Sponsored by: Marvin Windows and Doors

When you’re building custom homes, there’s tremendous potential for creative and awe-inspiring details. For example, large window walls are beautiful, but they can be a serious challenge to assemble. Since the windows themselves aren’t really structural elements, if you don’t incorporate the support materials, the whole unit could become a major headache down the road.

In the past, support elements were incorporated at the job site without a full understanding of the overall performance of the assembly. As codes evolve and performance expectations rise, manufacturers are developing ways to make large assemblies easier to complete at the jobsite meeting aesthetic, code and performance requirements.

Homeowners Want to Show the View

Increasingly, customers are asking about adding large window assemblies to their new homes, as well as during the remodeling process. Natural light is what it’s all about, but correct window mulling can have a steep learning curve. Mistakes are common when a new trend is emerging. With window walls, even a small mistake can be a very expensive one, even costly enough to wipe out your entire profit margin. Short of having a structural engineer on site all day, it’s hard to know when you’re getting everything just right.

AAMA 450 certification is an important guide to creating assemblies that will meet expectations for performance. This requirement is common in commercial applications, as well as in high-end residential use. Another aspect to consider with window assemblies is proper components and mulling techniques that can offer superior energy efficiency and performance.

Building mulled window assemblies at the jobsite requires the proper fastening components and guidelines be on hand. Several manufacturers offer you the ability to confidently create large window assemblies that can be assembled efficiently, meeting performance and homeowner expectations.

Marvin® Windows and Doors, for example, offers an option called “Prep for Field Mull” that will make you look like a mulling pro.  Your window wall or assembly will come in large sub-assemblies that were pre-assembled at the factory, along with all the materials and instructions to complete the overall assembly at the jobsite. Many field mulls can meet the AAMA 450 rating. Buying pre-assembled reduces labor costs, makes ordering simple and dramatically reduces the time it takes to put together complicated (but highly sought after) window walls.

Reducing Needed Labor Helps Get Your Project Moving

It’s no secret that the construction labor market is still well below where it needs to be to keep up with the demand you and other contractors are dealing with right now. Despite an estimated 3.8 million workers in the residential construction sector and a very modest gain in workers year-over-year, in many areas of the country, it’s still not enough labor to get homes completed on a reasonable schedule. Contractors in this situation need to work smarter, not harder, to meet shorter deadlines so they can get on to their next project.

Along with being great time-savers, window assemblies ordered factory-prepped for field mulling make it possible to move through construction with a smaller labor force. Since you’ll have the instructions and the pre-cut pieces necessary to put it all together in a fraction of the time it takes to build a window wall from scratch, you don’t need a lot of extra workers to stabilize windows or frame oddly sized openings.

Additional Benefits of Prep for Field Mulling

Window wall assemblies can be complicated. Marvin Windows and Doors strives to make this easier. Instead of telling your buyers that you can’t possibly make their dream come true, much more often, you’re going to be able to say you absolutely can.

But that’s not all. Prepping assemblies for field mulling provides benefits like:

Ensuring you have everything you need. Sub-assemblies will be prepped for application of kitted cut to near length accessories and components that must be applied after windows are joined. Everything arrives with your window order for easy application with minimum waste.

Confidence in the structural integrity of your project. AAMA 450 certification can be achieved when you create assemblies falling within the tested window and mull type perimeters. Marvin offers you the tools to determine Performance Grades of individual window units, specific mull types, and the overall assembly. This can be especially important when local codes set performance minimums.

Empowering you with the best results. You have the tools to create window assemblies appropriate to the specific application by using the various mull options that allow you to deliver the proper aesthetic and structural requirements. With the factory attaching and prepping as many of the mulling steps as possible, making final assembly easy, you know you are delivering an end product to your customers that will stand the test of time.

Window Assemblies that Stretch the Limits

Doing the job right is always your first goal, but if you can do it efficiently, well, you’ll not argue with that. With prepping for field mulling available from Marvin Windows, including new, narrow frame mulls, the possibilities for your clients’ new homes are endless. You can finally build that amazing arched window you’ve been dreaming of or design a high-end, all-glass breakfast nook for a customer who wants to wake up to the great outdoors.

Save labor. Expand what’s possible. Be the hero of the project.

Sponsored by: Marvin Windows and Doors
Marvin provides durable energy efficient windows and doors constructed of Ultrex, a pultruded fiberglass, for superior lasting performance you can rely on.