Types of windows: Plastic, wood, or aluminum? Recommendations/experiences?

I wanted to pick up on this here, as we are currently facing the same decision. We definitely want wood-aluminum windows. I recently visited a carpenter who sells Pax windows. He recommended eucalyptus wood to me, also because you supposedly cannot get RC2 certification for softwood. Can anyone report anything about the manufacturer here? I seem to have heard that they are quite good in the wood-aluminum segment. But personal experiences would be preferable.

I think I heard that they are quite good in the wood-aluminum segment.

You can certainly have read that here and from me as well. I appreciate two things about Pax AG: firstly, that they have all materials in their range and therefore never have to discourage anything because they wouldn’t have it themselves. This is valuable for the customer insofar as, as a layperson, one can usually hardly assess the disparaging talk that some salespeople say about other products/materials. And secondly, I found their construction convincing – the wood-aluminum material combination is tricky due to the different coefficients of expansion. When it comes to wood, they tend toward the harder types (or conversely: some competitors prefer softer types because they wear out the production tools less). Regarding burglary protection, I wouldn’t worry: a burglar is unlikely to first unclip the aluminum shell to get at the wood. Standard and actual break-in can be as big a difference as between exhaust testing in the test cycle and real driving conditions. I do not have "wood-aluminum in the field" experience, neither from Pax nor from others, and can therefore not report any customer feedback to you.

Is it correct that the aluminum shell on Pax is basically just clipped onto the wood?
The general contractor has wood-aluminum windows from Nestlé in the program, and their additional cost is very moderate.
But as it looks, the aluminum shell there is firmly screwed into the wood.
That would be rather suboptimal and more of a reason to choose Pax, although I don't know the prices here yet, but they will definitely be more expensive.

When it comes to burglary protection, I am already concerned since we will be living almost right at the edge of the forest.
I'm not a window expert, but I think if you use a crowbar, this supposed clip connection is probably not strong enough to prevent a burglar from getting through.

It's already a time-consuming fiddling with some clattering. Fixed connections (thus also rigid, without plain bearings) are not recommended for material combinations with very different expansion behaviors. I do not have the Pax pads at hand and cannot tell you the details right now. What convinced me, in any case, was that it was not a rigid connection. I am no longer working for the company back then. But there we had chosen Pax for wood-aluminum (and for the monument protection sector); for aluminum and plastic not, because other suppliers seemed equivalent to us there; and we did not have wood alone (for new buildings) in the program.

I understand your statement that you no longer want wooden windows in the house. We ourselves switched some time ago because age is simply increasing and I don’t want to force my grandchildren to paint my windows for me someday.

However, my wife did not want to give up the look, so we bought foil-coated plastic windows.

Regarding your remark that you have no experience with colored plastic windows: It is absolutely great! The windows have a really good wood texture. As a layman, I couldn’t have told at first glance whether it was a wooden or plastic window, so absolutely recommendable!

You are completely right that there is no need for any concerns. Progress has already arrived here as well.

I understand your statement that you no longer want wooden windows in the house. We switched ourselves some time ago because we're simply getting older and I don't want to eventually force my grandchildren to paint my windows for me.

However, my wife didn't want to give up the look, so we bought foil-covered plastic windows.

Regarding your comment that you have no experience with colored plastic windows: it's absolutely great! The windows have a really good wood texture. As a layman, I wouldn't have been able to tell at first glance whether they were wooden or plastic windows, so absolutely recommendable!

You are completely right that there is no need for any concerns. Progress has also made its way here.

Hey Lukas Can you show some photos of the wood look? Thanks