Great Finds: W. Gray Stettinius and Bryan Whittington

Tuckahoe Creek Construction, Richmond, Va. Custom builder W. Gray Stettinius builds traditional style homes, so he likes to offer upgraded windows and garage doors that will carry through on the architecture. For several years he’s been specing Marvin’s Clad-Ultimate double-hung windows and garage doors from Clopay’s Reserve collection, and says his clients seem to appreciate these recommendations.

“We generally let our clients select the windows, and recently they’ve been moving to that particular window because they like the fit and finish,” Stettinius says. “It’s got an easy-tilt feature that uses an unobtrusive latch that’s part of the window lock itself; you pull it and it releases the window to tilt. The clad exterior is a very high-grade cladding that is very low maintenance and even stands up to acid washing.”

Marvin Windows and Doors Offering the mid- to high-priced Reserve garage doors tends to move Stettinius’ clients toward selecting them over lower-cost, basic doors of no particular style. The Reserve collection includes custom and semi-custom garage doors in traditional carriage-house styles in redwood, cedar, hemlock, and other woods.

Marvin Windows and Doors: 888.537.7828 or www.marvin.com.

Clopay: 800.225.6729 or www.clopaydoor.com

Whittington Design/Build, Bethesda, Md. When custom builder Bryan Whittington built porches in the past, he’d use wood or lattice frames around the screens, but he experienced so many problems with sagging screens and difficult replacements that he decided to make a switch. Since he’s been using the Screen Tight system, he says his screened porches are finished much more quickly.

The Screen Tight porch screening system uses spline screening along with a three-part system made up of a base track with a channel, the spline, and a trim cap. The base track is screwed to the porch’s wood frame, the screen is stretched and splined into place, and then the trim cap is snapped on top. “You don’t get a lot of floppy, loose screens,” says Whittington. Plus, he says, repairs and adjustments are easy. “It’s very easy to go back in, make it tighter, respline it, and clip it back on.”

Screentight The system is made of UV-resistant window-grade vinyl that provides a low-maintenance screen frame. Base and cap widths come in 1½ – and 3½-inch widths and in standard 8-foot lengths. Cap colors are white, beige, gray, and brown.

To match the traditional style of the homes he builds, Whittington dresses up the vinyl screening system by designing porches with columns as supports. “When it’s trimmed out properly, it can look really good,” Whittington says.

Screen Tight: 800.768.7325 or www.screentight.com