The door and window products were specified on the architect’s plans: Simpson french doors and Marvin windows. The Marvin windows are well constructed and weather-tight – important given the likely exposure to weather due to the short roof overhangs of the “English Cottage” style. On the overhand Marvin doors would have been expensive and Simpson was a good balance of cost and quality. Velux was specified for the two skylights.
The builder recommended Western Pacific in NW Portland as the supplier. They are a large organized building materials supplier located in NW Portland. I scheduled meetings with Western Pacific’s window and door people and ordered the doors, windows, and skylights. The skylights came within a week, the windows and doors around 3-4 weeks. I provided the door lock to Western Pacific and they drilled for the lock-set and hung and fitted the doors in their shop before delivery. (On installation, the door alignment with the frame was pretty much spot on.)
Innie or Outie windows?
The following Green Building Advisor article discusses the pros/cons and installation methods for Innie and Outie windows. I flip-flopped back and forth on the method several times.
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/innie-windows-or-outie-windows
Advantages of Innie Windows:
- The window frame is set back inside the exterior insulation layer so it’s in a warmer location, less risk of condensation on the interior glass
- The window is recessed away from rain and wind
- The architect suggested that the innie windows create deeper and more interesting shadow lines on the building facade
The advantages of Outie Windows:
- Most American homes are built with Outie windows so it looks normal
- The main house has Outie windows (there’s no exterior insulation so the shallow wall depth means outie/innie choice doesn’t exist). The ADU details are supposed to match the main house as it’s in a Historical District.
- It creates a deep interior sill that provides useful interior space in such a small structure
- The French Doors are outswinging so they will be Outies by default. So Outie windows will align with the plane of the doors.
So I went with Outie windows. As the rough framing had already been completed by the time I made this decision, this narrowed my installation options.
Irvington Cottage 