 20 years on all its cladded finishes. This warranty protects against fading, adhesion loss, and chalking. 

All extruded aluminum includes PVDF fluoropolymer to enhance finish performance. Further, Marvin staff tests the aluminum via a pre-treatment phase that has five intensive steps. This reduces the risk of adhesion loss.

You can select from up to 19 colors for your extruded aluminum Marvin windows. There are also many ways to customize the shape, design, and style to better match your own personal tastes.  

Ultrex Fiberglass 

Ultrex fiberglass is another staple Marvin material found in many of its windows. This fiberglass meets the 624 verifications as set by the AAMA, which demands stringent tests for quality and performance. No other fiberglass currently on the market has passed the same verifications. 

Snow, rain, other temperature and weather extremes, and even wind or heat will not degrade the quality of Marvin’s Ultrex fiberglass windows. The shape won’t change drastically, either. Instead, Ultrex behaves like glass, expanding and contracting subtly when glass does. 

The beauty of Ultrex will remain even years after installation, as Marvin designed their fiberglass in such a way that it retains its clean, polished look. Adding further to that appeal is that Ultrex fiberglass won’t corrode, fade, chip, or chalk. 

What Makes Marvin Windows So Expensive?

Of all the residential window brands, Marvin windows cost the most. What contributes so much to this high price? 

  • The materials used are of the utmost quality, often passing very strict testing before they’re incorporated into Marvin products. 
  • Marvin offers a Limited Warranty on its products that’s expansive and quite beneficial to the consumer. For all that coverage, you end up paying for the warranty as part of the cost of the window. 
  • Besides its materials assurance, Marvin also has a quality control team. They test the windows rigorously in all areas of safety and quality. This team will do repeat inspections from the beginning to the end of the manufacturing process. 
  • The machines used for constructing the windows are top-market and can provide the beloved details that have made Marvin windows such a namesake. 
  • Brand recognition also factors into the price. If the Marvin name is on a set of windows, then there’s a general expectation of quality, craftsmanship, and durability. The brand must continue to live up to and exceed expectations, which it does to a T. 

What Is the Energy Performance of Marvin Windows? 

While beauty is undeniably one good reason to choose the Marvin brand of windows, many consumers care about energy performance as well. They want windows that can trap in heat and coolness, reducing a consumer’s reliance on the thermostat. They also prefer windows with airtight seals that don’t leech this comfortable air outside or let cold/hot air in.

Many of Marvin’s windows are ENERGY STAR certified with a high energy efficiency rating. Not only can you expect better temperature retention in your home then, but you can also give your thermostat a much-needed break. This lessens your energy bill, putting more money in your pocket. 

Reasons to Get Marvin Windows 

Marvin is an unbeatable windows brand for their quality, care, and attention to detail with all their products. If that alone doesn’t convince you to choose Marvin windows for your next home remodel, then these reasons should:

  • The wood that’s used in all Marvin windows Chicago is sourced sustainably so as not to cause further harm to our environment 
  • The structure of the windows will not change as the temperatures increase or decrease, keeping the windows foundationally sound 
  • When it comes to meeting industry standards, Marvin blows these standards out of the water in just about every way imaginable 
  • Their Ultrex fiberglass is one of the most durable window materials on the market today
  • Everwood gives off the appearance and even the feel of real wood but without the warping, fading, and other risks that come with using true wood for your windows
  • The customization options are very impressive, as consumers can select from many elements of their window and change these to their specifications 
  • Marvin offers prefinished wooden windows so consumers don’t have to spend the extra time or money staining their windows after installation
  • The cladding options include either aluminum or fiberglass, both of which are lasting options
  • The Marvin staff are experts in all things window installation and manufacturing so the installation process always goes smoothly