New Windows and a Patio Door Restore the Mountain View at This Estes Park Home

Built in 1996, this Estes Park home was designed to take full advantage of its setting, with a wall of windows in the living room facing west toward the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park. That same westward orientation, however, meant the home's original windows spent three decades absorbing intense high-altitude afternoon sun and steady mountain wind. Over time, the seals on several windows failed, letting argon gas escape and moisture creep in between the panes. What was once a clear view had become clouded, and the windows themselves had grown stiff and difficult to operate. 

Working with our Pella team, the homeowners replaced the living room's windows and patio door with Pella® Lifestyle Series products in a brown exterior finish that matches the home's timber-framed architecture. The scope reached beyond the living room to include a sliding patio door and new windows in the primary bedroom, giving the homeowners clear glass and reliable operation throughout the areas that see the most sun and wind exposure.

A west-facing wall of windows is a rewarding feature in a mountain home, but it also means those windows bear the brunt of the region's weather. At this elevation, afternoon sun is more intense, and the wind that moves through the valley put continuous pressure on the window seals over the decades. As the seals aged, several of the insulating panes lost their argon fill and began fogging between the glass, dulling the mountain view the homeowners had built their living room around. The homeowners, originally from Iowa, knew Pella's reputation and were ready for windows built to hold up to their home's conditions long-term.

At the top of the living room's soaring window wall, two picture windows were custom-shaped as trapezoids to follow the angle of the home's vaulted roofline. Because these windows don't open, they're glazed to maximize the amount of visible glass, keeping the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park in clear view from the room below. The new units are finished in brown on the exterior to match the home's existing timberwork, with an unfinished pine interior that the homeowners can finish to match their space. The glass includes a coating designed to cut down on the sun's heat and glare without dulling the view.

Below the living room windows, a sliding patio door leads out to the home's deck, which looks directly over the valley toward the mountains. The homeowners replaced their aging patio door with a new sliding door finished to match the windows above it, glazed with tempered glass for added safety at floor level. Because keeping the view as unobstructed as possible was a priority, the door was ordered without a screen, and a keyed lock was added on the vent panel for security.

Paired beneath the fixed windows in the living room, new awning windows give the homeowners a way to bring in fresh mountain air without giving up any of the view above. Because awning windows are hinged at the top and open outward from the bottom, they can stay cracked open for ventilation even when it's raining or blowing, which is common in this part of Colorado. Like the rest of the project, the new awning windows are finished in brown to keep a consistent look across the whole wall of glass.

The project also included a three-wide casement window configuration in the primary bedroom, with operable casements on each end and a fixed sash in the center. Casement windows crank open from the side and seal tightly against the frame when closed, which helps cut down on the drafts that can come with a home exposed to steady mountain wind. The new windows replace originals that had aged along with the rest of the home's west-facing glass.